The Internet is a necessity for every modern person. With its help, you can find exciting entertainment, work, and communicate with your friends and relatives. Since 2014, Moscow has been able to use Wi-Fi for free in the metro.
To date, it is the largest network in Europe that can be used while driving. For this purpose, 880 km of optical fiber were laid and 900 stations were installed. Each carriage has an access point, which allows for good speed and comfort of use. About 2.5 million connections are made to Wi-Fi in the metro every day. More than 70 TB of traffic is transmitted over the network per day.
Where does the MT Free Wi-Fi network work?
When creating a modern network, they decided to place access points in the cars themselves. This leads to the fact that the signal often disappears at stops, but during the journey it is stable. Every year the network is actively expanding. As a result, a wide variety of public transport now offers Internet connectivity. It is enough to pay attention to those places where there is a special red sign “Unified Wi-Fi network MT_FREE”:
- Buses – Wi-Fi is not yet available on all routes;
- Trams are rare, but they are becoming more and more modern; most often there is no Internet;
- Metro, MCD and MCC – stable signal on almost every line;
- Trolleybuses – installed in several modern models;
- Minibuses – this area is just beginning to be developed.
Ground transport is still far from being fully covered, but it is planned to improve the quality of connectivity and increase coverage over the next few years.
How to connect to Wi-Fi in the Moscow metro for free?
Using the MT_FREE Wi-Fi network is absolutely free. Paying for travel with a Troika or Strelka card, or cash or non-cash payment for a ticket, automatically gives you the right to use the Internet. Given the high passenger flow, especially during rush hour, Wi-Fi may fail, speed may be reduced, and in some cases, connection errors may even occur. The Department of Transport is constantly improving and expanding the capabilities of the network. The Internet in the Moscow metro works better and more stable every year.
Free connection is made possible by displaying advertisements. If this is too inconvenient for the user, and you have to use the Internet in the metro too often, it is possible to connect to a paid tariff, which will not show advertising when connecting.
Advantages and disadvantages
The unified wireless Internet, like any project, has certain pros and cons. The advantages of MT Free include:
- Scale. You can get access to free Internet in almost all public transport in Moscow and St. Petersburg. New Wi-Fi points are regularly put into operation.
- It's free. The project was launched and developed to improve the comfort of life in cities. There is no need to pay to connect MT Free Wi-Fi to your mobile device.
- Convenient authorization. If you have a profile on the State Services website, you can connect to the network in 1-2 minutes. It is not necessary to verify your phone number.
Disadvantages of free city Internet:
- Frequent connection interruptions. When confirming authorization, access codes do not reach users or are sent via SMS when the passenger has already left the vehicle. The reason for this problem is due to the busy servers.
- Low signal level. The widespread opening of new access points cannot solve the problem with the quality of coverage. During rush hour in the metro, it is very difficult to connect to free Wi-Fi. The equipment installed in the cars is not suitable for working with such a number of users.
- Advertising. After logging into MT Free, the user is shown many advertisements. If the connection is unstable, this also interferes with the normal loading of pages. You can get rid of intrusive advertising using Adblock, but it is not very convenient to use on low-power smartphones and tablets.
Registration in the MT Free network
Everyone can start using the MT Free Wi-Fi network. To do this, you need to have a smartphone, tablet or laptop; the connection is made to any convenient gadget. In a carriage, bus, tram and other transport, you just need to turn on Wi-Fi to find a popular city network. The connection is automatic, but the first time you need to register. It is possible to check the automatic remembering box, and subsequent authorizations will occur without additional actions.
By phone number
The main way to register with MT_Free is by phone number. After turning on Wi-Fi and selecting an access point, a connection to the network will occur and you will be asked to go to the site for authorization. Registration will take no more than 1 minute:
- Select the appropriate registration method.
- Enter the phone number in +7 format, the first digit will already be indicated.
- For confirmation, a free SMS message with a code is sent.
- The verification code is entered into the registration confirmation form.
After this, the average speed will be automatically available and you will be able to
use the network without reconnecting.
Through State Services
The second method of authorization is through State Services. This is a great opportunity for everyone to reduce registration time and do without phone number verification.
Most people use the State Services portal using their phone, so the username and password are automatically saved in the browser. When connecting to a Wi-Fi network, just change the registration method and simply log in using State Services, confirming your data.
Deactivation
City Internet can interfere if you need to use the connection from your phone or abandon the network altogether. Many smartphones are configured to automatically log in for convenience and save time. It is important to understand how to go through the deactivation procedure.
The easiest way is to note the Wi-Fi connection itself. To do this, just lower the “curtain” and turn off the connection icon itself, or do this using the settings. It is also possible to prohibit authorization in a specific network by deleting it from the memory of the mobile device.
How to disable regular debiting of funds
To access Wi-Fi in the metro, each client has a personal account, but you need to go not to the mosmetro metro website, but to a separate WiFi site in the subway: “wi-fi.ru”. This is where you can see your connected devices, as well as disable recurring payments.
- You need to find “Subscriptions”, name and “Disable”. The paid period will end normally, and after it the service will be deactivated.
