London Overground passengers to get free Wi-Fi

Travellers on London Overground will get an hour's free Wi-Fi access each day, after the company that operates the rail network signed a deal with wireless provider The Cloud.

The Cloud is to provide an hour's worth of free Wi-Fi a day to passengers on the London Overground. Image credit: TfL

Wi-Fi access will be available at no charge in and around all 56 London Overground-operated stations. The hotspot rollout will begin in the summer, with 12 stations scheduled to be hooked up by the end of this year.

"Access to the internet is no longer limited solely to home or to the workplace, and people's expectation is to be able to work and communicate effectively and seamlessly while they're on the move. So we're delighted to support this initiative which will bring reliable, free Wi-Fi to London Overground's customers," Steve Murphy, managing director of London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL), said in a statement on Monday.

The stations in line to get Wi-Fi connectivity this year are Willesden Junction, West Hampstead, New Cross Gate, Forest Hill, West Croydon, Norwood Junction, Surrey Quays, Dalston, Wapping, Hackney Central, Kensington Olympia and Shepherd's Bush.

Passengers will only have to register once for the service, which will give them 60 free minutes of use each day, according to London Overground.

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Earlier in March, Virgin Media signed a similar deal to provide Wi-Fi in London Underground stations. The operator will initially provide its service in 80 Tube stations free of charge, but will likely introduce fees after the Olympics for non-Virgin customers.

London Underground and London Overground are operated by two different entities — Transport for London (TfL) and LOROL respectively — although the services of both are generally delivered under TfL's branding.

TfL confirmed to ZDNet UK that passengers will need separate accounts for The Cloud's Overground network and Virgin's Underground network, and there would be no interplay between the two systems.