Is your train late? Grab a coffee, call a friend or, maybe, just download a movie?
With Google proving as good as its word on delivering high-speed free wifi at railways stations, why not the movie? Especially since, unlike the infamous Free Basics proposal, this allows users to connect to any website they want to.
Mumbai Central has just become the first of the 400 railway stations in India where Google has promised to offer fast Internet services, in partnership with Indian Railways and RailTel. Coming next: Allahabad, Jaipur, Patna and Ranchi, and 100 in all by the end of 2016.
According to the Google India blog, the connection is so fast that "you can stream and download to your heart’s content." The speed will be 1 GBPS for the first hour, after which it will fall to 512 MBPS.
According to a report in Mid-day, "On the first day itself, around 600 people registered onto the Wi-Fi, but officials said its success would be determined only after a week or so when sufficient data could be collected." And what are users saying on Twitter?
Using Railway free wifi at Mumbai Central station. Its quite fast. great job @sureshpprabhu @mumbairailusers
— Vivek Parab (@viparab_1989) January 10, 2016
Bunked my job sat at Mumbai Central to download movies... Google free WiFi
— Sunny (@SociallyIndian) January 22, 2016
Free Wifi at Mumbai Central. Slums around that area to move closer to the station.
— NumbYaar (@NumbYaar) January 22, 2016
So I'm using free WiFi provided by @RailMinIndia in support with @google at Mumbai Central Railway Station. Kudos to you both!
— Vishal Chaturvedi (@vischavin) January 8, 2016
You can go online on your phone as well as two additional devices. Here's a quick guide to get started. Choose the "RailWire Wi-Fi" network in your wi-fi settings, and then just follow the steps detailed below.
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