Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK

[Jorgen]

I am trying to find the - preferably free - hotspots in the UK:

Starbucks have two shops. Just show up and sign in.
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_wb_hsl

Fleet Street
Old Broad Street

MegaBeam has three. Sign up by email first.
http://www.megabeam.com/Megabeam/english/mbcorporate/index.htm

London Paddington Train Station
London Hammersmith BP Retail Outlet
Reading Moat House Hotel

ground2zero in Bethnal Green
http://free2air.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2001/9/20/111733/127

BT has planned 4000 hotspots by 2005 (70 in 2002 - better hurry!), including Costa Coffee houses and motorway services:
http://www.commweb.com/article/COM20020415S0002

London:
Heathrow Hilton
Bluewater
Olympia

Any more?

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

The following url lists planned implementations going pubic within the next few months in Europe, including a number of UK sites:

http://www.megabeam.com/Megabeam/english/mbcorporate/index.htm

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

In continuation of the discussion I am having with myself, I can report that I have signed up for the free trial with MegaBeam (see above) until 30/10 and tried it at Paddington (5 mins from my home). Unlike Starbucks, you need to type in a username and a password. You have to repeat this process every time you break the connection, eg. switch the machine off and on.

Am I writing for my own satisfaction only or is anybody out there interested in more updates like the above?

Jorgen

[Martin I Pettinger]

Jorgen

Thanks for the information :) . I am interested in hot spots in the UK. I work in Edinburgh, Scotland and look forward to WiFi coming north of the border.

Martin

[Jorgen]

Start searching for Edinburgh Moat House as they will get MegaBeam by November! I hope the free trial is still on at that time!

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

I'm considering getting a WiFi card and this sort of list is just what's needed to tip the balance....

Fred

[Martin I Pettinger]

I'm with Fred

I am keen to try WiFi but have nothing to access. The Moat House is a mile from my work. Will I be able to pick up the signal several hundred metres away or is it likely that I'll need to loiter near the lobby :lol:

Before I even get this far I need some hardware. Any recommendations from folk in the UK - would like a card for my iPAQ 3850 and a USB dongle for my laptop. Anyone got any recommendations?

Martin

[Jorgen]

You could consider a PC-Card for the laptop: I use Bluetake, bought at Maplin for £50. The USB dongle costs the same (I have one for my desktop).

Distance: You have to be close. I tried 4-5 shops away from Starbucks - no joy :(

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

BT has a number of OpenZone hotspots mainly in and around London:
http://bt.com/b4b/b4b_page_ed_detail.jsp?ContentOID=236857

However, they want *real* money for the service: :(
http://www.bt.com/openzone/buying.htm

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Now is the time for London'ers to envy the rural areas!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,803023,00.html

Jorgen

[Martin I Pettinger]

Jorgen

Thanks for continuing to post on wireless hot spots. I live in a rural part of Scotland and I would love access to ADSL services so I could telework rather than commute (and waste 2hrs every day) to Edinburgh. I also plan to lobby surrounding villages to sign up for a conversion to our exchange - local population only 5000 though and I need 400 - 33 were signed up last time I looked.

Have you any idea what the "walled garden" or radio mesh concept is that is in the Guardian article. At the moment I am drawing up plans to extend the family home - now where should I install that Satellite Dish for Satellite Broadband :D I have a Sky Digital Dish now anyway of adding some tin foil and making up a bespoke modem :?

Martin

[FredMurphy]

Well, I bought my Socket WLAN card and I'm logged in from Starbucks, Fleet Street. Thanks again for the tip, Jorgen. Have to admit I'm using a laptop rather than my Jornada, but that proved the quickest to set up.

Will try again with the PDA later - any tips on setup appreciated but I'll probably work it out. [update: worked without a hitch 2nd attempt :)]

Fred

[Jorgen]

>[update: worked without a hitch 2nd attempt ]

Yes, the "trick" is to set it up and then switch it off and on again.

Now sign up with megabeam and try Paddington or one of the other places.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

>Have you any idea what the "walled garden" or radio mesh concept is that is in the Guardian article.

Martin,

Have a look at this web-site: http://www.infosatellite.com/news/2001/11/h221101mesh_radio.html

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

This is old news being from June, but nevertheless news to me:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/wales/2071601.stm

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

The above is a organisation covering amateur and community WLANS

http://www.wlan.org.uk/

As http://www.wlan.org.uk/operational_wlan_sites.html will show, there are a whole lot more WiFi activity in the UK than I expected: Hampshire, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Bath, Brighton, Exeter, Dorset, Ireland (several), Kent, Luton, Martlesham and Dorset. It also lists a number of overseas nets.

