Virgin Media Extends Tube Wi-Fi To Ten More Stations

Virgin Media has extended the London Underground Wi-Fi network to ten new stations, bringing the total number of Internet-enabled stops on the capital’s subterranean railway to 131.

West Hampstead, Finchley Central, Leytonstone, Wanstead, White City, Leyton, Newbury Park, Plaistow, Finchley Road and Upton Park have all been added to the network, with the promise of a further ten more stations getting connected by spring.

Tube Wi-Fi coverage

The service is free for Virgin Media customers and subscribers to three of the UK’s major mobile operators – EE, Vodafone and O2, which finally agreed a network sharing deal last July. It is unclear whether Three is in discussions to bring the service to its customers, but the Wi-Fi network is also accessible on a pay-as-you-go basis, with daily plans costing £2.

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

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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