Virgin Media proposes a plan for free access to Wi-Fi for Londoners, the company believing this will aide in our “advancing digital lifestyles”.
If allowed by London councils, Virgin’s service would work along the lines of BT Openzone, selected Wi-Fi “hotspots” where vouchers are obtained (£3 per hour or £5 per day) in exchange for limited wireless internet access. BSkyB own the largest service of this kind in Europe- known as The Cloud – which also comes at a cost or free to O2 users.
Virgin Media’s version of this is planned to be free of charge to all, delivering 0.5Mbps to anybody – or boosting that to speeds of 10Mbps for existing Virgin Media home customers. That’s not a lot for non-customers but it’s enough to perform basic web browsing and those all-important Twitter updates.
Sounds good to us, but it firstly needs approval. Virgin Media and London councils are in talks regarding the installation of wireless router cabinets across the capital utilizing Virgin’s existing cable network.
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