London gets test run of free Wi-Fi

London gets test run of free Wi-Fi NEWS

Share this

Nokia have launched a two month trial of free Wi-Fi in the Capital of London

London is to be dragged into the twenty first century alongside its European counterparts with free Wi-Fi being introduced to 26 key areas in the city by Finnish mobile company Nokia.

Nokia will be launching the two month trial in the British capital to the most popular tourists spots including, Oxford Street, Knightsbridge, Sloan Square, Victoria and Westminster.

Other European capital cities such as Paris, free Wi-Fi is offered in many cafes and restaurants. In contrast London provides few free hotspots which include the US coffeehouse giants Starbucks, who offer free Wi-Fi, but users are obliged to go through a sign up procedure before accessing the internet.

The Tate Modern and St. Pancras Station also offer the free service, but other free hotspots are few and far between.

The no strings attached service offered by Nokia will let users log onto the network which is offered British Telecom, accept the terms and conditions and start surfing.

The service is promised to be high-speed and will be accessed through equipment installed in phone boxes owned by Spectrum Interactive on the high street. Users will be able to access the free 20Mbps wireless links within a radius of 165 to 327 feet from each box.

To prevent service users from hogging up the bandwidth, Nokia have put a limited on each user of 1Mbps.

The service is set to last until the end of the year; Nokia will then look at the results of the test run to see how people use Wi-Fi on the move and to help provide a good service for the future.

Users will not have to have a Nokia phone to activate the service and if the test results are found to be successful, the company plan to roll out the free service on a permanent basis in early 2012 ready for the London 2012 Olympics.