The Eurostar, despite having a perception of being an elegant, sophisticated way to hop across the Channel and sample the delights of Paris or Amsterdam with ease, is actually a fairly dull travel experience, not helped by the occasional horror stories that come from nine-hour delays.

Still, some 20 million people use it every year, and, instead of staring out of the windows at the dull, industrial landscapes of northern France and southern England (the route really is dull) most will spend the time using tablets and smartphones to read news, send emails and other web activities.

Except, of course, during the bit actually in the tunnel when all signal disappears for the duration, until you emerge, blinking, into France or the UK.

However, Eurotunnel, the management firm for the Channel Tunnel, is set to change all this having announced a deal with French telecoms operators to install 2G and 3G networks ahead of the Olympic Games so our Gallic cousins can enjoy Le Web as they head to Blighty.

The service will at first only be available in the France to UK tunnel, with operators Bouygues Telecom, Orange SFR and Free agreeing a deal with the French government and Eurotunnel to manage the €14 million installation.

Of course, this does mean that yet another small pocket of internet-less existence in the Western world will be gone, as we continue with our desire to provide pervasive web access wherever we may be, so we can't escape life, work, family, stock prices, and the rest.

Still, the UK to France tunnel won't be fitted with the necessary equipment until after the games, so those travelling to the continent can at least disappear for a little while yet, and then claim roaming charges make it too expensive to call home or check data on-the-go.

However, with the European Commission (EC) hoping to slash roaming costs too, there may soon be no excuse there either, so prepare yourselves for a world of endless, non-stop, unfettered communication - there is no escape, resistance is futile.

For both mobile workers and consumers accessing the mobile internet can be a nightmare: slow speeds, congested networks and a lack of available coverage all combine to make for a disappointing experience.

However, a growing number of projects are coming to the fore that could well end this situation by providing access to several wide-scale Wi-Fi deployments across London and beyond.

Firstly, Transport for London (TfL) confirmed it is on track to roll out Wi-Fi hotspots to 120 of its stations in time for the Olympic Games later this year, with its chosen supplier set to be announced in due course.

"London Underground is continuing with preparations to install the necessary infrastructure and is on schedule to complete the project as planned," said TfL's director of strategy and service development, Gareth Powell, in a widely reported statement.

"An announcement of the chosen service provider will be made in early spring, leaving plenty of time for this to be delivered to customers in time for the 2012 Games."

Secondly, O2 announced on Tuesday that it has signed a deal with restaurant chain owner Tragus to provide free Wi-Fi access to both customers and non-customers in 120 locations, including Cafe Rouge, as well as Strada and Bella Italia restaurants.

"This agreement takes us a step closer towards our vision of changing the public Wi-Fi landscape within three years, by offering people free Wi-Fi connections in the places they want it most," said the managing director of O2 Wi-Fi, Gavin Franks.

"As O2 Wi-Fi's footprint continues to grow, we hope that more people and businesses start to realise the potential of free and fast Wi-Fi."

The rollout comes after O2 announced earlier this month that it will be creating what it claims is the largest free Wi-Fi network in Europe across areas of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, also in time for the Olympics later this year.

The confluence of these projects, which will see smartphone and tablet users across London and the rest of the UK able to access a growing number of Wi-Fi hotspots, is a welcome development for the UK.

Hopefully, it will show visitors to these shores that our nation progressing nicely in the digital era.

Steve Jobs was known for his uncompromising management style - refusing to accept anything less than perfection on every facet of his products, which ultimately led him down the path of the closed ecosystem that melded hardware and software together.

As such, releasing the iPhone onto the carrier networks in the US and elsewhere must have been a painful process as it took away an element of control from Jobs, even if he had turned the carriers into mere pipes for iPhone data, texts and calls.

However, it's been revealed by a close associate of Jobs and a wireless industry stalwart in the US, John Stanton, that he actually considered creating Apple's own wireless network in order to try and circumvent the need for carriers.

"He wanted to replace carriers. He and I spent a lot of time talking about whether synthetically you could create a carrier using Wi-Fi spectrum. That was part of his vision," said Stanton.

Stanton said Jobs envisioned this network running on the same unlicensed spectrum that Wi-Fi uses but ultimately Jobs realised this system was unworkable and instead set about making long-term deals with operators to carry the iPhone instead.

