Posts Tagged ‘london underground’
O2 to offer free WiFi on the Underground
April 9th, 2013 • 3 Comments
EE, Vodafone and Virgin all offer WiFi on the London Underground and, not ones to miss a trick, O2 have decided to get on-board with the Tube. If you’re on Three, tough.
O2 have some technical problems to deal with if they want to impress their customers. Virgin have been pulling their hair out over a problem that sees customers’ connection dropping out every time a train enter a tunnel.
Seeing as the Tube is a long network of tunnels filled with trains, that’s a big problem.
Either way, people need to talk this up. Mark Williamson, Head of London Wi-Fi at Virgin Media, said: “Wi-Fi on London Underground has gone from strength to strength and we’re delighted the majority of Londoners are staying connected for no extra cost. Virgin Media’s unique fibre optic network means we deliver unrivalled capacity for next generation digital services both inside and outside the home, meeting the increasing demand for wireless services.”
Virgin will be connecting more stations soon, looking at Acton Town, Baker Street, Bank, Caledonian Road, Earl’s Court, Holland Park, Ladbroke Grove, Maida Vale, Queen’s Park, Shepherd’s Bush, Sloane Square and West Ruislip.
Soon, Londoners will be able to lead their entire life without ever talking to each other.
Rasta announcer is a hit on the Underground!
February 22nd, 2013 • 9 CommentsJourneying on the London Underground is, for the most part, as joyless as it gets, breathing in dead air and flatulence and being ignored by every other scurrying human down there.
And so, someone bring a little sunshine to proceedings is a Tube worker on the Victoria line who toasts like a dancehall MC while doing his announcements.
He says, in the video above: “This train is for all the Brixton crew. Service update, everything irie, everyting cris. Chill out, kick back, no need let anybody cramp your style” before signing off with “Rastaman driver, take these beautiful people to their destination.”
Of course, most miserable Londoners don’t even acknowledge this fine, cheery man. However, he’s becoming something of an online hit thanks to the rest of us who have a vague semblance of heart. Good work that man!
TeamEE members to get free Underground wi-fi in London
November 21st, 2012 • 1 Comment
Here’s another enormous boon for EE customers – well the London-based ones anyway. Once the free period of Underground-based wi-fi from Virgin Media comes to an end at the end of the year, you’ll still be able to get the service for gratis, nil, nada etc if you’re part of #TeamEE.
EE tweeted the news yesterday, before deleting it again, suggesting that the official announcement wasn’t supposed to have actually been announced yet. It seems probable that other mobile providers will also hook up with Virgin by the end of the year too.
Meanwhile though, the free tubular wi-fi will be available to all until the end of the year. Well, in the stations that have actually got it that is.
First the Essex Lion, and now THIS…?
August 28th, 2012 • 3 CommentsAs spotted by occasional Twitter user @JohnTrindle at London’s Farringdon underground station. People, the animals are rising up. They. Are. Rising. Up.
Virgin Media launches free Wi-Fi on London Underground
June 8th, 2012 • 4 Comments
Virgin Media has switched on the free Wi-Fi at four of London’s tube stations ahead of London 2012: The Festival Of Grating Disappointment.
So, if you’re at King’s Cross, Warren Street, Oxford Circus or Green Park, you’ll be able to tweet ‘I’M ON THE TUBE! TWEETING! OMG!’ at everyone until the entire online world blocks you for being a hooting poo-hammock.
Of course, this will roll-out to more stations, 120 in total by the end of the year, with Victoria and Euston going live this weekend.
Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media said: “This is a truly historic moment as we connect millions of Tube passengers to the wonderful world of the internet for the first time ever. Our plans for getting London Underground online were very ambitious from the start and, in less than just three months, we’ve launched a major new service, making London one of the world’s leading connected cities.”
Users will need to register to use the service which will be free to anyone for the summer. After that, it’ll be restricted to Virgin Media customers, while those not on Virgin will have a restricted service, which means you’ll only be able to get live travel news, Time Out, Spotify and MyMovies.net.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “Our partnership with Virgin Media to make WiFi available on Tube platforms will be of tremendous benefit as building world class connectivity is critical to supporting new businesses and the jobs they create, especially in the high-tech and creative sectors.”
He then fell over a hat-stand and said something that sounded a bit racist.
