All aboard: Wi-fi arrives on the Tube

Charing Cross becomes a BT Openzone hotspot...

Wireless internet access on the Tube network takes a step forward today as London Underground starts a six-month wi-fi trial at Charing Cross underground station.

Wi-fi will be available in the ticket hall and on the Bakerloo and Northern Line platforms, but not on the trains.

All wi-fi users will have access to the BT Openzone network, which is free to BT Openzone customers and BT broadband customers with unlimited BT FON wi-fi minutes. Customers of O2, Tesco Mobile, Vodafone and Orange, and others with wi-fi minutes in their contracts, can also use the BT Openzone network, while users of 3 and T-Mobile will be required to buy a BT Openzone voucher.

The wi-fi trial at Charing Cross comes only a month after the London Mayor's Office confirmed that Boris Johnson is in talks with Transport for London (TfL) and mobile operators in the hope of extending a mobile network underground.

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's Transport Adviser, said in a statement: "An ever-growing commuter populus has been clamouring to be able to check their emails and browse the net on the go. This trial at Charing Cross will allow them to do just that on the Tube platform."

TfL originally announced trials for a Tube mobile network in 2007, but these plans were abandoned due to prohibitive costs.

The Mayor said earlier this summer he would support wi-fi networks on the London Underground, having already pledged to ensure wi-fi coverage across London by 2012.

The trial will run at no cost to travellers or taxpayers as the network will be funded entirely by BT.