Three Customers Gain Access To London Tube Wi-Fi Network

Steve McCaskill,
A train on the London Underground (Tube). TfL, Transport for London

Three becomes the last major operator to give users free access to the tube Wi-Fi network after it agrees deal with Virgin Media

Three customers will be able to access the London Underground Wi-Fi network from the end of this month after the operator finally agreed a wholesale deal with Virgin Media, which operates the service.

The news means that all four major mobile networks now offer access to the subterranean wireless network, which will be expanded to 144 stations, with Bow Road, Ealing Broadway, Edgware Road on the Bakerloo line, Hammersmith on the Hammersmith & City Line, and Harrow-on-the-Hill among the latest stops to be added.

Three tube Wi-Fi

“Giving our customers access to free Wi-Fi on the London Underground is another step towards them being able to enjoy the benefits of being connected no matter where they are,” says Danny Dixon, director of customer strategy at Three.

London-Tube“Our customers will also have the added benefit of being able to use our new Three InTouch app, which means they will be able to surf the web, as well as make and receive calls and texts when they are in Wi-Fi enabled London tube stations.”

Three InTouch is set to launch in the autumn and will allow subscribers to use their existing monthly allowances or prepaid credit. However calls and texts will only be possible in the ticket halls and platforms as the Wi-Fi network does not extend to the tunnels.

Virgin Media won the much sought-after contract to provide Wi-Fi to the London Underground in 2012, with the wireless network going online in June, just in time for the London Olympics.

The network handles one million user sessions each day, but despite the success of Tube Wi-Fi service, there have been additional calls for mobile coverage to be added to the London Underground.

Transport for London (TfL) told TechWeekEurope last year that although it supported the idea of mobile roll-out on the Tube “in principle”, any project should not come at the expense of taxpayers or fare payers and that major UK phone operators had so far been unable to come up with a self-financing solution for voice calls in the depths of the tube.

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