So, who said WiFi is not viable in the countryside?

Notice the link to page 2 at the bottom: loads of articles, information and software useful if you are thinking about starting one up in your area.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

I did a thorough search regarding London: The next link is a pearl! Lots of - mostly speculative - Wi-Fi sites. There are links to streetmap.co.uk so you can see the exact location.

http://www.consume.net/nodedb.php

Now, where is Baker Streeet? Oh joy there is one!

Jorgen

[dochall]

However, they want *real* money for the service: :(
http://www.bt.com/openzone/buying.htm


£85 quid a month. :shocked!:

They're having a laugh.

[Jorgen]

There is undoubtedly a market for business users that need to send and fetch their email, update AvantGo and/or logon to their intranet at any price. I personally believe the market is small. I also believe that more free hotspots will arrive, marginalizing the need for pay-and-sip-and-surf nets.

Someone has to pay for the investment in WLANs. Eventually the price will come down - perhaps even to zero if one or more of the coffee bars sees the service as a competitive weapon.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

More UK Wi-Fi hotspots mapped, this time by UK's ZdNet:
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/wifi-hotspots/

The article presents both location and prices.

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

There should be another free one by Friday once my ADSL is connected. Might even be "sip and surf" if any Pocket PC Thoughts members knock on the door and ask for a tea. :)

Fred
Buckmaster Road (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=527270&Y=175002&A=Y&Z=1)
Battersea
London

[Jorgen]

Do we have to come dressed in a Pocket PC Thoughts T-shirt? Or will a badge do?

On a more serious note: are you going to set up a community WLAN server? If so, what is the setup?

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

I'm just going to have my Access Point on, with DHCP, broadcasting the SSID and no WEP. I'll secure any PCs I'm connecting to the WLAN. May even "warchalk" myself. :)

[Jorgen]

Boingo just sent me an email which among other things had a link to their location service which includes some UK services: http://www.boingo.com/search.html

If you have one of the cards they support, You can at the same time download their very useful sniffer software.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

More good news: T_mobile has now expanded their coverage by installing Wi-Fi in four more Starbucks, so now there are six:

Unit 1 Cowcross Place, London (by Farringdon tube station)
65 Fenchurch St, London (by Fenchurch St station)
60 Wardour St, London (just north of Old Compton St)
125 Colmore Row, Lloyds Building, Birmingham.

32 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1AA
90-94 Old Broad Street, London, EC2M 1PR

(you can use http://www.streetmap.co.uk to pinpoint the locations)

These are still free of charge, so give them a go while you can afford it :)

It is important to demonstrate interest in Wi-Fi: We need many Wi-Fi providers for good coverage and, more importantly, a healthy competition so the service become affordable.

So, don't leave home without your Wi-Fi card!

Jorgen

PS: Nearly forgot to mention: The SSID is in the new stores "tmobile".
The two "old" stores will change their SSID when new brochures are printed!

[Jorgen]

http://80211b.weblogger.com/discuss/msgReader$492 ran on the 2/12 a report on Wi-Fi usage in London, visiting Starbucks (t-mobile), Costa (BT Openzone) and Paddington (Megabeam).

The article is a good read; his conclusions will not surprise anyone:

1) it is early - but promising - days: Wi-Fi only used by the few.
2) you need several subscriptions to roam :(

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

Jorgen - thanks for the extended Starbucks tip - I'm off to meet someone near Wardour Street in 10 minutes so your timing was perfect!

Update on my "hot-spot"...
Despite intentionally leaving the whole thing open, I found I was getting 100+ (successful) requests a second for an IP address via DHCP from an unknown MAC address. Killed my throughput and caused the AP to keep resetting. Had to lock it all down. :(

Why would anyone bother doing this on an WIDE OPEN access point. No need to hack - they were already in! :?

[FredMurphy]

Just popped into Starbucks Wardour Street.

AP used "tmobile" (rather than "t-mobile") as SSID and DCHP wasn't working. I was trying to sort out a connection and was told that the signal wasn't strong enough (I got 60% :?) and they'll be fixing it next week (wc. 09 Dec 02).

[Jorgen]

Ah, the joys of being a pioneer! I received the information about the new sites directly from t-mobile via an email telling that they should be ready. Their web-site has BTW still not been updated with the new sites.

