August 3, 2011
Virgin Media are looking into offering a free public wi-fi service to cover London and be a firm rival to BT’s Openzone network.
According to Neil Berkett, the Chief Executive of Virgin Media, they are in “quite advanced negotiations” with London councils about the service which could potentially be launched in the not too distant future.
 This free London WiFi service from Virgin Media will offer everyone a 0.5Mb broadband connection and to Virgin Media customers this will be available up to 10Mb. BT’s Openzone network charges users up to £5.99 for a 90 minutes browsing and is only free to BT broadband customers. It is also only able to bring broadband speeds “up to” 8Mb depending on how close t0 one of the hotspots the user is.
It is likely that the network will cost Virgin Media a few million pounds and it is considered by the company as a “punt”.
Mr Berkett also said:
“there is a gap that is increasingly occurring between consumers’ need for data outside the home and what they can get on 3G”
By offering free public wifi this will help to bridge the gap as more and more people access the internet on the move mainly via smartphone devices.
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June 14, 2011
Passengers on National Express coaches between Stansted Airport and London are now able to use free Wi-Fi internet access on their journey.
 The Wi-Fi technology that has been installed was from Icomera and has been installed into all the coaches that run on the Stansted Airport to London route. This route has around 4 coaches per hour running and runs 24/7 and is one of National Expresses busiest routes.
Icomera’s award winning Moovbox M200 is what has been installed and it connects to a T-Mobile HSPA cellular broadband connection that it is then able to offer to passengers as a Wi-Fi connection on board at speeds up to a few Mb per second.
The Stansted to London route is not the first route that National Express have installed the Moovbox on to, with other services in Bournemouth, Southampton and Gloucester having it installed already.
Dave Palmer, from Icomera said:
“With this Wi-Fi deployment, National Express has once again demonstrated their commitment to meeting the expectations of today’s business and leisure travellers. With millions of new Wi-Fi enabled smartphones and tablet PCs being purchased every month the demand for reliable internet connectivity on the move is growing exponentially. We are delighted to be supporting innovative customers like National Express in getting customers onboard and online.”
This is great to see from companies such as National Express, embracing technology and how important it is to allow customers even greater access to the internet on more parts of their journey. With more and more smartphones and internet ready devices being sold we will hopefully see more and more companies embrace free wireless internet for customers.
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January 24, 2011
Sky Broadband are reportedly looking to buy “The Cloud” so that they can enter the UK public WiFi hotspot market and rival competitor BT.
 The Cloud has around 22,ooo WiFi access points across Europe and allows users to connect to a public WiFi hotspot away from the home. Sky Broadband will most likely be looking to offer their customers free access to the WiFi hotspots when they take out a broadband package in much the same way that BT currently does with their customers.
BT has around 2 million UK free hotspots available to BT Broadband customers via it’s BT FON and BT Openzone networks and recent reports also suggest that Virgin Media were looking to roll out their own free WiFi network.
The Cloud has deals in place with companies such as McDonalds, Little Chef and Marriott hotels and claim to connect 3 million laptops and smartphones each month to its network and deliver over 100 million network minutes every month with an average download speed of over 3.5Mb.
An announcement is expected on Thursday about the deal when BSkyB announce it’s latest earnings.
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November 22, 2010
“Human Hotspots” are to hit the streets over the next few weeks in various UK locations as part of an advertising campaign by 3 Mobile.
 The “Human Hotspots” will be offering free access to mobile Wi-Fi, also known as MiFi. The 3 Mobile MiFi connection will be available to people who are in an area where one of the “Human Hotspots” are located. They should be relatively easy to spot as they will be dressed all in white (although with snow forecast towards the end of the week then maybe they won’t be so easy to spot).
What MiFi does is share out a wireless internet connection through a battery powered wireless portable router which then allows other internet enabled devices to connect to it, such as laptops or smartphones.
Matthew Halfin from Three Mobile said:
“People are now using mobile internet as part of their everyday lifestyle, and we think it’s important that we’re able to support our customers by providing them with reliable and fast connectivity for wherever they want to go online.
