Use Vodafone? You no longer get free wi-fi on the London Underground

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• Tom says:

  28 Jun28 June 05:27

  Funny, I’m a Vodafone customer and was on the underground for the first time since March 2020 yesterday. I thought I’d just forgotten how to connect to the wifi.. really annoying it is now gone!

• TomH says:

  28 Jun28 June 05:58

  Another Vodafone customer who was surprised they couldn’t find WiFi over the weekend. Looks like I will be changing network – anyone got a recommendation?

  • Paul pogba says:

    28 Jun28 June 06:10

    EE Good signal*, no free roaming
    O2 Good signal*, capped roaming.
    Three Bad signal*, good roaming.

    * signal may vary.

    • Dominic says:

      28 Jun28 June 06:32

      Worth noting Three have a large 5G network, certainly more so than Vodafone (at least near me!).

    • LS says:

      28 Jun28 June 06:37

      EE is currently free roaming if you sign up right now. Their calls over Wi-fi is also the best as you can send/receive texts. And EE have the best roaming packages if you go to far-flung places (30 mins for £6, 60 mins for £10). CS based in Ireland not India. 6m free Apple Music, 3m free BT sport (although it seems to have permanently added it for free for me).
      Other networks available…

      • MD says:

        28 Jun28 June 08:01

        Nice advert for EE. I assume you work for them? I’d certainly avoid EE.

        “Free roaming if you sign up right now” – very obviously the new charges are the thin end of the wedge, and existing contracts will not be rolled over so you’ll be the next to lose free roaming.

        EE are generally the most expensive network. Free wi-fi calling has been a feature offered by other networks for years as well, hardly a unique selling point. Works well on Three, certainly. And EE certainly aren’t the best network for roaming…

        • Rachel Robinson says:

          28 Jun28 June 09:31

          Agree. EE expensive with appalling customer service.

        • Andrew says:

          28 Jun28 June 09:57

          For me, price is never the number one priority for a mobile contract.

          I want a reliable signal at my house, my office, my parent’s house in rural Perthshire, and the areas where I tend to be out and about.

          EE ticks all the boxes for signal. If that means I’m paying an extra £1 a month – *shrug*.

      • Paul Pogba says:

        28 Jun28 June 08:51

        If you sign up for a 24 month contract the 200gb sim only, one Smart Benefit (which could be the Roam Further pack) can be had for an extra £2 a month, which is very reasonable but not free.

      • Ls says:

        28 Jun28 June 12:56

        Nope. Don’t work for them. Satisfied customer. What I meant was EE was the only network that allows texts over WiFi calling. No other network offers this – useful as my parents have absolutely no signal (of any network) at their house.
        The roaming package is the best – show me any other U.K. network that allows 60 mins of calling from Angola to U.K. whilst roaming for £10.
        Their prices aren’t the dirt cheap of three, but look at their quality. They certainly aren’t wildly expensive either.

        • James says:

          28 Jun28 June 13:35

          @Ls Vodafone now offer text over WiFi calling

        • NFH says:

          28 Jun28 June 16:54

          Three also supports SMS over wifi calling.

  • cinereus says:

    1 Jul1 July 12:16

    What’s your concern? Coverage or price?

    Personally I’d look at the coverage maps for each network then pick one that works. If you’re going for a contract (I wouldn’t), then calculate total cost of ownership.

    You can see some cheap PAYG/PAYM deals here: https://mobilenetworkcomparison.org.uk/compare/

• Dominic says:

  28 Jun28 June 06:34

  Switched from Vodafone yesterday. It’s a key benefit when living in London; they probably deduced most their customers don’t use it on the basis most don’t live in London….

  It’s about time the Underground upgraded to include signal throughout tunnels; been available in other countries for years.

  • tony says:

    28 Jun28 June 06:45

    Was announced last week that it’s coming – by 2024. So if you’re on the Northern Line, that’ll be closer to 2030….

