Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Canadian Telcos Agree on WiFi Hotspot Standard

Posted by michael on from the yay-canada dept.

Jucius Maximus writes "As reported by Globetechnology, Canada's cellphone providers have agreed to create a common standard for their subscribers to connect to the Internet via public "hot-spots." The agreement became necessary because Canada's cellphone providers offer four different and incompatible connection technologies. The carriers will continue to vigorously compete with each other, both for customers and Wi-Fi hotspot locations, the CWTA said in a statement."

4 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Standards Nice, Now they'll Lose Money on Location by Bruha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These guys may have interoperability going for them but they'll definately have a pitched battle for all the good locations. I can see the regular locations making some good profits off how greedy these Welcos as they toss more and more money at companies for lucrative locations. My advice to any potentials is to not sign extremely lenghty contracts so you can have a bidding war every few years.

  2. Rogers & Wi-Fi by Zro+Point+Two · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just hope that Rogers isn't the one who develops the network layout. I get to deal on a daily bases with what they have done with the cable internet, and man does it suck.

    I wonder if they'll roll Wi-Fi into a service offered to their highspeed internet customers? Small extra fee, but you'll be able to access the internet without being at home. This would be great for the business guy who's doing meetings all over town constantly.

    --
    Zro . two

    "I come from Canada...they say I'm slow....eh?"
  3. To Divide or To Unite - Does Money Decide ?? by leoaugust · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Common standards introduced by the national Canadian cellphone carriers would help to eliminate the development of redundant authentication and billing methods and will lead to consistent, simplified access, the group said.

    It seems interesting to me that to really tap into the market, different companies are uniting in Wi-Fi. But, on the other hand in the "Instant Messaging" market, it seems that the companies have thrived by dividing the market amongst themselves ... why does "uniting" work in the Wi-Fi market, while "dividing" work in the IM market ...

    Looking at the quote from the article (on top of this comment) it seems that the driving force to common standards in Wi-Fi is to eliminate the development of redundant authentication and billing methods viz. that it is about money.

    It makes me wonder if the IM packages became "pay only" would it lead to a set of open and common standards in the Instant Messaging market to eliminate the development of redundant authentication and billing methods. I don't think that many people would relish having to pay for five different IM's .... Personally, I think free is better than not free - but I couldn't help noticing this relationship of money and dividing/uniting ..

    --
    To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies ...
  4. Nice change... no GSM vs CDMA choice. by WoTG · · Score: 2, Interesting

    After years of deciding between GSM and CDMA (and I think we had a TDMA provider...) I'm glad that won't be a problem this time around. I'm definitely glad that they're not choosing some proprietary protocol... so at least getting a wireless card will remain as easy as hopping into your local computer store.

    Now the first question I have, is how much is this going to cost? Data rates on the cell-networks were ridiculously high for non-necessary useage... hopefully it won't be the same with WiFi.