Have Fun With FREE Wi-Fi Service At New Mal Junction

New Mal is now a WIFI enabled Junction. New Mal Junction is one of that 400 railway station, getting free WiFi service.

It will be helpful for the passengers. You can easily connect internet with this service. The process of getting this service has been given below.

How to Access Wifi in railway stations?

  1. Visit Wi-Fi settings on your smartphone.
  2. Select the RailWire Network.
  3. Open your mobile browser.
  4. Log on to https://railwire.co.in
  5. Enter your phone number on the WiFi login screen, and then press “Receive SMS”.
  6. You will receive a 4-digit one-time password (OTP) code in your phone through SMS
  7. Enter the code at the Wi-Fi login screen
  8. Click Done.

You will notice a checkmark on your screen, which means that you are now connected to the free Wi-Fi. Enjoy!

Will the service always be free?

WiFi Network in New Mal Station

The project has not specified yet whether a fee will be charged or not for using Wi-Fi. In other public places like airports, hotels, where there is Wi-Fi, Internet access is free for a limited time period and then a fee is charged as per the usage. So far, Google has announced the service for free. Google hopes that this will be self-sustainable.
Right now, the emphasis is on getting the project up and running. It will start exploring different revenue models later on.

In continuation of Google’s project of providing high-speed public Wi-Fi service at 100 Railway stations across India by 2016 end, five new stations were added just recently, taking the country’s total of Wifi-enabled railway stations to 15 so far.

About the Project

This project was announced in September 2015 by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the company in Mountain View, California.

It was announced that the railway commuters in India can access free and high-speed Wi-Fi at over 400 stations in India by 2019.

In the initial phase, the project aims to cover 100 stations by the end of 2016. This project was launched in association with Railtel Corporation.

It is said that with the launch of this service, 10 million Indians will be able to access the free Internet in the railway stations.

This is supposed to be the largest public WiFi project in the country and among the largest in the world if the number of potential users is counted.

About RailTel

RailTel is a Public sector undertaking (PSU) owned by the Indian Railways which provides Internet services as RailWire and telecom infrastructure. RailTel has owned an optic fiber network on railway tracks pan India. It has laid out over 45,000 km of optic fiber network all over India.

The network is being utilized by Google for its Wi-Fi connectivity. The network is built for a larger coverage and high usage of capacity. As per the project, Google provides the wireless area network (WAN) and set up points of access at railway platforms and RailTel acts as the ISP.

Wi-Fi-enabled Stations in India So Far

First station: The first railway station to get free Wi-Fi was RailTel. It became operational in January 2016.

Significant usage of the Wi-Fi service in the station has been reported, and every week more than 2.5 lakh people are using the service. Considering this success rate, Google has plans of extending the project to cover some more Mumbai stations such as Bandra Terminus, Churchgate, Dadar, Thane, Kalyan, Panvel, Vashi, Kurla, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Borivali and a few more.

Nine stations were added in April 2016.

The second phase saw the launch of free Wi-fi services in nine railway
stations in April 2016. These are:

  • Bhubaneswar
  • Bhopal Station
  • Ernakulam Junction (Kochi)
  • The Kachiguda (Hyderabad)
  • Pune
  • Ranchi
  • Raipur
  • Vijayawada
  • Visakhapatnam

The five stations that got Wi-Fi connectivity in May 2016, includes:

  • Jaipur
  • Ujjain
  • Patna
  • Guwahati
  • Allahabad

Future of Google WiFi Service

Two years after it started offering high-speed Internet access for free at select railway stations across India, Google has now started testing a paid model of the Google Station programme.

As spotted by a Reddit user, the Google Station programme at various railway stations in Mumbai is charging Rs. 19 to offer high-speed internet access for 24 hours. The premium option has unlimited data and it can be accessed from any supported stations across the region, as seen from the screenshot provided by the Redditor.

A screenshot shared by another Reddit user shows a Rs. 149 plan valid for 1 week of access. However, there is also the default free option that reduces the data speed after 30 minutes of high-speed access. Like before, the free option also comes with an ad that appears on the login page.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the development in a statement “We are currently testing a paid offer, although there will always be a free option. From the beginning, we have said that the long-term goal for RailTel Wifi service was to make it self-sustainable, and a paid model is an important part of that,” the spokesperson said.

Google Station presently provides Internet access at 227 stations across the country, with 22 stations going live last month. With this, the project is on track to hit the milestone of 400 stations – Google had indicated for the end of this year.

Google is also expanding the programme beyond railway stations and partner with new ISPs. Similarly, there are plans to bring the high-speed internet model to educational institutions and universities going forward.

News source: Maps of India

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