Where’s the wi-fi on the London Underground?
June 1st, 2012 • 1 Comment
London, a great sprawling clogged-up lung of dreadfulness, is getting wi-fi down the Tubes. And Oxford Circus, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street and Leicester Square are just some of the first London Underground stations to offer it as Virgin Media revealed the 80 stations that will get the service over the next couple of months.
Wi-fi will be free ’til September, which marks the end of the Paralympic Games. After that, it’ll be offered as a PAYG service.
London Underground director of strategy and service development Gareth Powell said: ‘Our customers will soon be able to connect to the internet for live travel information while they are on the move through stations. Bringing a next generation wi-fi service to one of the world’s oldest underground transport networks is progressing as planned and the forthcoming service is testing well.”
“The first stations include some of our busiest and most well-known destinations and we’re on-track for a successful launch this summer – all delivered at no additional cost to fare payers or taxpayers.”
What an incredibly boring man. Either way, we can all look forward to trying to work out who is looking at filth on their phones during their commute. Our money’s on mucky MPs looking at dog porn.
Virgin Media executive director of broadband Jon James said: “In partnership with TfL, we’ve been working around-the-clock to install and test wi-fi on London Underground and are about to connect some iconic and world famous Tube stations with a wi-fi service London will be proud of.’
An internet tenner on it failing miserably at some point in the near future.
Virgin Media gets London Underground wi-fi contract
March 15th, 2012 • 10 Comments
Blessed, beautiful wi-fi is finally coming to the London Underground, and you needn’t have any fears about the quality of service, as the contract to provide it has been won by…. Virgin Media!
Yes, that’s the same Virgin Media who regularly feature in the upper echelons of our Worst Company Of The Year polls for a myriad of reasons, but we’re sure that this project will run smoothly and we know that you’ll join us in congratulating them.
Virgin Media have said that 80 tube stations will have wi-fi by the summer, with that figure rising to 120 by the end of the year. Initially it will be free, to cover the period of the Olympics and Paralympics, but after that it will become a pay-as-you-go service. We don’t envisage there being any problems there. Oh no.
Also, the wi-fi will only cover ticket offices, escalators and platforms, with no availability in the Underground’s network of dark, spooky, stinking tunnels. Virgin Media’s director of wireless Kevin Baughan told the BBC: “Every wi-fi station you pass through is going to give you the chance to stay connected, by quickly updating Facebook, Twitter, email and the like”. It all sounds FABULOUS.
Probably a Banksy or something…
March 5th, 2012 • 9 Comments
Wi-Fi available on London Tube by summer (yeah right)
January 24th, 2012 • 6 CommentsAfter something of a successful trial at Charing Cross station, TfL has confirmed that Wi-Fi will be available at 120 stations throughout the Tube network.
The service will only be available on platforms, leaving passengers unable to use the Wi-Fi service when travelling from station to station.
Hands up if you have any faith at all that this will come to fruition?
Of course, the TfL are saying that this will be available before the London 2012 Olympics, but this time last year, the same promise fell apart. Then, the UK’s four main mobile operators didn’t want anything to do with it.
Basically, you’d be a fool to hold your breath.
TfL has yet to announce which company will take responsibility for the service. Gareth Powell, TfL’s director of strategy and service development said: “We are in the final stages of the tender process. London Underground is continuing with preparations to install the necessary infrastructure and is on schedule to complete the project as planned. An announcement of the chosen service provider will be made in early spring, leaving plenty of time for this to be delivered to customers in time for the 2012 Games.”
Yes, yes. How much will it cost?
Horrible horrible horrible horrible
December 5th, 2011 • 7 Comments“You say it best when you say nothing at all” trilled Ronan Keating back in 1999. He’s dead now (or so we imagine) but we sincerely wish that Nectar and easyJet had heeded his dying words before they went ahead with this desperately shitty piece of ‘promotion”.
You see, you can use your Nectar points to book flights with easyJet now, and by way of conveying that message, a couple of stooges dressed as flight attendants got on board a London tube train and arsed about for a bit. Admittedly, a handful of the passengers do look vaguely amused but there’s an overriding air of pity and sympathy being wafted in the direction of the daft dancing sods from almost everyone present.
