Good news if you need to be connected on the go, with London Underground finally putting in a WiFi Service.
The aim will be to have WiFi spots installed at 80 stations by July – in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and by the end of the year up to 120 stations to be equipped.
For those of you who can count, there are 217 stations on the London Underground network – so about half of them.
Connectivity will be limited to the the station entrance to platform level. There will no connectivity within the trains or in the tube tunnels as the costs of implementing a 3G service in tunnels would had required expensive and long work.
The full service – provided by Virgin Media – will be “free” initially (for an as-yet-undetermined period, but probably after the Olympic and Paralympic games are over), and at a later points – access will be offered via on a pay as you go basis, a subscription or via a Virgin Media contract.
However, a limited service will remain free at all times, covering Transport for London’s news and travel information.
Virgin Media is taking the risk of the project with the tax payer. Which is nice.
Just don’t spend too long looking at your screen when your an escalator though. And stand on the right please!