The SSID will in future be "tmobile" everywhere. I edited my message, probably after you read the original entry.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

T-mobile emailed me today:

"Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, the T-Mobile HotSpot service at the Starbucks Coffee shops in Wardour Street, Cowcross Place and Fenchurch Street in London is not yet active - We will notify you as soon as they go live."

>"beyond our control"
How can it be beyond their control if they install it? Is Starbucks not paying their bill??? Can't be true with those coffee prices!!

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

The guy in Wardour Street told me that the problem was low signal strength because the AP was badly positioned and that they had to get an engineer in to move it. I presume Starbucks just get another company to set it all up for them.

[Jorgen]

Just in time for your Xmas present for your community: the Swedish telephone company Telia has a nice illustration showing the hardware needed to create a community WLAN:

http://w1.920.telia.com/~u92025045/WLAN_Exempel.gif

I have not been able to find anything similar on BT's site.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

T-Mobile has now emailed that the following Starbucks are going live (again!)

- Unit 1 Cowcross Place, London (by Farringdon tube station)
- 65 Fenchurch St, London (by Fenchurch St station)
- 125 Colmore Row, Lloyds Building, Birmingham.

are live and that

- 60 Wardour St, London (just north of Old Compton St)

will go live shortly.

The SSID is from now on "tmobile" (without the quotes) in all shops.

The service is still free for a limited time! They would early like some feedback.

Jorgen
Disclaimer: I have no association with Starbucks or T-Mobile, other than I like Starbucks coffee. :)

[dochall]

I thought I'd mention a new one i've found.

I was in Paddington today and was waiting for a meeting. While I was waiting I pulled out my laptop just to see what reception was like on the mega beam.

When I checked for available networks I was delighted to discover another network: Readytosurf but the magic came with the full title that XP produced ReadtoSurf (free).

I spent a pleasant half hour waiting and surfing and not a charge in site.

I don't know what coverage is like. I was up in EAT (at Paddington head to the airline check in decks and Yo Sushi. Facing the airline desks, to the right of Yo sushi there is an escalator take it up and then the next one).

Readytosurf have a about 4 'pay to play' internet access pc's there (£1 for 24 minutes 8O ) so maybe there just experimenting to see how much traffic they get through but it wasn't advertised at all.

[Jorgen]

That is great news for me personally as Paddington is 5 mins walk from my home and I have used Eat for meetings.

http://www.readytosurf.co.uk lists 13 sites. I have emailed them, asking them which of these have Wi-fi.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Just tried ReadytoSurf at Paddington: most cards do not allow you to browse networks - you always get the strongest unless you type in the ESSID.

if you sit near the railing, you will get megabeam. Move into the middle of the coffeeshop and you will pick up ReadytoSurf. Or type the full ESSID: "ReadytoSurf (Free Network)".

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Tim Duncan-Smith sent me an email regarding ReadytoSurf:

"... we have Wifi running at Euston Station and at the West 12 Shopping Centre (Alphabyte store), in Shepherds Bush. Many more Wifi and fixed terminal sites are planned over the coming year, including enabling the remainder of our 30 fixed terminal sites and an array of new client sites. Details of this expansion will be posted on our company website www.broadreachnet.com."

Who said the UK was behind? If so, not for long.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

The US-based Surf and Sip has (nearly) four sites in the UK, all in London:

EasyInternetCafe (London)
160-166 Kensington High Street, London W8 7RG

Internet Exchange (Covent Garden)
37 The Market Covent Garden, London WC2E 8RF

Internet Exchange (Kensington)
Kensington Library Phillimore Walk, London W8 7RX

Internet Exchange (Baker Street) expected up soon
125-127 Baker Street, London W1M 1FG

According to their web-page (http://www.surfandsip.com/sign_up.htm), you sign on online: Set the SSID to SurfandSip (note the two capital letters), use DHCP and start your browser. You should then see a signup page.

Jorgen

[Andy Whiteford]

Martin....


Have you had any more luck with Hotspots in Edinburgh? I'm close by and am seeking information.


TIA.

[Jorgen]

The latest map in zdnet UK is here: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/wifi-hotspots/

However, they seem to be BT and t-mobile orientated. They don't know Readyto Surf, Sip and Surf and the like.

