DHAKA: Google India and Indian Railways' arm RailTel on Friday announced the availability of free high-speed public Wi-Fi service at the Mumbai Central station.

To recall, the public Wi-Fi project for Indian Railways was announced back in September when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Google headquarters in Mountain View, reports the NDTV.

The search giant in an emailed statement on Friday said that it will expand the free public Wi-Fi network to 100 of the busiest railway stations in India by the end of this year, and eventually expand to 400 railway stations. Next in line are stations in Allahabad, Patna, Jaipur, and Ranchi.

"Even with just the first 100 stations online, this project will make Wi-Fi available to millions of Indians - who pass through railway stations every day, making it the largest public Wi-Fi project in India and among the largest in the world by number of potential users," the statement added.

The Google RailWire public Wi-Fi service will be accessible by Wi-Fi enabled mobiles. The emailed statement details the process of logging onto the network.

How to log in to Google and Railwire's free public Wi-Fi:
1) Users will have to visit the Wi-Fi Settings of their smartphone, and select the RailWire network.

2) Users then have to open their mobile browser, and then navigate to railwire.co.in.

3) On the RailWire website, users will be prompted to their phone number on the Wi-Fi login screen, and then press Receive SMS.

4) Users will receive an SMS message with a 4-digit OTP (one-time password) code, and they will then have to enter the code at the Wi-Fi login screen, and click Done.

5) Users will then be shown a checkmark, which confirms they are connected to the free Wi-Fi.

BDST: 0926 HRS, JAN 25, 2016
RS