So now, Nectar and easyJet, now, everyone hates you and no one wants to book any flights to anywhere with anything that has got anything to do with either of you. We’re all hiding in cupboards under staircases, waiting for the anger to subside.
Okay, we need to stop and think about this…
September 23rd, 2011 • 16 Comments
London Underground mobile network scrapped
April 1st, 2011 • 7 CommentsYou know how Boris Johnson wanted a mobile phone network installed on the London underground so everyone could tweet and text their way around the 2012 Olympic Games?
It’s not happening.
The TfL, 02, Vodafone, Everything Everywhere and 3 have all agreed to shrug and give up on the project thanks to it all seeming like it was a bit of a ballache to sort out.
The Guardian reports that Huawei, a Chinese network equipment supplier, was prepared to donate £50m of equipment to wire up the network and the networks were going to pay for 3G networks to be installed. However, they’re not going to bother now.
Of course, other places – like Paris – already have mobile signals on their underground, leaving Britain looking Victorian, again.
Transport for London said: “The mayor and TfL made it clear that, given the financial pressures on TfL’s budgets, any solution would have to have been funded through mobile operators with no cost to fare or taxpayers. The parties were not able to agree a viable proposal, and the project is therefore not being progressed at this time.”
So a massive waste of time for everyone who sat down to try and work out how this was going to get rolled out then.
A spokesperson for Johnson said: “We are grateful to the companies who explored the possibility of getting full mobile coverage on the tube, although disappointed the genuine problems encountered could not be overcome on this occasion. It remains a long-term goal.”
Wi-fi network heading to the London Underground
March 25th, 2011 • 14 Comments
Boris Johnson, yesterday.
If you travel on the London Underground you’ll know that, most of the time, it’s more annoying than the presence of a wasp around your pint in a beer garden. But at least you don’t have to put up with watching people updating their frigging Facebook status while you’re cramped together in that hot, stuffy environment. That’s all going to change.
Following a trial at Charing Cross Station, London Underground are planning to set up a wi-fi network at 120 Tube stations, which could be operational as early as next year. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “The roll out will finally allow Londoners to use mobile devices to pick up their e-mails and stay in touch with the world while they traverse our subterranean network.”
But there is dissent – Will Geddes, a man who specalises in terror or tech-based threats reckons the new network will be a bomber’s paradise. He told the BBC that it could allow terrorists to trigger underground explosions using mobile phone signals, as well as nick bank details and communicate with other terrorists.
But mostly, it’ll be used by people who will be typing ‘I’m writing this from on the Tube. Wow!’ on their fucking smartphones as you get a whiff of their armpit. Bastards.
Mixed signals – London Underground to go mobile, but who’ll pay?
November 25th, 2010 • 1 CommentThe London Underground is so noisy it’s been known to cause ears to bleed and scab over. Obviously that noise isn’t the din of commuters talking to one another – the world would no doubt end if such a thing actually occurred – but human chatter will soon be adding to the squeal of brakes and rattle of arthritic carriages. Yes, the opportunity to recite shopping lists and roll your eyes at cockney wankers in suits is just around the corner.
Mobile Today is reporting that a contract to create a mobile network for the tube is just a fortnight away from being signed. The investment deal will be between Transport for London (TfL) and Three, O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile).
The only snag is that this deal, reported to cost £150 million, is only for the development and installation of a 2G and 3G voice and data network across the Underground – it doesn’t cover the management or maintenance of it. The lack of specifics about who stumps up for the ongoing costs threatens to delay the agreement; TfL is reported as been reluctant to fund it because its budget is already a sow’s ear.
Will tube commuters have to foot fare increases to pay for the privilege of continuing to ignoring one another?
Still NSFW – there are London Underground strikes again, so…
November 3rd, 2010 • 14 CommentsWhat do you mean, this is the third time we’ve posted this video on Bitterwallet? Well, yes, yes it is. What’s your point? The London Underground maintenance workers are on strike once more and this video sums up how plenty of commuters feel, so no further excuses are required. Be warned though – it’s still chocked-full of swears and rude words on-screen:
The current tube strike, which started last night, is expected to affect services until tomorrow morning. Nearly two thirds of services are likely to be cancelled and plenty of stations will be closed altogether.
There’ll be extra bus services and water taxis in place for the day – there’s more information available from the TfL website.
