jpm032571
join:2004-03-20
Toronto, ON
| Toronto Hydro to offer city-wide wireless
As reported in today's Star:
Toronto Hydro Corp. will announce Tuesday that it plans to turn Canada's largest city into one giant wireless hotspot, directly challenging the country's major mobile phone carriers for a chunk of the $8 billion a year wireless market.
With the deployment, which sources say could be available in the downtown core as early as this fall, Toronto joins a growing list of North American cities, including Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco, that have announced plans to bring low-cost, broadband wireless access to their citizens and businesses.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you see it in September or October of this year," said a source close to the project.
Mayor David Miller will join Toronto Hydro executives on Tuesday to officially announce the initiative, which will be the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Canada and could undermine commercial product offerings from Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility.
"I've heard that Ted Rogers is not very happy," said the source, referring to the founder of Toronto-based Rogers Communications Inc., parent company of Rogers Wireless, the country's largest mobile phone provider.
So-called municipal Wi-Fi, which blankets entire cities with the same wireless network technology found in many homes and small businesses, makes broadband access virtually ubiquitous and gives municipalities a way of generating revenue while offering affordable high-speed Internet access to low-income persons and neighbourhoods.
It also gives cities a way to attract tourists and business professionals, provides local police with better access to law enforcement databases while on the road, and helps city officials remotely monitor parking meters and other automated services. Toronto Hydro might also choose to sell a wholesale version of the service to other service providers.
In Ontario, where smart meters have been mandated, electrical utilities are looking at various telecommunications technologies for retrieving data from people's homes and businesses for time-of-day billing purposes.
Sources say Toronto Hydro has decided to support its smart meter plan using Wi-Fi technology, which can be accessed by any properly equipped laptop or handheld computing device.
Brian Sharwood, a telecom analyst with the Seaboard Group in Toronto, said it makes sense for a utility to recoup the cost of supporting smart meters by also selling wireless broadband services. "In a way that's the excuse to do all of this," he said. "You're going to run it past a lot of people anyway."
He said Canada's largest municipal electrical utility, which last year purchased Toronto's street light system for $60 million, will likely install the necessary wireless transmitters and receivers atop every fourth or fifth lamp post as a way to blanket the city with coverage -- what the industry describes as "wireless mesh networking."
Several companies offer the technology, including Kanata, Ont.-based BelAir Networks and Brampton-based Nortel Networks. Utilities in Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie are pursuing similar Wi-Fi strategies for their respective smart meter programs.
Municipal Wi-Fi projects aren't without controversy. In the United States, major wireless carriers say municipalities have no experience selling consumer services and are abusing their monopoly over taxpayers' funds. They also fear that their own Wi-Fi services, increasingly offered in airports, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels, will be undercut when it comes to price.
But municipalities argue that competition is healthy and that blanketing communities with low-cost broadband access helps bridge the digital divide.
The announcement Tuesday by Toronto Hydro will follow VIA Rail Canada's decision to begin offering Wi-Fi service on all its trains between Windsor and Quebec City over the course of the year. |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON
| It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out. I fully support it and could care less if Ted's pissed.
If Toronto Hydro can offer a better service than Rogers at a competitive price, all the... er... power to them. 
The reality is that more and more services are being exclusively offered via the Internet. I don't throw it in the same class as a gas or electricity utility but it's certainly going down the same road.
And if private enterprise doesn't think it's profitable let the muni's handle it.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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urv
join:2005-12-18
Mississauga, ON | reply to jpm032571
Is Mississauga covered? |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON | Maybe sit on the western side of the 427 and point your Cantenna east? 
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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shaner
Premium
join:2000-10-04
Calgary, AB
| reply to jpm032571
Yeah, but its Toronto Hydro. Wake me up when it really happens.
Its not Rogers Wireless which will feel the effects of this, its Rogers cable internet. And sympatico, and any other earth bound ISP. I have no problem with muni wifi, Toronto Hydro had better be forced to allow competitors to use their network, like any other incumbant ISP in the country.
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Click this and read. -> »www.actsofgord.com/
»Canadian Wireless FAQ
I'm laying pipe,
all night long,
laying pipe,
to satisfy that woman.
- David Wilcox |
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vagary
join:2006-01-07
Toronto, ON
| reply to mr weather
The article in today's paper said it will cost $20 for most and Earthlink will even down the price for the less fortunate to 9 bucks for access. I am all for this but lets see it actually happen because the city has a funny way of promising things that sound awesome but never actually get done.
»www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Conten···48863851 |
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shaner
Premium
join:2000-10-04
Calgary, AB
| reply to shaner
I love how the article always states how it's the wireless carriers who will be most affected by this. That's not true. The majority of wireless data applications are in remote(ish) areas. Most urban settings will have land based internet, so it's the Sympaticos' and Rogers HiSpeeds of the world which will feel the pinch. But wirelessly, not so much.
Our biggest wireless data customers in Alberta are in the oil patch and travel throughout the province.
--
Click this and read. -> »www.actsofgord.com/
»Canadian Wireless FAQ
I'm laying pipe,
all night long,
laying pipe,
to satisfy that woman.