Jorgen

[tvalentin]

Great thread!
Just thought i should mention two hotspots on Oxford street. one is in the Borders bookshop, the other is in Costa coffee, just next to the big HMV.
The ssid for costa is 101 and doesn't cost a bean (apart from a coffee).
With wep off.
So far i've been unable to use the Borders AP. If anyone else has any luck i'd be interested to hear about it. The ssid reported in CitspaceWireless again with wep turned off. In borders I can only get about 10-15% signal though, so maybe that's the problem.
Tom

[Jorgen]

Thanks! That is great news as we (well, I) need something in that area.

If the signal is that low, it is probably some other companys private WLAN.

Jorgen

[tvalentin]

For those of us in London, there is a Wi-Fi meetup group www.wifi.meetup.com (i think that's the right url, maybe leave out the www) The next meeting is on Wed 12th Feb. Perhaps a good way to pool our resources face to face.
Tom

[Jorgen]

Great idea! I'll start polishing my PDA.

Has any of you participated at one of these and knows what happens at such a meeting?

Jorgen

[nclwireless]

Users in Newcastle Upon Tyne may be interested to know that a parent organisation for all Wi-Fi access in the city has been set up.

We aim to get local authority, development agency and big business support in order to cover the city with low-cost access.

Websites are http://www.nclwireless.net (under construction) and http://consume.fd.cx (for technical information).

Our first node, in the Jesmond suburb of the city, should be online soon.

[tvalentin]

I've had success with the AP's in Borders (see my previous post). The SSID for Oxford Street is, 'CityspaceWireless' (case sensitive!), and for the Charring Cross Rd branch, the SSID is 'WLAN' .
You may have to walk around to get good sinal, try close to the windo in the coffee shop.
Also regarding the Costa Coffee mentioned previously they don't seem adverse to you charging your PPC!

Happy surfing.

[Jorgen]

BT has now revised the estimate for hotspots according to http://reiter.weblogger.com/2003/01/29 aiming at 400 this year and 4000 by 2005. They have installed 80 now and have 40 more on order. And - you guessed it - they are still very expensive.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

http://80211b.weblogger.com/discuss/msgReader$537 has a link called "British Telecom won't bring you DSL? Go mesh" which again is an article in The Gardian about how a small town in Devon got DSL.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Just a reminder about the public Wi-fi meeting at the Marquis of Granby, 2 Rathbone Street, London W1T 1NT tomorrow Wednesday, February 12 at 19:00. You can find a map here http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=529506&y=181566&z=0&sv=W1T+1NT&st=2&tl=Postcode+W1T+1NT&pc=W1T+1NT&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

I wandered along last night but didn't see any WiFi meeting there. Met one other lost geek looking for it too but that was it!

[Jorgen]

Cathrine (of Supedo fame) and I met there - we had a very interesting discussion. You were probably in the other end of the room! We did look around for geek'ish looking people but either did not search thoroughly enough or you look too normal. Wear a cap with an antenna next time!

I liked the pub as a pub but it was too noisy, too crowded and needed a large'ish table to cater for a meeting - and there was no Wi-fi. I would suggest that we meet in a coffee bar / Internet cafe with Wi-fi in future.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

T-Mobile has now apologised that the four new hotspots are down for maintenance again. This means that we are down to the oldies in Old Broad Street and 32 Fleet St. I assume the Wi-fi is still free of charge.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Good news! T-mobile has informed me that the sites mentioned in my previous message are all up again.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

More good news for Londoners: According to ZDNet UK (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2130575,00.html), the Benugo sandwich shops gives their customers 30 mins free high speed internet access via Wi-fi or Bluetooth. You get an access code with your purchase. The shops involved are at St Johns Street, Clerkenwell and at Berwick Street, Soho.

What do we call that? Surf-and-chew?

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

I can confirm that..... Benugo in Berwick Street isn't open on Saturdays :? and the access point at Starbucks just round the corner in Wardour Street is back up. :)

[Jorgen]

I went to Benugo today around noon too and found it closed :(

Standing on the kerb, I managed to get the Bluetooth in my Palm Tungsten T's (yeah, I know this is a PPC forum but ...) to find Benugo. I will try sometime next week if I can.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Just what the doctor ordered: A web-publication called Global Wi-fi owned by Pyramid Research is giving away a report called "Hotspots and deadspots in London" at this URL: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/info/wifi/gw030226.asp . As readers of this thread will already have guessed, the report concludes "that venues do a very poor job of promoting Wi-Fi".

