Tube wi-fi goes live at first London underground stations

If you thought the one place you were safe from emails from your boss was on the Tube, well that is all set to change today as Virgin Media's roll out of wi-fi on the underground has now begun.

Starting from today, 7 June, King's Cross and Warren Street Tube stations will be the first stations to have the service switched on, with Oxford Circus and Green Park joining tomorrow followed by Victoria and Euston on 9 June.

Up to 80 stations will be online in time for the Olympics, with 120 expected to be live by the end of the year.

The wi-fi service will be available on the Tube platforms ticket halls and walkways (but not in tunnels), meaning that once you're underground you'll no longer be disconnected from the online world. No longer will you have to wait until you return to street level to tweet about the man sitting opposite you eating his own eyebrows. Or something.

Access will be free for the summer, but after that full internet access will be subject to pay as you go charges, or free to Virgin Media customers.

However, if you're not bothered about tweeting or checking your emails, the Virgin Media wi-fi portal, with access to things such as TfL travel information, Time Out recommendations and trailers from MyMovies.net, will be free to all London Underground customers permanently.

To use the new service, passengers simply need to connect to the service and register their email address.

Are you looking forward to having wi-fi on the underground? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.