RailTel launches prepaid wi-fi at 4,000 railway stations, read details

New Delhi: The days of slow internet at the railway stations might be over soon. Railway PSU RailTel has now launched its paid wi-fi service plans on Thursday which will enable users to access high-speed internet at 4,000 railway stations across the country. It is important to note here that RailTel is already into FREE wi-fi services which it provides at more than 5,950 stations in the country. But these will be PAID services. Free wi-fi facility will still be on which can be availed by anyone with a smartphone and an active connection after an OTP-based verification.

RailTel has launched convenient plans like Rs 10 for 5 GB data in a day and Rs 15 for 10 GB data in a day for one-day users. While plans like Rs 20 for 10 GB data valid for five days, Rs 30 for 20 GB data valid for five days, Rs 40 for 20 GB data valid for 10 days, Rs 50 for 30 GB data valid for 10 days and Rs 70 for 60 GB data valid for 30 days for the long-route travellers or monthly pass holders.

The speed of the free wi-fi was per day at 1 Mbps speed with restriction of usage for 30 minutes. Now paid wi-fi will give passengers a speed of up to 34mbps at a nominal fee.

"We did a detailed trial run of Prepaid Wi-Fi at 20 stations in Uttar Pradesh and based on the response and detailed testing, we have launched this plan at 4,000+ more stations across India. We intend to launch the prepaid plans for all the stations with our RailWire Wi-Fi this financial year," said RailTel CMD Puneet Chawla.

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The plans have been designed to offer a flexible choice to users as per their needs. A number of payment options like net banking, e-wallet and credit cards can be used to purchase the plans online, he said.

Chawla said that before COVID-19, more than three crore people were using the service monthly. Once the situation normalises and footfall at stations becomes regular, a revenue of Rs 10-15 crore annually is expected from the paid wi-fi service, he added.

Indian Railway is the largest public transporter of the nation, and railway stations are melting pots of the whole cross-section of the society. Passengers use this wi-fi facility for streaming high definition (HD) videos, downloading movies, songs, games and do their office work online. The service has tremendously benefitted railway passengers, particularly the rural population.

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