is about Internet access in the ICE trains of the Deutsche Bahn, knows long-distance traffic marketing director Michael Peterson the Austria paradox: As soon as the train on the route from Frankfurt to Vienna has passed the border with Austria, snaps in customer surveys satisfaction with the WLAN massive in the air.

The simple explanation: The WLAN works in the neighboring country almost without interruptions. What you can not say in Germany - the train is innocent. The group invested around one hundred million euros to equip 250 ICEs with wireless networks. The running costs for the operation are around 15 million euros annually. And nevertheless, the system hangs, is often W-lame.

The reason is not in the hardware, but in the lack of network coverage along the routes. Although the mobile signals of different providers are bundled and made available on the train, but this can only work if there is any signal that could be bundled. And that is by no means always the case.

DPA

WiFi icon on an ICE

Who is traveling on certain routes, therefore gets the impression that the wireless service is useless. The honorary chairman of the passenger association Pro Bahn, Karl-Peter Naumann, speaks of a partly "lousy network coverage".

A problem case is about the showpiece route Berlin-Hamburg, which will soon be used every half an hour. In the wastelands of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein, which the train passes through, there are massive network gaps.

Also between Kassel and Hanover as well as Mannheim and Stuttgart it is stuck. One reason is the many tunnels. Although they are supplied with mobile network, the transfer from one radio cell to the next often does not work.

Railway manager Peterson hopes for the future mobile standard 5G. According to SPIEGEL information, the auction winners should be obliged to provide rail lines with more than 2000 passengers per day with the same high data rate as highways.

Long-distance marketing director Peterson says that functioning Internet access is now one of the top topics for rail customers. For Pro-Bahn-board Naumann the network access is as indispensable as "one hundred years ago the spittoons in the trains and the smoking compartments".

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Nevertheless, the railway is hesitant about expanding Internet access for the Intercity fleet. Peterson explains that this is more difficult than the ICE, because IC trains could always be built differently and so each passenger car needed a separate access technology. What you can not shake for now, is the limitation of the data volume in the second class to 200 megabytes (MB). This definitely has no cost reasons, but is a matter of justice.

Two percent of customers would use much of the data stream if they were allowed to surf indefinitely. Eighty-five percent of the passengers would do well with the amount and would consume no more than the 200 MB. On average, about 15 percent of the guests sit in the first class per ICE, where unlimited surfing is allowed - as long as the network connection works.

Strange digital world: No stock in the online trade

REUTERS

Not infrequently, the major online retailers such as Otto or Amazon are not cheap. This shows a quick comparison in the net. But the more often I order at other, often small retailers, the more I have to say: Some dealers ordered the goods themselves only when an order is received.

Otherwise, I can not imagine waiting times of several weeks, such as at a dealer for coffee machine accessories. Sure, warehousing is expensive, and yet I think a dealer would have to point out the fact that a delivery can take a long time.

Just like the Dutch online retailer, who still had not delivered simple toothbrush attachments even after two weeks. At my request, when I got the goods ordered, it was only said that could take up to two weeks. I canceled the order. On the "timely refund" of the purchase price I wait until today.

App of the Week: PlayJ
tested by Tobias Kirchner

Sony Mobile Communications

Sony PlayJ makes it possible to share and stream content with friends from their own smartphone screen. As the name suggests, this works especially for games. While a game is running on your own phone, a friend can be invited via video chat to follow the action as a video stream - provided he or she has also installed PlayJ on their smartphone.

It is also possible to watch videos together or share other content while connected. PlayJ is clear and worked very well in the test. However, the application is still in a test phase, so problems on certain devices are not excluded.

Free from Sony Mobile Communications, with no in-app purchases: Android.

Foreign links: Three tips from other media

  • "Me, Eisner!" (Messenger story project) shows the history of revolution in Bavaria from 1918 - in real time. More precisely, she tells Kurt Eisner, the first Prime Minister of the Free State of Bavaria, in WhatsApp or Telegram. The Bayerischer Rundfunk project will run until the end of February 2019.
  • "Social Media and Advancement of Women Physicians" (English, five minutes of reading). Medical professionals are increasingly opening up social media channels. In the US, 40 percent of practicing physicians use social networks. That can be quite useful.
  • "In the future the cars will have to make the driver's license" (five minutes of reading). AI pioneer Sepp Hochreiter calls for a driver's license for artificial intelligence.

I wish you a pleasant week,

Yours, Martin U. Müller