8 million golden moments on Underground WiFi during Olympics
- By Greg Rose -
- Aug 28, 2012
There were eight million golden connected moments with WiFi on the London Underground during the Olympics.
As the Paralympics gets set to begin, Virgin Media has revealed 443,000 people went online underground for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Millions of tweets, Facebook posts, emails and web pages have been viewed, while free up-to-the-minute travel information has helped keep everyone moving.
Olympic venues and central tourist destinations - Stratford, North Greenwich, West Ham, Covent Garden, Canning Town and Waterloo - were some of the busiest WiFi enabled stations as Londoners, ticket holders and tourists went online to check their teams’ latest medal win, re-live the photo finishes and find the best spot for lunch.
Wednesday August 1st was the busiest day for the new WiFi service as Tube passengers checked in on Team GB’s first Gold medals, thanks to Helen Glover and Heather Stanning’s rowing victory, and kept up with Bradley Wiggins as he rode to glory.
Meanwhile, Olympic double gold medal hero Mo Farah has become the newest face of Virgin Media's Keep Up campaign.
Kevin Baughan, Director of Metro Wireless at Virgin Media, said: “In an unforgettable sporting fortnight, WiFi on the London Underground delivered a world class experience and, just like the Team GB athletes, unparalleled speeds. Thousands of people signed up every day, sharing photos and keeping up-to-date with the latest Olympic moments and, even at very busiest stations, we’ve delivered a fantastic service.”
Virgin Media is offering free, full internet access throughout the Games. After September, the comprehensive WiFi portal with TfL travel information, updates and London news and entertainment will remain free for all Tube passengers. In addition Virgin Media is giving mobile operators, internet service providers and others the opportunity to continue to provide this service to their own customers on an ongoing basis. Virgin Media broadband and mobile subscribers will continue to have free WiFi access and a PAYG service will ensure visitors and all Londoners can easily hop onto the internet.
WiFi from Virgin Media is already available in 72 London Underground stations with the roll-out due to start again after the Paralympic Games and reach up to 120 stations this year.
By Greg Rose. Content Manager. Tweets @greglrose and blogs at greglrose.com
