Wifi no longer visible on London underground

[ruswit]

Hi all, 

I noticed for the first time today that the usual virgin media WiFi network isn't there on the tube.

Is this being phased out?

[MOD EDIT: Please see update on post 111 here]

[John_GS]

Hi @ruswit 

Thanks for posting and welcome to the community.

Virgin Media customers with a mobile device will still be able to access Wi-Fi on the London Underground. From April 1st 2023, they will need to sign up and register for the new BAI/TFL service.

[enlli]

Tube WiFi is being phased out in favour of 4G. I here from TFL that it won't accept new connections.

There is also a problem with Andriod 11 up which will not auto connect.

[ruswit]

Given that the 4g rollout is miles away from being finished (I am seeing end of 2024 as the quoted date, god knows if they'll be on time...) you'd have thought they'd run concurrent services for a little while...

@John_GS is there any word on how anyone is supposed to connect to the "new" wifi service from BAI?

I was never able to connect to o2's "wifiextra" network when I ported my number from VM to O2 with Volt, supposedly porting your number essentially means you can never use their wifi services...

[Gareth_L]

Hello ruswit,

If a customer has a SIM with Virgin Mobile, O2, giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, EE, BT, Three or Vodafone, they will still be able to automatically connect to London Underground’s WIFI network.
Any customers who previously registered via the Connect app will need to re-connect via the WIFI Extra SSID, providing they have a SIM with one of the above providers.

The full roll out is expected to be completed by November 2023 and we will have more information nearer to the time.

Gareth_L

[ruswit]

Hi Gareth_L,

Do you mean that WiFi will only be available by Nov 23?

All estimates about 4g / 5g underground say it will be the end of 2024.

[TRT1968]

Well I tried that this morning, and it wanted a username and password. I don't see how SIM details will be passed as part of the WiFi handshake protocol... not on an iPhone! That's part of the EAP method, and on an iPhone that's going to be set from a profile. On Android, you get to see that underware,  not on an Apple. I redid the Virgin Connect as well yesterday evening, so I have a new profile installed.

[Gareth_L]

Hello ruswit.

Not at all.

From 31st March, Virgin Media will no longer host WiFi on the London Underground. The good news is, if you’ve got a SIM with Virgin Mobile, O2, giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, EE, BT, Three or Vodafone, you’ll still be able to connect to the TFL WiFi. The connection should be automatic but if you use the Connect app to get online, then you’ll need to re-connect to WiFi Extra through your settings.

If you have a SIM with someone else, please check with your provider to make sure you can still access the service.

Gareth_L

[TRT1968]

Well that didn't happen.

[Gareth_L]

Are you running the latest version of the Connect App ruswit?

Gareth_L