Wi-Fi is coming to a bunch more Tube stations this year, and Virgin Media has revealed how much you'll have to pay to surf the Web when the current run of free connection ends.
Yesterday Virgin Media and EE anounced they'd teamed up to give free Web access on London Underground to anyone on EE, Orange or T-Mobile. Virgin Media and Vodafone customers will also continue to get free Wi-Fi next year.
At the moment Wi-Fi is free for everyone, but next year anyone on O2 or other networks will have to buy a daily, weekly or monthly pass. Daily passes start at £2.
Right now, there are 72 stations with subterranean Internet access. By the end of the year another 20 will be added to the list, mostly extending further along the Northern, Victoria and Picadilly lines. Early next year we'll get another 28 stations offering Wi-Fi -- taking the total to 120.
Connecting on your commute
Those stations that will allow you to do your Christmas shopping on your commute are Belsize Park, Holloway Road, Russell Square, Chalk Farm, Camden Town, Bounds Green, Finsbury Park, Mornington Crescent, Highgate, Hampstead, Seven Sisters, Lancaster Gate, Swiss Cottage, South Kensington, Turnpike Lane, Notting Hill Gate and Wood Green.
Sarf of the river -- at this time of night?! -- Clapham Common, Balham and Oval are included in this batch. The rest of the Northern Line south of Kennington is supposed to be getting Wi-Fi at some stage, while those portions of the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Victoria and District lines that cross the river are already covered.
That will mean most of south London's Tube stations are blessed with Wi-Fi, although there are no plans for the London Overground or much of the Docklands Light Railway to be added to the list. Really though that widespread coverage is more of a reflection of the shocking lack of Tube stops in South London than a concerted effort on TFL and Virgin's part: of the Tube's 287 stations, only 29 are south of the Thames. Tubefact!
Do you use Wi-Fi on the Tube? If you're outside London, do you want Wi-Fi on your commute -- or is it the one time you get any peace from email and Facebook? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 6
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anonymous 22 November, 2012 12:39
O2 customers will need to pay a daily bundle? This won't work unless users can get the access for free or pay a nominal fee per month for access. The tube is used to get from A to B and these journeys last around 45m maximum. With the cost of a single journey (Oyster) in the region of £2.40 adding an additional premium of £2 a day is ridiculous.
Considering O2 are making WiFi free to any network user above ground, VM et al should reconsider charging for their services below ground.
Rich Trenholm 22 November, 2012 15:08
We should point out too that Wi-Fi is only on platforms, not on trains, so your window of opportunity is even shorter.
anonymous 22 November, 2012 15:58
I've used the free service a few times - it's ok but the concept of ever paying for snatched seconds of Wifi to refresh your news page is ridiculous. 99% of the time, it takes most of the time the tube is in the station for the wifi connection to be created and you have a few seconds to actually do anything as the train accelerates into the darkness.....
anonymous 22 November, 2012 18:02
London Overground have done a deal with Sky's The Cloud for free wi-fi access at a limited amount of stations, including Forest Hill and Willesden Junction, yet it hasn't been switched on yet.
http://www.thecloud.net/wifi/news/london-overground-stations-to-offer-wifi/
anonymous 23 November, 2012 14:58
It's great for use while on a platform, and of course for staff whilst on breaks.
anonymous 23 February, 2013 11:08
It IS coming for O2, Three Mobile and other networks... but not till summer 2013.
EE & Vodafone were the only networks to stump up the up-front fees initially to get launch partnerships - the other have paid less to buy0in for their customers so don't get it right from the start.