273 km/h - AVE to Barcelona
by Ben Curtis
This is pretty cool, I’m sitting on the AVE from Madrid to Barcelona, Macbook on the table in front of me, hooked up to the orange 3G Internet Everywhere usb modem, landscape shooting by at nearly 180 mph, and all this tech stuff just works!
It was worth bringing all that crap after all!
Doh! Just went into a series of long tunnels, there goes that internet connection…
Posted: August 27th, 2008 under General.
Comments: 16
Comments
Comment from Tom
Time: August 27, 2008, 12:25 pm
I got up to 302 km/h the other day!
Oh, and benvinguts a Catalunya!
Comment from Pepino
Time: August 27, 2008, 12:29 pm
I thought the AVE trip I made to Madrid was fab. Comfy & smooth all the way, decent film to watch… and no turbulence! jeje.
Apparently, it can safely go quite a bit faster than 300Kph but they set that as the acceptable limit.
Comment from raytibbitts
Time: August 27, 2008, 1:25 pm
So glad to hear it. 3G should allow for uninterrupted mobile & internet connections along the whole length of all the ‘legs’ of the AVE in Spain. Siemens, along with Adif, Renfe, and the governments of Spain, have really put some good technology into making rail travel more enjoyable.
We are really working on filling any dead spots. Some people completely lose their connectivity in the tunnels, others just lose partial reception / bandwidth. There is transmission equipment in the tunnels , as well as an “industrial-strength” fiber-optic net, running parallel to the tracks.
Now y’all know who I work for on these long, hot nights.
If anyone asks, tell them coverage along the Córdoba-Málaga line is fabulous.
Comment from jon.jaques
Time: August 27, 2008, 2:55 pm
I thought those tunnels were pretty cool, although I wasn’t trying to use the internet, even made a short video of some of them.
Don’t know if this will post.
Comment from gary
Time: August 27, 2008, 8:42 pm
Technology, I love it… communicating with the world from a moving train… just because you can… fantastic, we didnt even have a telephone til I went to college.
Comment from gary
Time: August 27, 2008, 8:43 pm
… or a dog
Comment from AndrewW
Time: August 27, 2008, 9:18 pm
¿cómo se compran las “Tarifas Promo” que están mostrado en la página web del Renfe?? €82 euros ida y vuelta!
Comment from Chiny
Time: August 27, 2008, 10:30 pm
Are those clouds I see 
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 28, 2008, 2:16 am
I’m so jealous!
Comment from raytibbitts
Time: August 28, 2008, 7:51 am
@AndrewW:
La mejor oferta depende del horario, origen y destino. Tienes razón al fijarte que hay ofertas en la página renfe.es que son bien baratas.
La manera para aprovechar de estas ofertas depende del sistema operativo y navegador que utilizas para acceder la red, pero hacer tu cuenta de usuario es fácil y grátis, y comprar “online” con tarjeta de crédito es fácil y ‘barato.’
La información que he compartido aquí es nada más que mi propia opinion, y lo que recomiendo para los demás usuarios de notesfromspain, y no pretendo representar la empresa renfe, sino compartir lo que he experimentado por mi propia cuenta.
Comment from gary
Time: August 28, 2008, 7:36 pm
aaaaaagh
Renfe site down:
Secure Connection Failed
w1.renfe.es uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is not trusted.
(Error code: sec_error_untrusted_issuer)
Comment from raytibbitts
Time: August 29, 2008, 2:37 am
@gary:
You can tell your browser to trust the renfe certificate manually, but the steps to take to do this vary from browser to browser.
@Ben, sorry to fill your site with unrelated comments.
Comment from leftbanker
Time: August 30, 2008, 10:33 am
I’m not too tech savvy as far as combining transportation and communication, but the other day I gave a driver the finger who cut me off on my bike.
What does that trip cost one-way and round trip? I took the Madrid-Sevilla AVE line and it was truly a marvel. You can almost feel the G forces in your gut when the train gets up and runs. The Valencia-Madrid line looks to be progressing rapidly for its intended 2010 start.
Comment from Phoenix Arizona Spanish
Time: August 30, 2008, 9:21 pm
Its amazing sometimes. We don’t think about how amazing some of the technology we have truly is.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 31, 2008, 4:13 pm
We can put a man on the moon but we can’t build a train!
Comment from raytibbitts
Time: September 2, 2008, 7:34 am
LA used to have the largest electric-powered train system in the world. They tore it all up and replaced it with the current freeway system now in place in Southern California.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/godblessbotox/2815070029/
A truly myopic decision, as they are now trying to figure out how to re-install a light-rail system that worked just fine nearly a century ago.
Write a comment
(No Anonymous Comments Accepted - Valid Email Required)