“Three’s 3G network was designed for the mobile internet, so we can give people the very best online experience with their mobile gadgets. This will be particularly important over the Christmas period as a third of people head online with their new mobile toys.“
The reason 3 are launching this latest campaign is because they did a survey and found that people are in need of reliable and strong 3G connections which is what they feel the 3 MiFi device is able to offer customers.
The top 10 places that 3 Mobile’s research said people use their mobile gadgets were as follows:
- In the living room – 72%
- In the bedroom – 48%
- At Work – 29%
- On public transport – 24%
- On the toilet – 14%
- Walking – 14%
- In the bathroom – 12%
- In the garden – 11%
- At a bar/club – 9%
- While shopping – 8%
The Human Hotpsots will be in the following locations over the coming weeks:
London (Friday Nov 19), Cardiff (Friday Nov 26), Bristol (Saturday Nov 27), Nottingham (Saturday Dec 4) and Newcastle (Saturday Dec 11).
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November 9, 2010
BT’s wireless hotspot network has reached an impressive 2 million WiFi hotspots, making it the largest of it’s kind in the UK.
With the demand for wireless internet access growing at a very fast rate due to the popularity of devices such as smartphones, laptops, iPods and e-readers it has helped spur BT on to extend their wireless network. In the last 6 months alone they have added more than 780,000 hotspots.
BT Total Broadband customers are able to access this wireless network unlimited and for free as part of their broadband package.
The whole wireless network is made up with BT FON customers and BT Openzone. Many well known brands across the UK offer the access at their premises, such as Hilton Hotels, Starbucks and British Airways to name a few.
The breakdown of how the wireless network is made up is that there are around 1.95 million BT FON hotspots which are public hotspots that are sent by BT customers Home Hubs, 195,000 BT Business hubs and 3,900 BT Openzone hotspots at public locations such as hotels and coffee shops.
The Chief Executive of BT Retail, Gavin Patterson, said:
“Demand for wireless access is growing at a record rate, we’ve have added more than 780,000 hotspots in the last six months and will continue to meet the demand as more and more smart-phone, laptop, tablet, iPod and e-reader users choose WiFi to stay connected when they are out and about. What’s more our BT Total Broadband customers have free and unlimited access to the largest WiFi network in the UK included in their broadband package.“
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October 29, 2010
London Underground wireless Internet trials are due to start on 1st November at Charing Cross Tube Station.
BT Openzone, who provide wireless Internet hotspots has joined up with London Underground to trial for 6 months wireless Internet service at Charing Cross tube station. Any BT broadband customers with unlimited BT FON Wi-Fi minutes and for BT Openzone customers will be able to access the service at no extra charge, it will allow Internet enabled devices such as smartphones, laptops or netbooks to connect to the Internet as they are in the Charing Cross Tube Station.
The Strategy and Commercial Director for London Underground, Richard Parry, said:
“Around 68,000 passenger journeys are made a day at Charing Cross Tube station. We hope that our customers will find it useful to have access to the internet while they are using the Tube station during this six-month trial. Live service updates will allow passengers to check the status of the Tube and other transport services while they are on the move at the station.“
The Mayor of London’s Transport Adviser, Mulveer Ranger, said:
“An ever growing commuter populous has been clamouring to be able to check their emails and browse the net whilst on the go. This trial at Charing Cross will allow them to do just that whilst on the Tube platform. This is an important step towards seeing how this could be achieved and is part of the Mayor’s ambition to examine ways in which we can use technology to adapt the city’s transport system to meet the needs of those using it.“
It would therefor appear that providing the trails go well and customers using the London Underground find it useful then it could well be rolled out further across the Underground network, this could work well for business as people are able to do more work on the way and way back from work or when travelling across London.
Customers on O2, Tesco Mobile, Vodafone and Orange who have Wi-Fi minutes included in their contract may also be able to use the BT Openzone network while other users will be able to purchase BT Openzone vouchers to be able to access the network.
