82 London Underground stations to get free Wi-Fi for the Olympics

After that, you're paying. And it's a monopoly

Virgin Media has begun rolling out its wireless network to the London Underground with Oxford Circus, Stratford, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and Leicester Square being among the first stations to offer a Wi-Fi service to commuters.

The telco said that it planned to connect 82 stations on the Tube network by the end of July. The remaining 38 stations earmarked for the wireless service are expected to be offering internet access at platform-only level by the end of the year, Virgin Media added.

As we reported previously, the monopoly underground Wi-Fi network will be offered to punters for free during the London 2012 Olympics.

Once the games are over, Virgin Media customers will continue to get free access while waiting at a platform for the next tube to pull in.

But everyone else will have to pay, apart from a limited offering "including TfL’s journey planner and entertainment and news content useful for a commute to work or trip into town", which will continue to be free.

“Bringing a next generation WiFi service to one of the world’s oldest underground transport networks is progressing as planned and the forthcoming service is testing well," London Underground's director of strategy and service development Gareth Powell said.

“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 tax payers.”

Transport for London (TFL) serves 270 stations across its tube network in the capital. ®