London Underground gets first Wi-Fi hot spots

London Underground provided an escape from the office for many Londoners, at least until now with the introduction of Wi-Fi into many Tube stations.

The service provided by Virgin Media will roll out throughout this year with the first stations going live in June, but the plans are for over 80 underground stations to offer Wi-Fi Internet by the Olympics and 120 by the end of 2012.

Free Wi-Fi will be available throughout the Summer on the London Underground network, and after this the service will become pay-as-you-go for Internet or remain free for Virgin Media customers.

Other services will always be free through the Virgin Media portal such as the TFL timetable, which presumably means you can see whether the train you think is arriving at Euston Tube Station is anything like running on time….or whether it’s time to head for the nearest Costa Coffee.

Non-Tunnel Wi-Fi: It should be noted that the Wi-Fi service only applies in the non-tunnel areas of the network such as ticket halls and walkways, so at least there won’t be anyone shouting “I can’t hear you, I’m on the Underground” as the train rattles through the tunnels (for those using Skype at least).

This does fall short of the initial plan to offer Wi-Fi throughout the network, but perhaps that is no bad thing.

Initial Wi-Fi stations enabled in June:
King’s Cross Tube Station
Warren Street Tube Station
Oxford Circus Tube Station
Green Park Tube Station
Victoria Tube Station
Euston Tube Station

There’s a full list of stations with Wi-Fi available on the Virgin Media Wi-Fi page as they become enabled.

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