Virgin Media expands Underground Wi-Fi to ten more stations

published 21 February 2014

Ten more London Underground stations have installed Wi-Fi thanks to Virgin Media, bringing the total number of stations with wireless to 131.

West Hampstead, Finchley Central, Leytonstone, Wanstead, White City, Leyton, Newbury Park, Plaistow, Finchley Road and Upton Park have had Wi-Fi switched on. Virgin Media has also promised a further ten stations will be connected by spring.

The service is free to use for customers of Virgin Media, EE, Vodafone and O2, which became the latest mobile operator to agree a network sharing deal last July.

All other users can access the wireless network for 2 per day or 5 per week.

The service went live in time for the London Olympics in 2012. It started charging passengers for access in 2013.

By the time the project is completed at the end of this year, passengers will have access to Virgin Media Wi-Fi in all but four subterranean Tube stations, with roughly 160 of all 270 stations in the London Underground network being covered.

The London Overground also has access to wireless at 56 of its stations, thanks to a deal between Transport for London and The Cloud.

Virgin Media also revealed 80,000 people used its Wi-Fi service on the London Underground on New Year's Eve 2013, delivering 600,000 tweets, Facebook posts, emails and web pages within 24 hours.

Rene Millman is a freelance writer and broadcaster who covers cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and the cloud. He also works as a contributing analyst at GigaOm and has previously worked as an analyst for Gartner covering the infrastructure market. He has made numerous television appearances to give his views and expertise on technology trends and companies that affect and shape our lives. You can follow Rene Millman on Twitter.