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Toronto to Become One Huge Hotspot

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the good-role-models dept.

8127972 writes "The Toronto Star is reporting that Toronto Hydro is about to announce plans to make all of Toronto Canada a huge wireless hotspot. The project could go live as early as this fall and hopes to bring low cost Internet access to millions of Toronto citizens. In the process it will challenge the Canadian telcos for a share of the $8 billion (CDN) a year wireless market."

6 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"Challenge"? by Pov98 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ummmm maybe you need to look before you write - Toronto Hydro is not owned by the Canadian government.... not to mention there are like 10 different telco's in Toronto (ie Rogers, Bell, Telus etc.)

  2. Re:Eh? by aspjunkie · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rogers and Bell both operate HotSpot services in Canada.. Look for HotSpot stickers on the doors of your local Starbucks or Second Cup - as well as other places. They'll even charge it to your Bell or Rogers mobile phone bill...I think all the big Canadian mobile phone providers are in on the action.. even Telus.

    http://www.shoprogers.com/business/wireless/plans_ services/hotspot.asp

    http://www.bell.ca/shop/en_CA_BC/Sme.Sol.Wireless. Solutions.Hotspots.page

    http://www.telusmobility.com/on/business_solutions /hotspot.shtml

  3. Re:Pisses me off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, it's not the same company that had a "debt repayment" charge added to every consumer's bill. That was Ontario Hydro.

  4. Re:Eh? by wanchai · · Score: 3, Informative

    Rate Plan

    • Hotspot hour $10
    • Hotspot day $15
    • Hotspot week $25
    • Hotspot month $40
    • Hotspot National Unlimited Subscription $25/mont

    yes, I thought it's free. no, it's not.

  5. Fredericton, NB by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Fredericton has had nearly city-wide WiFi for going on 3 years now.

    AFAIK we were the first city in NA to impliment it.

    NO registration required (though you must agree to the EULA at sign on), and the city actually makes money from the ancillary services the municipal network provides to companies. A win-win in my book.

  6. Re:VOIP by Niebieski · · Score: 3, Informative


    So I could walk around town using my voip phone instead of a cell phone? Maybe just my PDA with a VOIP client? GoogleTalk for all local calls!? w00t!

    Well, you could walk around between calls, because last I checked 802.11 soft handoffs did not exist. You could implement it in the hardware, but it'll still be hard handoffs.