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Virgin Trains passengers to chatter for longer
But businesses warned about mobile motor mouths...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Monday 07 April 2008

Travellers on Virgin Train could soon be chattering for longer. The train operator has joined forced with Vodafone UK to boost mobile coverage within carriages so fewer calls are dropped.

Repeater technology, which retransmits 2G and 3G, will be installed on all 52 of Virgin's high speed Pendolino trains on the London to Glasgow route by November.

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The tech has already improved the number of calls completed without interruption by around 60 per cent, both companies said.

But uninterrupted calls can mean other problems - of the 'loose lips sink ships' variety.

A survey of more than 2,000 mobile users commissioned by Vodafone has found more than 70 per cent of workers talk business on their mobile phones in public. One-in-five admits to talking about business critical subjects such as sales leads and 15 per cent confess to discussing confidential new products or services while travelling.

More than a quarter (26 per cent) of workers even admitted they have followed up on a lead overheard in someone else's phone conversation.

Mark Bond, director of Enterprise, Vodafone UK, said business people should consider the most appropriate form of communication on the move, switching to more discrete methods such as text or email when necessary.