Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

5 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. CN tower by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess the CN tower kind of out does the linksys router +3dB antenna...

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Re:Eh? by LightningBolt! · · Score: 5, Funny

    What $8 bln CDN /yr wireless market?

    I think they're referring to all things sold that have no wires. Like pomegranates.

    --
    Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
  5. Re: Mentally Ill by aspillai · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm not sure where you got that idea from. "Typically" implies majority. The truth is a number of homeless about equal to the mentally ill do not like shelters because they are afraid of them. (I say this from having worked at CMHA.)

    Shelters aren't hotel rooms. You have 20 - 30 packed into a room (within fire limits) and you rarely get a secure locker to put your belongings in. Also, in the cases where you do, it isn't a valet. No one is there to make sure you aren't persuaded to open your locker.

    The available options are quite poor. I'm not saying they need Royal York treatment here. But a better option with some high guarantees of safety will see a number going to shelters during the cold winter months. It is a measure of a society's progress when you see how cities treat their most vulnerable. Toronto does a horrible job and too many people think, 'If they just try, they'll be fine.' It is a serious problem with difficult but attainable solutions - if we want it.