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We’re not quite sure how Londoners managed before the internet. We’d be lost without our Apple Pay, and don’t ever expect us to go anywhere without following the route on Citymapper. And we know the phone signal in London is awful right now, but things could be looking up, because soon a free wi-fi network will be launched across central London.
Westminster City Council, supported by Sadiq Khan, is trialling a new two-month scheme where people in Westminster will have access to a ‘seamless roaming experience’. For the next two months only, visitors and locals will be able to sign in to the free wi-fi using just one log-in, and then automatically connect at a range of different locations.
More than 50 locations across the borough, including Westminster’s public libraries, Berwick Street Market and the pedestrianised part of the Strand, have now got free wi-fi. QR codes have been placed around the locations to make signing up as easy as possible.
The service is called Connected London WiFi. It aims to create a ‘seamless roaming experience’ and to tackle ‘digital inequality’ among Londoners by providing easy-to-access, free internet connectivity. If the scheme is a success, there’s hope that it will be made a permanent fixture in Westminster.
Geoff Barraclough, the borough’s cabinet member for planning and economic development, said: ‘Every one of us has struggled to get high-speed mobile connections in central London, especially in busy areas such as Oxford Street and Covent Garden. That’s why so many people rely on using public space wi-fi, but this can be fiddly and difficult to log in to.
‘Westminster Council is proud to be the first council in the UK to launch a single sign-on wi-fi network spanning multiple operators. Workers, tourists and Londoners will all benefit from easier connections to faster mobile broadband.’
The future of London
It’s not just free wifi that could change the city in the future: London’s buildings could one day be heated by the tube, sewers and River Thames – here’s how. Plus, eight huge developments will change London in 2025. And from cable cars to a ‘super highway’, these 25 projects show what London could look like in the future.
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