Although major telecoms have been working to upgrade communication links along the high-speed rail line, and the Bureau of High Speed Rail says that cellphone users can receive a signal along 92 percent of the line, a recent test conducted by reporters from the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) contradicted those findings.
The bureau said five major telecoms jointly invested about NT$4 billion (US$133.5 million) to improve the communication inside the tunnels along the high-speed rail route by installing radiaflex cables.
A test conducted by the Telecommunication Technology Center (TTC) found that the project had succeeded in boosting the cellphone connection rate to about 90 percent, with a failure rate of about 10 to 15 percent.
A test carried out by telecoms found that cellphone users could receive signals along 92 percent of the rail route, with users receiving stable service and clearly being able to hear their connection.
The companies have said they are trying to resolve the remaining issues that prevent clear voice communications.
Liberty Times reporters decided to test the connection claims by attempting to make 14 calls during a trip between Taipei and Greater Kaohsiung. Thirteen of the calls were disconnected automatically, with most cut off within five minutes.
Third-generation (3G) service users fared the worst when it came to Internet access through their cellphones, barely being able to make a connection.
Fourth-generation (4G) telecom service users were able to connect to the Internet, but only when their train was passing through a metropolitan area.
Reporters also experienced delays downloading photographs and video.
The bureau said its goal has always been for cellphone users to be able to continue to use basic phone services as high-speed trains pass through tunnels.
The slow processing speed of mobile Internet service is a problem for the telecoms, not the high-speed rail system, it said.
The telecoms said that the lapses in service on high-speed rail trains are unavoidable.
“About 300 base stations were installed along the route, but the high-speed trains are running too fast. The difficulties are increased when you consider geographical factors,” Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile business group president Lin Kuo-feng (林國豐) said. “It is like a running relay. Users are moving fast, and the signals have to be delivered to one base station to another. The locations of the users on the trains, and whether signals can be delivered from one base station to another, all affect the quality of the communication.”
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