The story certainly sounds like the level of control Jobs would have wished he could have for his products, as anyone who's read the recently released biography of the great man, or even just our Top 10 Steve Jobs quotes will be able to testify.

Despite all the tough talking rhetoric from the prime minister following the recent UK riots about potentially banning social media in times of unrest, the meeting between the home secretary, police chiefs and social media representatives on Thursday steered well clear of this contentious topic.

It is understood that the issue of restricting services such as Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), all of which were to a lesser or greater extent blamed for the riots, was never a topic for discussion.

This is despite calls from Tottenham MP David Lammy for a ban on BBM at times of social disorder and David Cameron's own admission that the government "is working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these web sites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality".

Instead, the meeting is believed to have focused on how the police can build up their skills to monitor social networks more effectively.

"We welcome the fact that this was a dialogue about working together to keep people safe rather than about imposing new restrictions on internet services," said Facebook in a statement.

"We were pleased to highlight our array of effective reporting tools and the relationships we have built with law enforcement to keep the site safe for the 30 million people in the UK use Facebook - especially during times of crisis."

A similarly bland statement came from the Home Office.

"The home secretary, along with the culture secretary and foreign office minister Jeremy Browne, has held a constructive meeting with the Association of Chief Police officers, the police and representatives from the social media industry," it read.

"The discussions looked at how law enforcement and the networks can build on the existing relationships and co-operation to crack down on the networks being used for criminal behaviour."

It's certainly good news that the government apparently understands the good that social networks can do in rallying communities after and during such heinous events and in providing law enforcement with invaluable intelligence in catching those who organised such crimes.

We all suspected the worst when the prime minister came out with his initial statements, but thankfully another knee-jerk reaction from out-of-touch politicians has not reared its head, giving way instead to a more thoughtful and considered approach.

It remains to be seen whether rights campaigners will seek assurances from the social networks that private data is not just being handed over to police in these situations as a matter of course.

While it's good to see co-operation between the tech companies and law enforcement, no-one would want that relationship to begin eroding individual privacy rights online.

The demand for high-speed internet access on the go shows no signs of abating, and Virgin Media has seen that it could capitalise on this market by offering a free Wi-Fi service in London.

Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett explained in an earnings call that a free Wi-Fi service is on the company's agenda as part of its work to innovate in the broadband market.

"We continue to run our pilots and trials, and we are in quite advanced conversations with some boroughs and councils in respect to completing a metro rollout in parts of the London area," he said.

"The proposition would be that we would provide free Wi-Fi access for all at 0.5Mbit/s with full access to Virgin Media customers up to 10Mbit/s, and we may consider speaking to mobile network operators about wholesaling that as an activity."

Berkett added that the "punt" is exciting given the demand for better mobile internet speeds. "I think it is a real opportunity if you think about consumers' needs for data outside the home," he said.

The revelation is interesting as it shows how broadband providers are boosting their offerings with better internet access on the go, much as O2 is doing with free Wi-Fi in its stores.

BT, which has held sway in the outdoor public Wi-Fi market through its paid-for Fon and Openzone products, will not doubt be watching with interest to see whether Virgin goes ahead with its plan as the two broadband giants prepare to clash again.

One thing is for certain: visitors to London for the 2012 Olympics will be hoping that the networks are up and running to provide internet access as they cruise the capital looking for information on where to eat, what to see and which tube lines are broken.

The importance of communications has never been more fundamental. Every day, networks carry vast amounts of data that help businesses function, governments rule and families and friends stay in touch.

When natural disasters or conflicts arise, communication is one of the first utilities that must be restored to help nations get their businesses running and people to let one another know they're safe.

With this in mind, V3.co.uk was invited by AT&T to see some of the equipment it can deploy across the globe at a moment's notice to get networks back online and help governments respond to everything from an earthquake to war.

AT&T also showcased its work with Telecoms Sans Frontièrs, a non-government organisation that brings communications to people in the toughest conditions to help humanitarian workers communicate and loved ones get in touch. Below are some pictures from the event.

AT&T has some 320 'mobile assets' that can be shipped around the world by sea or air to ensure that its network is fully operational and that people in affected regions are back online as quickly as possible with web, voice and data connections.

As major incidents unfold, AT&T cannot be a burden on those in the area, so the company brings its own power supplies in the form of generators that power the equipment and air-conditioning units for its mobile nodes.

