Whether you’re visiting London for business or pleasure, you’ll no doubt want or need to get online at some point. You may have to check your emails, Skype, post up pictures of your trip or simply like to keep up what’s going on around you. It’s true; there’s no negotiating with the need to be connected in today’s world.
All of our London hotels have Wi-Fi, but when you’re out and about you may want to head to a Wi-Fi hot spot rather than eat into your mobile data.
London is a connected city so most restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars will have Wi-Fi you can use for free, but you should be able to get online when you’re travelling too. Check out our recommendations:
The Cloud
You can sign up to the Cloud to use free Cloud Wi-Fi hot spots in London. Cloud Wi-Fi is available in Pizza Express, Caffe Nero, J D Wetherspoons, Pret-a-Manger, Wagamama and 79 London Overground stations. Some venues do limit the amount of time you can use their hotspot and a small percentage charge. If there is a fee for using the Wi-Fi you will be informed before you connect.
You can use The Cloud hotspot finder to see hotspots near you.
O2 Wi-Fi
It’s completely free to sign up to the O2 Wi-Fi internet service, you don’t need to be an O2 customer and you don’t need log-ins or passwords. Once you’ve downloaded the O2 Wi-Fi App you can search for your nearest hotspot. O2 Wi-Fi is available in McDonalds, Costa, Pizza Hut, All Bar One, Café Rouge, House of Fraser and Debenhams. It’s also at outdoor landmarks such as Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch and Big Ben, so you can snap some of the city’s most popular sights without using your data roaming.
If you are an O2 customer, you’ll be automatically connected to many of London’s Wi-Fi hot spots even if you don’t have the O2 Wi-Fi App. To take advantage of the service on the 94% of the London Underground network it covers, your phone should connect automatically to Wifi Extra.
Virgin Media
If you’re a Virgin, EE, Vodafone or Three customer you can use a Virgin Media Wi-Fi hotspot for free. Virgin Media Wi-Fi is available at 250 London Underground stations. You can use it on the platforms, corridors and ticket halls but there is no signal inside the tunnels themselves.
If you’re not a Virgin, EE, Vodafone or Three customer you can pay for a Wi-Fi pass. It costs £2 for one day, £5 for a week or £15 for two months. You’ll need to weigh up whether this makes economic sense based on what you’d pay for your roaming.
InLinks
BT have replaced many disused phone boxes with InLinks – places where you can access free ultrafast Wi-Fi, charge your devices, access maps and make calls. The first InLink in the UK was installed in Camden in 2017 and there are now over 130 active InLinks in London with over forty more planned.
We hope this guide helps you get online for free during your stay. London is a wonderful city, just waiting to be explored.