    • Dominic says:

      28 Jun28 June 08:42

      Yes, seen that it is coming; just an observation about how ridiculously behind it is (but, perhaps, better late than never..)

  • Gavin says:

    28 Jun28 June 08:00

    I remember visiting Moscow in 2008 and being impressed with full phone signal in all the tunnels!

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      28 Jun28 June 10:06

      Has been in the Metro tunnels in Newcastle for years, although to be fair there’s only a small part of the Metro that’s underground.

      I remember terrorism was used as an excuse for no mobile signal on the Tube. At least now they’re getting round to implement it,.

    • Alex Sm says:

      30 Jun30 June 00:33

      It’s still there!

• John says:

  28 Jun28 June 06:42

  I agree it is moderately useful if you haven’t got anything offline to read but is the loss really that big of a deal?

  • NFH says:

    28 Jun28 June 07:24

    Yes, it is a big deal, because you are cut off from messaging people for the duration of your journey. At least with wifi at every station, you can have WhatsApp conversations, receiving messages while in stations and then type your replies between stations. Without wifi, your Tube journey is dead time and WhatsApp conversations are unnecessarily delayed until you’re busy doing something else.

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      28 Jun28 June 07:31

      Life is short. Buy a book. Enjoy the dead time.

      • NFH says:

        28 Jun28 June 07:46

        The point is that a Tube journey, while sitting with nothing better to do after a busy working day, is an ideal time to conduct WhatsApp conversations. If people are used to using that downtime to communicate, and you take that away from them, they’re not going to be happy. They will go to another network.

        • Brian says:

          28 Jun28 June 09:01

          Try communicating to your seat neighbours…😄

        • HBommie says:

          28 Jun28 June 09:42

          It’ll never catch on.

        • Lord Doncaster says:

          28 Jun28 June 10:21

          Whatever did people do before mobile phones NFH…

        • John says:

          28 Jun28 June 10:39

          Fair enough, I don’t have conversations where I can’t wait 30 mins for the reply, except for emergencies where I can’t start fixing the problem until I get above ground anyway.

    • Andrew says:

      28 Jun28 June 07:33

      A delayed WhatsApp conversation! However will we cope…

  • Robert says:

    28 Jun28 June 14:00

    It can be a big deal for mobile trades people and practitioners who get work sent to them while on the move. I do mobile massage. It is no unusual for me to get a new job in from my agent while in the TFL network and have to change direction at the drop of a hat. I appreciate that there are probably not all that many people in my position.

• Amit says:

  28 Jun28 June 06:58

  As above, they have full on 4g running on the JLE – pleasant surprise!

• patrick C says:

  28 Jun28 June 07:03

  4g comes c. 15 years late. As usual instead of making it a world leading 5G project, tfl stays behind the curve. 5G probably a 2050 pilot project then…

  • Rob says:

    28 Jun28 June 08:00

    Updated, thanks.

  • Andrew says:

    28 Jun28 June 09:19

    5G has reduced range and reduced penetration compared to 4G. I suspect deploying it on the tube would be a lot more complex and expensive for very little benefit and that’s before you consider that just about every handset out there supports 4G whereas 5G is still a relative rarity.

• jil says:

  28 Jun28 June 07:05

  When I moved to London a few years ago, I was shocked there’s no mobile signal in the tube

• NFH says:

  28 Jun28 June 07:18

  There are two factual errors above:

  1. Vodafone never provided free wifi on the Tube. It was conditional upon paying Vodafone for a chargeable service.

  2. It is not true that “There is now FULL wi-fi access, in tunnels and platforms” on “the Eastern end of the Jubilee Line“. There is no additional wifi, only the existing wifi coverage in stations like the rest of the Tube, but there is now 4G mobile coverage in the tunnels. Unlike wifi, which has no marginal usage cost, 4G mobile data either consumes a limited monthly bundle or it is charged on a pay-as-you-go basis.

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