Wifi at railway stations

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I see that South West Trains are offering WiFi at five stations. This is a local funding partnership and uses Sky Cloud.

Southern on the other hand have WiFi at 104 stations using O2. Does anyone know whose funding that? It's too wide to be local funding. I can think of other South West Trains stations where WiFi would be useful but someone would need to fund it.

I did ask O2 if they had plans to expand to other areas of side of Southern but I never heard back of course.

It's interesting how South West Trains have expanded WiFi on trains, whereas Southern have gone down the route of WiFi at stations. Is that due to franchise commitments being different across both companies? I know Gatwick Express is getting WiFi so it may be due to be rolled out across more of the Govia network in due course.

Whenever I've used South West Trains WiFi in recent months it's been ood. Not in terms of speed so much but reliability.

It seems surreal at times to read about funding and changes at South West Trains when their is a new franchise around the corner. It's great that improvements are being made now but I'm so use to read about enhancements once a new franchise comes into being rather than before.

http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/plan-your-journey/wifi/

Stay Connected with FREE WiFi
From April 2016 you will be able to connect to FREE WiFi at over 104 stations network wide. Getting online is easy:
Check your WiFi is on and select O2 WiFi from your network list
Open your browser and follow the easy registration instructions
Your welcome page will appear, you are now connected!
For travel planning, days out inspiration or the chance to simply browse, make your connection with Southern.[\QUOTE]

https://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/news/freewifihantsandsurreystations/

Free station Wi-Fi to be rolled out at Aldershot, Basingstoke, Farnborough, Guildford, and Woking train stations
Guildford now live with all stations complete during September
New Wi-Fi service provided by Sky Cloud and jointly funded by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership, Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council
Free Wi-Fi is to be launched at five busy South West Trains stations in Hampshire and Surrey following a partnership agreement between the train operator, the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (Enterprise M3 LEP), Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council.


The free Wi-Fi will be provided by Sky Cloud, and rolled out at Aldershot, Basingstoke, Farnborough, Guildford, and Woking stations. The service has been funded through joint investment to promote sustainable travel in the region. Funding was provided directly by the Enterprise M3 LEP with Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council both making further funding contributions to the project following successful bidding to the Department for Transport as part of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.


This is the latest stage in the shared vision to keep passengers connected whilst on the move and at stations in the area. Free Wi-Fi is also now available on over half of all South West Trains services and is helping to keep tens of thousands of passengers connected during their train journey. There are plans to roll out free on board Wi-Fi across more train services this year.


Passengers using Guildford are the first to benefit with the Wi-Fi now available at this station. All five stations will be complete by the autumn 2016. More than 26 million passenger journeys are made through these stations every year and passengers will be able to use the free service throughout the concourses, platforms, waiting areas and other public areas.


Arthur Pretorius, Customer Service Director for South West Trains, said: “Our on-board Wi-Fi has proved really popular with passengers, and we’re very pleased to be taking the next step of introducing free Wi-Fi at a number of our busy stations.


“We’d like to thank the Enterprise M3 LEP, Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council for their financial contributions and support in making these improvements for our passengers. More than 26 million passenger journeys made from these five stations every year, we’re sure this will significantly enhance the travel experience of our passengers.”


Councillor Rob Humby, Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Hampshire County Council said: “Train travel is vital to many Hampshire residents, commuters and visitors to the county. Free Wi-Fi at Hampshire’s busiest train stations provides a real benefit, by helping them to utilise travel time more effectively. Our support and investment in this area is another example of Hampshire County Council’s willingness to act, using its size and capacity to benefit local people and businesses.”


Councillor Mike Goodman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning at Surrey County Council said "While rising demand for services like adult social care means money's tight, this is one of the many things we can still do to make a big difference to people's everyday lives - in this case ensuring passengers are able to use travel time to shop, check emails, catch up on the news or a whole host of other things."


Geoff French, Chairman Enterprise M3 LEP said: “Funding free Wi-Fi at the busiest stations in the Enterprise M3 area, directly supports the Enterprise M3 LEP’s economic growth aspirations and provides a real benefit to our local businesses, enhancing travel choices and helping them to utilise their travel time more effectively.”


More than £50million is being invested by South West Trains to improve services offered to passengers. Other improvements include 100 new Customer Ambassadors to provide a more personalised service at stations, and state-of-the-art ticket machines linked to a new dedicated 24/7 customer contact centre

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