Use the Tube? Use one of the stations listed below? Hey, you’re in luck. You’ll soon be bathed in free (for a limited time) WiFi while you stand on the platform. Better still, some stations have been turned on today, so you might start seeing people like this on a station near you.
There’s a map showing the stations on the TFL website or you can head over to the Virgin Media website to search for a station. Currently they all say “coming soon” but TFL tell us these 80 stations will have WiFi in ticket halls, on escalators and platforms “by the end of July”. This will rise to 120 by the end of the year.
However, if you use King’s Cross or Warren Street – REJOICE ! You can use it right now. Also, if your daily commute takes you through Oxford Circus or Green Park, things get switched on tomorrow. On Saturday they’ll throw the switch on Victoria and Euston.
The 80 lucky stations are…
Aldgate East, Elephant & Castle, London Bridge, St Paul’s, Angel, Embankment, Manor House, Stepney Green, Archway, Euston, Mansion House, Stockwell, Arsenal, Euston Square, Marble Arch, Stratford, Barbican, Finsbury Park, Marylebone, Swiss Cottage, Bayswater, Goodge Street, Mile End, Temple, Bermondsey, Green Park, North Greenwich, Tottenham Hale, Bethnal Green, Hammersmith (District/Picc), Old Street, Tower Hill, Blackhorse Road, Heathrow T1-3, Oval, Tufnell Park, Borough, Heathrow T4, Oxford Circus, Vauxhall, Brixton, High Street Kensington, Paddington (Main), Victoria, Caledonian Road, Highbury & Islington, Piccadilly Circus, Walthamstow Central, Camden Town, Holborn, Pimlico, Warren Street, Canada Water, Holland Park, Queensway, Warwick Avenue, Canary Wharf, Hyde Park Corner, Regents Park, Waterloo, Canning Town, Kentish Town, Seven Sisters, Wembley Central, Chancery Lane, Kings Cross/St Pancras, Southfields, Wembley Park, Charing Cross, Lambeth North, Southwark, West Ham, Clapham North, Lancaster Gate, St James Park, Wimbledon Park, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, St Johns Wood, Westminster, Edgware Road (Circle) and Liverpool Street
Although it might not sound difficult (perhaps running some CAT5 down the walls and sticking an access point up?), the Tube is a pretty difficult and old transit system which opened in 1863. Next, aircon ?! 🙂
The WiFi is free over the summer and during the Olympics but will then switch to pay as you go, however you will still be able to connect and get the latest travel news and London info without paying. Virgin Media customers will continue to get full access after the free period. To connect the first time you’ll need to register your device and provide an email address as a username. You device will auto-reconnect when you get to another WiFi-enabled station.
Read the full press release for more info.
OK.. I’ll personally send a tenner to the first person to connect to the WiFi and use Skype to make a very loud phone call on the platform whilst filming it all 🙂 That should puzzle a few commuters 🙂
Links – TFL – Virgin Media – Press Release
That’s nice, but how long do you actually wait on a platform in central London for a tube train, I wait 2-3mins max? Enough time to get the phone out, log-in and WiFi up. Hmmm, maybe. Probably more useful in mainline stations and stations outside central London where waiting times increase? Although, probably more useful for the times the trains are delayed. Probably more useful if they had extended mobile coverage down to the tube platforms.
Also it is going to be a muggers delight in the busier central London stops with people waving their iphones and ipads around….. they are probably all waiting with Cheshire grins on their faces.