- David Wilcox |
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frank2029
join:2004-01-31
Etobicoke, ON | reply to jpm032571
I've read about this in the star about 1 or 2 years ago. but they werent talking wireless. they were saying actually plugging in a connection into the power outlets in our own homes.... |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON | aka Broadband Over Powerlines (BPL). This ain't it (thank goodness).
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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Wildcatboy
Premium,Mod
join:2000-10-30
Toronto, ON
Host:
Security Product V..
Security
| reply to jpm032571
It may not be officially here yet but it is here. I used it on Saturday at the corner of Yonge and Carlton. Once connected, you're greeted by a page saying you're connected to Toronto Hydro and you get a button that says Free Internet. Click it and you're done. It takes you to Google.
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You can catch the Devil, but you can't hold him long. |
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jpm032571
join:2004-03-20
Toronto, ON
| reply to jpm032571
Some thoughts and observations.....
According to news reports, the wifi will be confined to a 6 square km area in the downtown core.
It will be free for the first 6 months
I wonder about 'dead zones' within the coverage area. Will Toronto Hydro add an extra access point if a subscriber complains they live in a shadow and there is a weak/no signal?
As for Ted Rogers being upset, I say too damn bad. His original business was cable. If he can add commercial radio, satellite and wireless, Toronto Hydro can diversify as well. |
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lawrence171
Evilly Yours - Evilness
join:2001-12-24
Canada
 ·Acanac
| reply to shaner
said by shaner  :I love how the article always states how it's the wireless carriers who will be most affected by this. That's not true. The majority of wireless data applications are in remote(ish) areas. Most urban settings will have land based internet, so it's the Sympaticos' and Rogers HiSpeeds of the world which will feel the pinch. But wirelessly, not so much. Our biggest wireless data customers in Alberta are in the oil patch and travel throughout the province. Bell, Rogers, Telus, all offer wireless internet via their wireless network. Business people use this often, while they're on the go (lunch break at a coffee shop and stuff). By Toronto being fully wifi enabled of course, they will suffer the most. If Wifi is $20, and Bell/Fido/Rogers/Telus is $100 per month...
Since wireless carriers bill by the amount of data transfered (esp. Rogers, Fido, Telus), they will make much less profit.
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What I used to be I no longer am... God, why can't you freeze time for my sake? |
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shaner
Premium
join:2000-10-04
Calgary, AB
| Not true. Urban users are more likely to already be using WiFi. In fact, if people are using their laptops in Toronto while sucking back their Vente Mocha Latte's, chances are they're already using Bell WiFi.
»www.bbwexchange.com/publications···4890.asp
Once again, the vast majority of Wireless Data users right now are using that service in more remote areas.
That being said, EvDo is popular among corporate clients in urban areas because the coverage is far more reliable than WiFi. Remember, these power users don't care nearly as much about price as they do about reliability. So, unless Toronto Hydro's coverage can match the cellular networks, Hydro isn't going to cut into the wireless company's customer base at all.
Now, regular residential broadband is a different story, and that's where Hydro's plan will have the most effect.
--
Click this and read. -> »www.actsofgord.com/
»Canadian Wireless FAQ
I'm laying pipe,
all night long,
laying pipe,
to satisfy that woman.
- David Wilcox |
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mordin
42 inches of 1080p
Premium
join:2005-05-28
Moncton, NB
| said by shaner :Now, regular residential broadband is a different story, and that's where Hydro's plan will have the most effect. You'd have to be fairly dumb to give up a safer & faster wired connection for an unsafer slower wireless one.
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P4 2.8 800 fsb, Asus P4P800 w/1GB PC3200 DDR RAM, 256 MB GeForce 5600, SB Audigy Gamer, DVD-Rom/CD-R Burner & LG Duel layer DVD Burner, 2x 120 GB Internal & 250 GB External hard drives |
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mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON
| I don't think it's about giving up a faster wired connection as much as it's about offering access to people who've never had it or have been stuck on dial-up.
Toronto Hydro WiFi could be $10 a month but I'm still not giving up my Sympatico line.
Clearly the original intent of all of this is to allow command and control of their smart meters. If they can sell Internet access as well I say go for it.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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shaner
Premium
join:2000-10-04
Calgary, AB
| reply to mordin
said by mordin :said by shaner :Now, regular residential broadband is a different story, and that's where Hydro's plan will have the most effect. You'd have to be fairly dumb to give up a safer & faster wired connection for an unsafer slower wireless one. The limits of people's cheapness knows no bounds. However, you're right, I cant see that many people giving up their stable home connection for WiFi.
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Click this and read. -> »www.actsofgord.com/
»Canadian Wireless FAQ
I'm laying pipe,
all night long,
laying pipe,
to satisfy that woman.
- David Wilcox |
|
HiVolt
Premium
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON
clubs:
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to mr weather
said by mr weather :Clearly the original intent of all of this is to allow command and control of their smart meters. Don't the smart meters use cellular for access? Thats what I read somewhere.
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Kardinal
Canadair CT-114 Tutor
Premium
join:2001-02-04
N of 49th
clubs:
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to shaner
said by shaner :The limits of people's cheapness knows no bounds. However, you're right, I cant see that many people giving up their stable home connection for WiFi. .....and then complaining that it isn't as fast / reliable / dependable or has "speed issues" and demanding a refund. 
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