UK Railway Stations to Get Free WiFi
Free internet while you wait for your train.
UK public WiFi provider The Cloud is to offer unlimited free WiFi access at numerous UK rail stations as part of a new collaboration with Microsoft. The Redmond, Washington-based company is sponsoring free WiFi for the the London Overground network of stations as well as UK rail stations run by First Great Western and Greater Anglia. Recombu reports that passengers connecting to the free WiFi will get completely unrestricted access to the web from their smartphones, tablets and laptops.
The news means those that frequent stations that currently have WiFi will no longer have a time limit for how long they can spend online. The partnership between Microsoft and The Cloud will run from March 25 to April 24 and Pocket-lint writes that users will see Microsoft branding on the splash page when they first connect.
Microsoft's part in this to advertise Office 365. The subscription-based Office suite launched almost two years ago, in June of 2011. The service offers access to different Microsoft Office products, including Exchange, Lync, and Office Web Apps. Office 2013 saw Offcie 365 expanded to include plans for home users, which is likely why Microsoft is eager to advertise the service to patrons of the UK's train stations.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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pacomac So actually a selected few stations get Wifi for a month only, whilst Microsoft gets the advertising. Hardly a newsworthy story here!Reply -
back_by_demand Let's hope this a just a trial and if successful will se a more permanent roll-out, all I can say is that I hope lots of people sign up for Office 365 and convince MS that advertising pays, then push out a permanent serviceReply