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Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

They are using the same technique they use in Japan.

In Tokyo, you get full signal strength, wherever you are (even in tunnels going underwater).

That's because they have mobile antennas everywhere, including lining all the railway lines.

I'll bet that their service ain't so cheap, though (I was roaming, when I was there, and that was definitely not cheap).

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I remember going through a tunnel in a shinkansen at around 300kph and doing a speed test as I was surprised to still have full 4g signal.

It was faster than the max speed I'd ever recorded back in London.

Meanwhile when I was living in the US I had to put my phone next to the window to receive ANY signal at all. This was on a university campus.

I would love to know how Japan built their system (was it publicly funded/subsidised?).

Perhaps the Japanese telcos did not scam away a 100-200 Billion dollars of taxpayer money, and instead put it to good use.

I'm not sure if it's the same thing in Japan, but how they get signal in the metro in Amsterdam is interesting. Effectively it's coax cable running along the tunnel with holes in the shielding to let the signal leak out.

Article (in Dutch): https://tweakers.net/nieuws/141195/mobiel-netwerk-met-leaky-...

Might be. I don't know. I'm told that the Japanese system is a form of GSM that is fairly weak, so there is a need for very many repeaters.

Looks like same. It uses Leaky Coaxial Cable.

(japanese) https://k-tai.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/592635.html

(photo for just cable) https://k-tai.watch.impress.co.jp/img/ktw/docs/592/635/html/...

> I was roaming, when I was there, and that was definitely not cheap

Roaming prices are effectively set by your home network, not the foreign one. My network (Vodafone Ireland) charges a flat fee of 5 euro a day (with a fairly miserly 500MB/day data cap) for most non-European countries, for instance, but some other Irish networks have completely different pricing structures for it.

I think in Japan the best way to have mobile Internet is to get a tourist SIM card from the airport. I do not recall the price, but I remember I had considered them fair. They might not be compatible with your phone though. The problem is with the supported bands and there is no way to fix it. It either works or it does not.

If you do not want to stop using your current SIM card or if you have an incompatible phone, you can rent an “egg”. It is a small mobile hotspot that your devices connect over WiFi. It is also useful if you are a group, because multiple people can connect to it, so you just get one.

Cheapest 4g flatrate subscription in CH is 25€/m. Average is 60-70€/m

I don't understand how the more expensive providers can still have customers.

Same network, same conditions, different label on the box, 3x the price, at a price point where it should matter to most people...

Not sure about the situation in Switzerland, but it might not be the same network. I use a somewhat more expensive provider (20 euro topup/month for 10GB data, unlimited everything else), because the one that does it for 10 euro is using a different tower network with poorer coverage and much higher congestion (at least in the areas I'm concerned with).

It's not the same network. There are three providers in Switzerland. From my own experience the most expensive one (Swisscom, by whom this article is) has much better coverage in the mountaineous areas compared to the other two.

It is, Wingo is 24 CHF a month on the Swisscom network. Its also owned by Swisscom.

The main differentiation is support.

Well, thanks for telling me that! I went swisscom-> mbudget on my fixed line but it seems wingo offers the full 1gbs up/dow for less than I pay now for mbudget mini. Guess I'll change soon

> I don't understand how the more expensive providers can still have customers.

> The main differentiation is support.

Might be a case of decoy effect in action. Swisscom (the expensive option) gets more customers by introducing a cheaper option with worse support. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoy_effect

There are two other providers, but I was referring to the Swisscom resellers, most notably Wingo (owned by Swisscom itself).

Parts of London tube system is being kitted out with cell data too. i.e. in the tunnels not stations

In Switzerland we defiantly do not have that, specially not in tunnels.

I mean, we have it in the big ones. When I go through the Lötschberg or Gotthard I get full 4G coverage.

On the big carriers, it's about 3000 yen for 5GB monthly, which I don't find terribly expensive. You can definitely get cheaper plans on MVNOs, though.

The metro/tube in Prague has decent 4G coverage, and we are starting to see it in London

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