It’s been much discussed but now apparently it is shortly about to arrive: WiFi when you are 200ft underground waiting for the tube. Provided it’s good quality, I’m a fan… What about you? Will you be making use of this?
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I assume that London at least will have enough users of this to sustain it past the Olympic surge. I amy use it, but given I’m a very infrequent tube traveller I would worry about security/theft. Both electronically and physically.
Hmmm. I like it but…..
I think there’s about 2.75 million tube users a day or something like that – let’s round down to 2 million.Smartphone penetration in the UK is approaching 50%, I think you easily assume 50% in a metropolis like London.I know the wifi will only be in about 120 stations but there’s potentially an awful lot of people with phones, tablets, iPods and even laptops wanting to get some free wifi love during their “downtime”.The service is constantly going to be plagued by hordes of people using Youtube and iPlayer to while away their journey.So you can safely assume your real-world wifi experience is mostly likely going to be similar to trying to use the wifi at 3GSM (sorry MWC).
If TFL really want this to more than just good PR, then they need to consider some kind of tiered service model.
Maybe something along the lines of:
* Free = service throttled to 1MB, blocks sites like YouTube, iPlayer, Vimeo etc
* PAYG = up to 8MB, £5 for the day, one device only
* 3 rolling contract = up to 20MB, £10/month, up to 3 registered devices
Should be able to pay for it using credit card linked to Oyster, iTunes, operator billing, paypal, etc meaning it’s a simple and effortless connect.
Do something like that and it could be a really useful enhancement to the underground travelling experience.
It’s only available on platforms apparently!
Oh, how awesomely shite.
Well at least that kinda takes care of my doom-mongering YouTube/iPlayer scenario.So we’ll be able to check messages/tweets/scores etc at each stop.Also we’ll see warnings from others about delays, overcrowding, etc BEFORE getting on at a station etc. S’pose there will be some convenience value.But not quite the internet surfing utopia between, say, Stratford and Bond Street on the Central Line that I’d envisaged.