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Noel Hernandez Thursday 9 February 2012 |
Major train companies in the UK charge you for using their wireless internet access onboard - on top of their already ridiculously expensive fares. Bearing that in mind, I can only be cautious about London Underground's initiative of providing commuters with Wi-Fi: surely, we will have to pay for it.
The logistics and cost behind such a project are not simple, I would imagine. So thinking that Transport for London (TfL) is willing to give that service away may be optimistic. But I guess the news is that they are going to provide us with that service at all, and not the price of it.
After positive feedback from a trial at Charing Cross station, the Wi-Fi scheme will be extended to 120 stations across the underground network, TfL announced.
According to the Guardian, Gareth Powel, TfL's director of strategy, 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."
This service will certainly be pretty good, but not perfect: passengers could go online when waiting at the platforms, but not when they are travelling from station to station inside the carriages.
TfL has not confirmed yet details of possible charges to commuters who want to use the service. During trials at Charing Cross station users could only access travel information for free; whereas access to other sites was free only for BT customers.
Introducing Wi-Fi access in the underground might be risky too. Technology trade publication IT Pro Portal reported that security experts are concerned with the possibility of terrorists using internet access to plan attacks in the trains in real time, or by fraudsters to hoax passengers.
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