Free Wifi at (some) stations thanks to Microsoft

[Tibbs]

You'll be able to get free wifi at all stations that use 'The Cloud' until 24th April.

Apparently this is part of Microsoft's bid to get people to subscribe to Office 365.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/27/ms_the_cloud/

Not bad!

 

[pinguini]

Any idea which stations are included?

 

[mirodo]

The free access is to run until the 24th of April, after which the hot-spots will return to offering only 15 minutes of free access per customer. While the advertising will appear on The Cloud pages served from hot-spots at First Great Western, London Overground and Greater Anglia stations, the company has so far not provided a list of which sites will actually be getting the free access - save for claiming it will cover "selected Network Rail stations."

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/netw...lway-stations-thanks-to-microsoft-sponsorship

 

[SS4]

Perhaps those Network Rail stations are the ones NR operate directly? I wouldn't mind it coming to Barnes New Street.

Then again the Stallmanite in me would rather not have anything to do with Microsoft

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Any idea which stations are included?

Network Rail managed stations.
List here: http://www.thecloud.net/wifi/news/m...nefit-from-new-wifi-in-network-rail-stations/

I'm new to The Cloud but it appears to be free anyway at these stations (ie the Microsoft deal is irrelevant), but if not I'm sure a regular will correct me.

 

[Tibbs]

You normally get 15 minutes free with The Cloud, after that you have to pay.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

24 Chiltern stations are in this scheme:

24 stations to get high-speed WiFi over the coming months
Date:22 Mar 2013 09:16
We’ve announced a partnership with WiFi provider The Cloud to offer free WiFi in 24 stations across our network.

The first station, Warwick Parkway, has already been connected and the WiFi service is live from today with Warwick and Haddenham & Thame Parkway following next week.

WiFi at all connected stations will be free to all customers for up to an hour each day, so it is hoped most commuters will be able to access the service at no additional cost.

The stations that will receive the WiFi are: London Marylebone, South Ruislip, Northolt Park, West Ruislip, Wembley Stadium, Denham, High Wycombe, Gerrards Cross, Seer Green, Beaconsfield, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Stoke Mandeville, Wendover, Great Missenden, Haddenham & Thame Parkway, Bicester North, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick and Warwick Parkway, Dorridge, Solihull and Birmingham Moor Street.

http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/24-stations-get-high-speed-wifi-over-coming-months

Anyone want to guess on how they managed to get the London - Princes Risborough stations in such a random order on the press release?

 

[HowardGWR]

24 Chiltern stations are in this scheme:



Anyone want to guess on how they managed to get the London - Princes Risborough stations in such a random order on the press release?

No not really. (or is this a quiz?).

 

[jon0844]

Here's a hotspot at Kensington Olympia that I used last week and I believe it gave me an HOUR free, not 15 minutes.



I do hope the story isn't misleading, or simply misunderstood the fact that Microsoft is advertising on a service given free to customers anyway. Perhaps someone read that as it being Microsoft paying for the service, without realising it is free anyway (for a limited time).

An hour is probably more than enough, especially at an outdoor station where you'd be unlikely to want to pull out the laptop and use it as your office for the day.

The question is how long it is until you can get another free hour, or whether it is an hour on The Cloud in general (so you'd not be able to use it elsewhere within a certain time limit).

 

[Starmill]

Aye, this week they have taken over Piccadilly with pastel colours and bad puns. Haven't managed to get my phone connected though...

 

[RPM]

24 Chiltern stations are in this scheme:



Anyone want to guess on how they managed to get the London - Princes Risborough stations in such a random order on the press release?

And why the strange omission of Aylesbury Vale Parkway?

 

[SS4]

Don't worry, it's sponsored by Microsoft so I'm sure it won't work and will be unnecessarily restrictive

In the interest of full disclosure I'm still ****ed off with them for replacing MSN with an inferior service :mad:

 

[FGW_DID]

At FGW stations, the standard free period for 'The Cloud' Wi-Fi is 1 hour.

Believe the standard time is 15 mins a day free, not 15 mins per hotspot!

As long as you press "Go Offline" before the end of your free period, then you should be able to log back on elsewhere and use the remainder of your allowance.

 

[jon0844]

15 mins is silly IMO. Hardly worth even offering, especially if it's 15 minutes per day - rather than say, 15 minutes every hour, or two hours..

There are so many free Wi-Fi services, I really can't imagine having just 15 minutes would make me stump up the cash for longer.

What I see some providers are doing is giving different speeds, charging more for more megabits. Ironically, I'd probably pay for that if I am using the Internet for work, such as uploading HD video to YouTube or wanting to download large hi-res images etc.

I now have an EE portable hotspot (4G) and 8GB of data, so now I can enjoy speeds of up to 50Mbps in both directions in 4G coverage areas, and speeds of around 20Mbps in 3G areas.

 

[bicbasher]

Here's a hotspot at Kensington Olympia that I used last week and I believe it gave me an HOUR free, not 15 minutes.

All London Overground managed stations with wi-fi are 60 minutes as default.

 

[jon0844]

That is a reasonable amount of time IMO.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

15 mins is silly IMO. Hardly worth even offering, especially if it's 15 minutes per day - rather than say, 15 minutes every hour, or two hours..

It depends where you are though. I guess at a coffee shop or cafe or library then 15 minutes is enough to check something urgent or tempt people who are hanging around for longer to stump up a bit of cash to pay for an hour or two.

At a station it's different. How long do people really spend at a station? Going by some of the posts on this forum it seems a lot of people like to arrive about three seconds before their train is due out! People changing trains might have 20-30 minutes. I'm not sure most people spend enough time on a station for them to want to pay for internet. Offering it for free and subsidising it with adverts is probably the better option.
If it is an hour a day as people are beginning to report then that seems to be adequate for most peoples needs.

 

[jon0844]

I did say that people aren't so likely to want much time at a station, but if that hour can be used a bit here and a bit there during a day then it is a bit more useful than a straight 15 mind and that's your lot for 24 hours.

 

[142056]

I had a 20 minute wait at Bath Spa the other day and spent about 15 minutes of that getting my laptop to connect to The Cloud....I then gave up. Useless.
Then I was subjected to constant announcements about my train to Cardiff (though that's another story.......on a different thread)