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Internet Exchange has by now installed Wi-fi in their 30 stores in the UK at a price that undercuts BT's Wi-fi prices, see http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15179

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

An article at http://www.newswireless.net/articles/030304-inspired.html claim that a new company called Inspired Broadcast intend to create 30,000 Wi-fi hotspots this year in the UK. Their background is gaming machines, so they would probably already have a foot in the door of a number of pubs.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

I received an email from T-Mobile telling that they expect to have 56 hotspots in Starbucks coffee shops across the UK by end of May. Their web-site is not even up to date with the hotspots I announced some time ago! So whenever you visit one of Starbucks shops, try just in case and let us know if you have a winner.

Jorgen

[GingerTommy]

Glasgow WiFi users can surf-and-sip in beanscene's west-end cafe:

beanscene (westend):
16 cresswell lane, hillhead, glasgow,
scotland.G12 8AA
tel:+44 (0) 141 334 6776
fax: +44 (0) 141 334 6776
beanscene (http://www.beanscene.co.uk/)

I haven't tried it out yet but the sign outside says that access is free. I will try and drop in this weekend.

[Jorgen]

I haev received the following: "With effect from Monday, 17th March 2003, please note that Swisscom Eurospot (formerly Megabeam Networks Ltd) will be changing it's wireless network SSID from "megabeam" to "eurospot" on a site by site basis."

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

More good news - soon you can surf and sip beer rather than coffee. Pub groups such as Six Continents and Scottish and Newcastle plan to install Wi-fi according to ZdNet:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t278-s2131548,00.html

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Reiter has an article comparing the european Wi-fi prices with the US prices: http://reiter.weblogger.com/2003/04/07

Jorgen

[tvalentin]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned in this thread.

I was in a coffee shop in Woking, Surrey today and was able to use their wi-fi for free. Presumably they haven't worked out a reliable method of payment yet. Althought if we're really lucky they'll let us have it for free and make us pay in coffee.

The name of the Chain was Esquires Coffee (www.esquirescoffee.com), but their SSID and presumably ISP is ReadytoSurf. They have a list on their website www.readytosurf.com, in many towns all around the uk.

Definately worth a look. Are they all free, or are some charging?

[Jorgen]

I think they are all free at the moment as they don't seem to advertise their presence - I don't know what they are waiting for as they for example in Paddington function as an Internet cafe. They probably want to create a large base of cafe's before going public for real.

But there you have it: don't leave home without your wireless card!

Jorgen

[FredMurphy]

I've just added a thread here (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=106048) about blanket 802.11b coverage for Soho.

[Jorgen]

More free Internet access. I have not tried any of them myself.

The Media Club
131 - 151 Great Titchfield Street, London

Barney's Bar and Restaurant
28-30 London Road, AL1 1NG, St Albans, Herts

Martini's Restaurant
17 Heritage Close, AL3 4EB, St Albans, Herts

Pacific Bar & Grill
Pacific Chambers, Temple Street, Liverpool

Jorgen

[dochall]

Looks like Starbucks on the expansion trail again.

I went into my office local (Holborn - in a new office blockbuilding towards the kingsway with Red Lion Street on your right - not the one opposite Chancery Lane).

it's not that large. I assume this is one of many that they have installed. I will see if I can get more details when the store manager is around.


Still no mention of payment. :D

[nclwireless]

A T-Mobile Hotspot sticker has miraculously appeared on the front door of Starbucks in Newcastle (Monument branch).

I didn't have my iPaq with me (cardinal sin I know!) but will return tomorrow, and report. T-Mobile.co.uk seems to be mentioning charges....but I hope that's premature!

[Jorgen]

They have not got round to update their web-site with that hotspot, but they are promising more than 50 UK hotspots "real soon now": http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_wb_l_l

The free days may be over now as they now have a list of charges :(

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_wb_uksp

Jorgen

[nclwireless]

Went into Starbucks, unfortunately they were charging. Never mind, just illegally used the other access point I picked up on MiniStumbler. Naughty, naughty.....

But an aside thought, have Starbucks/T-Mobile considered the loss of revenue from free-access points? Surely they couldn't stop someone sitting in their cafe from using a different point? Or could they?

[Jorgen]

Quite many of the Starbucks now have hotspots, some 27 or so in London alone. Check your area at http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_wb_l_l

And please let us hear your comments here!

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Starbucks, Baker Street seems to be working but they want money and it is as pricy as their coffee: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_wb_uksp

Jorgen