- Another way is through the application. The provider Maxima Telecom, which created WiFi in the metro, has equipped the personal account in the application with a convenient interface and clear settings. It can be installed on iPhone and Android. You can delete a subscription through “My Devices”.
Many people perceive Wi-Fi MT Free solely as free Internet. There is also a paid tariff called “Like Home”. It removes connection time restrictions, removes ads and simplifies authorization, as if you were connecting to your home Wi-Fi router.
You can sign up for a paid subscription on the official website or through the mobile application. You need to go through the first authorization and get into your personal account. After this, go to the “Tariffs” category, this is where you will be asked to pay for communication services. To attract new users, the first month is often offered at a promotional price, about 50 rubles. In the future you will have to pay a fixed 199 rubles per month.
For this money, advertising will be completely disabled, and it will also be possible to save time on connection; it will be carried out automatically and take only a few seconds. If necessary, you can also easily make changes in the future in your personal account.
You can deactivate a paid subscription online in the application, on the website and by phone.
Average data transfer rate
The provider provides wireless Internet speed for each metro train of 100 Mb/s.
The indicator is divided by the total number of users connected to the network through the Account. The total throughput is 30Gbps. According to subscribers, the speed is not enough for comfortable work on the Internet. The provider plans to increase this figure over time.
To find out the real speed after connecting, the subscriber downloads a special testing program, for example, Speedtest.net. It is available via direct links:
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest
- iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/speedtest-net-speed-test/id300704847?mt=8.
The user downloads the application and then launches it on the mobile device. The program automatically connects to the nearest server to conduct testing. Click “Start”.
Speedtest.net sends a test request to it and then waits for a response. The process will take a few minutes, after which the results of the speed test through your personal account will be displayed on the screen.
Official smartphone app
The MT Free Wi-Fi network has its own application so that everyone can set up convenient individual access and take full advantage of the Internet capabilities offered. When using a separate program, several additional options open up:
- It is convenient to pay for your subscription if you decide to upgrade to the paid version without advertising.
- The connection can be made automatically using a notification. If you can go to Wi-Fi, a pop-up window will appear on your phone; all you have to do is click on this notification.
- The connection limit is 60 minutes, only after that you will need to go through the authorization procedure again.
- You can choose the transport where the network will be active and where it will begin to be ignored. For example, many people prefer to use their mobile Internet in ground transport, but connect to Wi-Fi in the metro.
- Promotional codes and promotions, periodically offered profitable offers for yourself or friends.
In case of any problems, it becomes possible to quickly receive a response from technical support; here it is convenient and easy to contact them.
Safety
Of course, using any public Wi-Fi is not safe. You need to understand this and take precautions when accessing the network. They are as follows:
- disable file sharing;
- turn off Bluetooth;
- use VPN;
- do not use mobile banking on the Internet;
- do not enter passwords;
- enable two-factor authentication where possible;
- disable WiFi auto-login in the metro - attackers can spoof the network to gain access to your data.
Internet speed and limitations of MT Free
Currently, it is possible to provide stable Wi-Fi access with an attractive speed of about 100 Mbit per second. This figure may vary depending on the number of connected devices.
The main limitation is the lack of access at metro stations; it is impossible to use the connection when passengers are just waiting for their train. Additionally, it should be noted that sometimes the network simply disappears. You can check the signal in advance on a special map; it will be colored green, yellow or red depending on the speed and stability at specific stations.
What to do if MT Free does not connect?
Unfortunately, every user may encounter a situation where Wi-Fi in the metro simply does not connect. To solve the problem, you need to try to diagnose the problems and develop an effective way to correct these shortcomings.
Network error
The most popular problem is the MT Free network error. Every passenger has encountered it at least once. There are several main reasons for this situation to arise. First of all, this is a large number of people, whose simultaneous connection puts too much stress on the server.
Sometimes there are problems with the equipment in a particular car. It may be enough to change the train or the car itself to get a stable connection.
The connection is not secure
If the connection is to the official metro network, you don’t have to worry and switch manually. It is possible to find the “Advanced” button in the message about this error, and then simply go to the site, ignoring the warning.
Error 1310
Error code 1310 appears if an ad blocker is additionally installed on the device. In this case, access through the phone will not be possible until the blocker is disabled.
You will have to pay for using the free Internet by watching various commercials, which is why operators do not allow you to log in with a blocker. The only way to avoid marketing is to sign up for a paid subscription.
Authorization via WiFi in the metro and ground transport
After logging into the WiFi “MT-Free” network, the gowifi.ru (Vmet.Ro) authorization page will automatically open. Since we have already registered, we will log in to the Internet automatically without entering any additional data. Now we simply select the “Login to the Internet” option and wait about a minute for the commercials to play.
For the impatient, there is an option to turn off advertising, but this service is already provided for your hard-earned money. At the dawn of the era of widespread wireless Internet in transport, I practiced using the mobile version of an ad blocker, and it worked when connecting to wifi in the subway. However, the metropolitan IT specialists figured out this trick and learned to block this method of bypassing advertising - until you look, you are not entitled to any Internet. But this will be discussed in a separate article.
