Mobile operator T-Mobile UK has teamed up with Virgin to offer broadband wireless Internet access on the Virgin West Coast Main Line service via its Wi-Fi Hotspots. The service will initially be rolled out via Virgin's 52 Pendolino trains, and by mid-summer, the 21 Super Voyager trains will also be Wi-Fi enabled.

The Wi-Fi Hotspot service, which will be rolled out for T-Mobile by Nomad Digital, should provide a wireless broadband connection throughout the entire journey, including all tunnel sections, at high speeds. Virgin’s West Coast Main Line services see around 22.5 million passenger journeys per annum.


T-Mobile currently provides Wi-Fi Hotspot access across various parts of the UK and hopes to deliver a close to complete population coverage for related 3G Mobile Broadband services in 2010. It's worth remembering that Wi-Fi Hotspots (local area coverage) and Mobile Broadband (wide area coverage) are two very different wireless technologies.