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September 7, 2010
BT Total Broadband customers who have iPhone or Android mobiles will be able to get an app that will connect their phones to free unlimited Wi-Fi connections.
 The app, called the BT FON app will notify users of the nearest WiFi hot spot to them, users will then be able to enter their email address and password and select if they want to automatically be logged in to a BT Wi-Fi area.
Being connected to these WiFi areas will save customers money as the access to BT FON and BT Openzone is free for BT Total broadband customers and there are 1.6 million of the Wi-Fi hot sports avialable worldwide.
The app will not only auto sign usesr into available Wi-Fi networks when they become ava\ilable but will also provide a map view so you can see where there is available access points close by.
What’s more, BT are donating 50p for every BT FON app that is downloaded (up to a maximum of £10,000) so providing 20,000 people download the app then BT will be paying up the full amount to BBC Children in Need.
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September 14, 2009
Free WiFi could be coming to a place near you if your community is selected as one of the places to receive a free to use WiFi hotspot by Freerunner.
The targeted areas are deprived or remote areas of the country and community members have until 25th September 2009 to apply for one of the 50 free WiFi connections that are going to be made available.
Freerunner have also teamed up with the online charity fundraising site JustGiving.com to help provide 500 charity locations across the UK with free WiFi.
Owen Geddes the CEO of Freerunner said:
“People need Internet access to be able to function equally in today’s society, and that most basic right is not being given to them.
Freerunner can help rise to the challenge set out in the Digital Britain Report – we believe that it is now time for entrepreneurial commercial businesses to take the initiative and solve the problem. Our team is on stand-by to install an initial 50 hotspots across the UK no matter where they are, and are working to find commercial sponsors for more future locations. We’re also determined to support charities, who play an invaluable role in our communities, by giving people a new reason to visit and giving them a chance to breach the ‘digital divide’ by working closely with companies such as JustGiving.com.”
Any communities who want to apply can do so via the form on the website at www.freerunr.com/community
The successful applicants will know if they have been successful by 1st October 2009.
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September 1, 2009
3 Mobile have announced the details about it’s new mobile Wi-Fi service that is has named MiFi. It is designed to help make connecting to 3 Mobile broadband easier.
 The MiFi is a wireless modem that is battery operated and is able to create a Wi-Fi connection when the modem is able to connect to the 3 Mobile network. All it needs is a 3 Mobile sim card to be inserted and then the modem to be turned on, it will then automatically create your own Wi-Fi connection that can connect multiple devices at the same time and you will be able to connect to with a range of devices such as a laptop, mobile or iPod.
The Three MiFi is available to buy online from Thursday 17th September at www.three.co.uk or in 3 Stores across the country from Friday 18th September and is available to customers in 2 options:
1 month contracts at £15 per month with 5Gb data transfer, the MiFi modem will cost a one off fee of £69.99.
There is another alternative for customers, they can buy the Ready to Go kit that comes with the MiFi modem and 3GB data that is available to be used over a 3 month period, this costs £99.99. After the 3 months is up the MiFi can be used on a pay as you go basis.
To sign up for Three MiFi visit www.three.co.uk and click on the Mobile Broadband link and then the MiFi tab.
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August 24, 2009
Broadband in the home has been transformed by Wi-Fi.
Wireless technology has become more popular in the last few years as prices have dropped and speeds have increased according to John Dunn, the editor of Techworld.
He said:
It’s a winner because it’s mature, cheap, and is used by PCs the world over. It has transformed the home networking market,
He did say the major drawback to Wi-Fi is the range that it is able to transmit as it’s limiting factor but it has still opened up the use of Internet around the home to not just to one specific location. Wimax is likely to be the next generation of wireless systems that will be able to transmit over much greater distances.
Laptops & netbooks are now increasingly coming with wireless technology installed into them which has helped drive the ever increasing need and demand for Wi-Fi.
Mobile networks have been using 3G technology as their answer to wireless Internet and we now have mobile broadband which has become hugely popular too.
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