Recently in Internet and WiFi Category

Latitude: N51:22:43 (51.378522)
Longitude: W0:06:11 (-0.102941)

The High Speed Access Internet Cafe is just a couple of doors along at

170 North End,
Croydon,
CR0 1UF

when you turn left out of the main exit from the West Croydon railway station

The front of the shop sells music CDs etc. with a few secluded PCs well out of public view in the back, however with plenty of CCTV and web cameras.

A couple of doors south is the Maplin Electronics store and the Forbidden Planet sci-fi and comics store is across the main road from that.

Further north up the London Road, and especially south down the pedestrianised North End are several mobile phone unlocking / second hand mobile phone concessions counters / stalls within other shops (as well as multiple official mobile phone shops)

The Tottenham Court Road Tube Station re-development has also now destroyed this cyber café

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Directly under the Centre Point building, in the dingy, dirty, dystopian underground tunnel, leading from Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, which used to be full of rough sleepers, there, is a Brazilian Cyber Café called Zone One.

This appears to have a decent selection of Brazilian cakes and coffee, and offers Internet access, although the BT BusinessHub Internet WiFi VoIP router in the window makes one suspect that it might be relatively unsophisticated technically. - have they changed the default passwords on the web administration page ?
(oops ! - no they have not)

Will your credit card details, if your are foolish enough to type them in here online, end up being rinsed by a Brasilian organised crime gang ?

GPS grid coordinates:

Latitude (WGS84) N51:30:59 ( 51.516267 )
Longitude (WGS84) W0:07:47 ( -0.129595 )

Update: 20th August 2009 - this whole block has now been demolished as part of the re-development of the Tottenham Court Road Tube Station.

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Between Denmark Street and St. Giles Circus, which is where the Near Centre Point, where Charing Cross Road meets Oxford Street and becomes the Tottenham Court Road, there is a cheap Internet Lounge at 138 Charing Cross Road

This offers cheap internet access, and mobile phone unlocking and accessories, and cheap long distance phone calls. Be very careful with your bags, mobile phones,purses, wallets etc, as these are a target for the local thieves. The internet PCs are also rife with various bits of spyware and password sniffers, so do not log into something sensitive or valuable, and virus check any removable media like flopy disks or USB memory sticks you connect to the PCs .

The internet traffic also appears to be "known to the Police"

It is still worth a visit to observe internet low life and naive tourists in action.

Note one of the local "stinkies" peering into the window.

GPS grid coordinates:
Latitude: (WGS84) N51:30:56 ( 51.515434 )
Longitude: (WGS84) W0:07:47 ( -0.129745 )

Between Leicester Square Tube and Cambridge Circus is the Mocha Cafe Patisserie and Internet Café at
62 Charing Cross Road, on the edge of Chinatown. There is usually with a low paid (illegal ?) immigrant holding a sign advertising the Internet access on the pavement outside.

Inside there are about a hundred internet PCs, for which they charge£1 per hour. The usual warnings apply, - hold on tight to your bags and mobile phones etc. as these are targets of opportunistic sneak thieves, who are not deterred by the CCTV surveillance cameras.

Although there is anti-virus software etc. installed, unlike EasyInternetCafes, the software is not rebuilt after each customer session, so the risk of password sniffers etc. is greater.

GPS grid coordinates:
Latitude: (WGS84) N51:30:43 ( 51.512051 )
Longitude: (WGS84) W0:07:45 ( -0.129076 )

On the western side of the Tottenham Court Road, between Hanway Street and Stephen Street at 9-16 Tottenham Court Road, is the familiar orange and white branded Easy Internet Café with about 470 internet PCs.

They are open very late and have a prepaid voucher machine system to buy internet connection time. You are less likely to have your email or blog publishing or internet banking authentication credentials snarfed by password sniffers etc. from viruses or spyware, as each machine has its software rebuilt from central server images after each customer's session.

Next door, is another useful Sainsbury's supermarket for the purchase of food and drink (including alcohol at farless than the pub and bar prices)

N.B. it is illegal to openly drink alcohol in the street in this central area of London, either in the City of Westminster or the Borough of Camden - you can have your drinks confiscated by the Police or the Police Community Support Officers (who go around in pairs) and face a fine etc.

GPS grid coordinates:
Latitude: (WGS84) N51:31:03 ( 51.517405 )
Longitude: (WGS84) W0:07:54 ( -0.131581 )

There are other EasyInterentCafes branches at:

• Trafalgar Square (between Charing Cross station and the southern end of the Charing Cross Road
  456 - 459 Strand
  London WC2R 0RG
  (Trafalgar Square end)
  Number of PCs: 393
  Opening hours:
  Open 08:00-23:00, 7 days a week.
• Oxford Street
  358 Oxford Street
  London W1N 9AG
  (opposite Bond Street Underground station).
  Number of PCs: 268
  Opening hours:
  Sun-Wed: 08:00-22:00
  Thurs-Sat: 08:00-00:00
• Camden
  Post Office
  112-114 Camden High Street
  London NW1 0RR
  Number of PCs: 18
  Opening hours:
  Monday 08:30-18:00
  Tuesday 09:00-18:00
  Wednesday 09:00-18:00
  Thursday 09:00-18:00
  Friday 09:00-18:00
  Saturday 09:00-17:30
• Kensington High Street
  160-166 Kensington High Street,
  London W8 7RG
  Number of PCs: 394
  Opening hours:
  08:00-22:00, 7 days a week.
• King's Road - Chelsea
  Unit G1
  Kings Walk
  120 Kings Road
  London SW3 4TR
  Number of PCs: 98
  Opening hours:
  Mon-Thurs: 09.30-19.00
  Fri-Sat: 09.30-20.30
  Sun: 12.00-18.00
• Whiteley's Shopping Centre - Queensway, Bayswater
  Kiosk 4
  Second floor
  Whiletelys Shopping Centre
  London W2 4YN
  Number of PCs: 18
  Opening hours:
  Mon-Sun: 08:30-00:00

Update 20th August 2009 - currently shut for re-furbishment - will it ever open as a cyber café again ?

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Just behind Goodge Street Tube Station, parallel with the Tottenham Court Road, is the site of what was the pioneering Cyber Café which started on 1st September 1994, with a single 64Kbs leased line and ten or so computers.

This is now currently run by Korean business interests as the Be The Reds (named after the South Korean world cup football team slogan) internet and gaming café , with a downstairs basement bar, and Karaoke booths, and an upstairs online role playing or shoot 'em up gaming parlour.

They deliberately have no website,but are located at 39 Whitfield Street (corner with Scala Street), W1T 2SF, telephone 020-7209-0984, fax: 020-7813-2825

GPS grid coordinates:
Latitude: (WGS84) N51:31:12 ( 51.519987 )
Longitude: (WGS84) W0:08:06 ( -0.135036 )