Virgin Media O2 UK Close Wi-Fi Hotspots on London Underground

Customers of Virgin Media and O2, specifically those who enjoy connecting to their public WiFi service on the London Underground, have been left confused after the operator suddenly closed the service on 31st March 2023. The move is not quite what many were expecting to occur.

We recently reported that Virgin Media planned to retire their “Out of Home” public WiFi hotspots from 1st November 2023 (here) and that, from 1st April 2023, customers with a mobile device and a compatible SIM card (Virgin Mobile and O2) would still be able to connect automatically to their WiFi on the London Underground. But sometimes the devil is in the detail, such as the fact that they make no mention of Virgin Media’s fixed broadband customers being supported (i.e. those who many not have a supporting SIM).

This is what Virgin Media told us last month: “Customers with a mobile device and a compatible SIM card (Virgin Mobile and O2 are compatible) will still be able to access WiFi on the London Underground. From 1 April, the connection should be automatic, but if customers have used the Connect App in the past to get online, they’ll need to reconnect to WiFi Extra through their settings. Customers can check their SIM card compatibility with their mobile network.”

WiFi Extra (SSID) is the O2 based service, which TFL claims (here) should be available to all Tube stations, almost all London Overground stations, all Elizabeth line stations under central London and the Victoria Coach Station. However, far from the connection becoming “automatic“, many customers instead found that the new WiFi service didn’t seem to work at all of their old locations and others ran into connection woes – examples here, here, here, here and here.

The situation was further compounded by some mixed messaging from the operator’s support team, which in some cases was directing customers to a link where they could download the Virgin Media Connect App. But on other occasions they’d say that “hotspots via the connect App are no longer active, but it might work under Wifi Extra if it’s available to you, but may ask for username/password which is a known issue being investigated.”

In short, this is a change that could have been better handled and communicated to those most affected.