The inside of the trucks resembles a traditional point of presence on the AT&T network, run by equipment from the likes of Juniper Networks and Cisco, so networks are up and running quickly and securely. The 2010 earthquake in Chile was a major incident that AT&T attended with its equipment to help restore network services in Santiago.

 
Other vehicles host key services, such as this command-and-control room that contains access to the internet, television services, UHF radios and a place for personnel to plan strategies and share information.

Satellite connections can be one of the first services to get an area back online, and Telecoms Sans Frontièrs use a connection from satellite broadband provider Tooway on the KA-Sat seen by V3.co.uk last year, to offer speeds of up to 4Mbit/s on the ground.

This equipment is often provided free by vendors, with donations made to the Telecoms Sans Frontièrs cause. AT&T is one of several vendors that offers its support in the form of equipment and donations, pledging a further $150,000 at the Twickenham event.

This work means that Telecoms Sans Frontièrs can get on the ground at major incidents such as in Misrata in Libya, helping local civilians connect with loved ones from refugee camps, and NGOs to co-ordinate with each other.

Digital technologies are great - crisp, clear and with the scope to deliver far more content over the spectrum on which they run than traditional analogue services. The main battle, though, is getting people to switch over.

This is not an issue in the TV market, as the spectrum for analogue signals is being switched off to make way for 4G phone coverage in the future. It will be replaced by digital signals so that services likes Freeview can offer more content and channels to consumers.

But it's not so simple in the radio market. Standard radios that pick up AM/FM stations are still the dominant devices as consumers fail to understand the benefits of digital radios, mostly because they never actually use the technology.

However, the key driver to the take up of the technology looks like it will come from the car industry as manufacturers start to fit digital radios as standard.

Internet minister Ed Vaizey said during a speech at the Intellect Conference in London that in-car deployments are on the up, and that he welcomed commitments from major car manufacturers to make the technology standard for all new vehicles.

"Forty per cent of cars have DAB [Digital Audio Broadcasting] radios as standard now, up from just four per cent a year ago. Ford has promised that all cars will have DAB installations by 2012, and BMW and Vauxhall have made similar announcements," he said on Tuesday.

It's not just digital radios that are entering the cars of the future. Satnav devices are often built in these days, and other, more exotic, forms of technology are on the horizon.

Ford announced at the CEBIT show in Hanover in March that it will launch a number of vehicles in Europe with built-in voice-activated technology designed to allow drivers to integrate devices such as smartphones.

The Ford Sync technology will be built into 10 vehicles due to be launched in Europe next year, including the latest Ford Focus. 

With all these innovations to come, and 4G wireless signals to offer speeds of 30Mbit/s or above while on the move on smartphones and tablets, our cars are set to become a lot more fun, although the driver needs to stay focused on the road ahead, of course.

As technology continues to advance society faster and faster it's almost inevitable that cash will become a concept that future generations look back on with incredulity: "You had to carry paper and coins with you to pay for stuff?"

The latest move has come from Vodafone. The operator is to trial a system that lets customers in London pay for any of the hundreds of taxis it is putting the streets painted with Union flags (see below), simply by texting the number of the cab to Vodafone which will charge the fare to their bill.

This means any late night revellers, businessmen getting soaked in the rain on the way to important meetings, or tourists who've forgotten to go the cashpoint will always be able to grab a cab as long as their phone is in their pocket (and they're on Vodafone).

Customers wishing to sign up for the pay-by-mobile taxi service need to call 0845 680 3409 to set up the free service. They then text the word 'taxi', the taxi's number and the amount they want to pay to 80010. Not a penny in sight.

The cabs will also contain chargers for devices including BlackBerrys and iPhones, so all mobile users can ensure they have plenty of juice for their journey.

"Now with our fantastic fleet of Union Jack cabs and their onboard chargers which anyone can use, all Londoners will be able to see our continuing commitment to the capital," said Vodafone chief executive Guy Lawrence.

If this catches on you'd expect to see other network operators rolling out similar schemes, something that taxi drivers and forgetful travellers must be looking forward to immensely.

And with near-field communication technology rapidly advancing, it wouldn't be a push to see the major operators wrap these capabilities into this kind of service before too long.

One of the Vodafone branded taxis set to hit the streets of London.