Toronto Wi-Fi service by Toronto electric utility Hydro Telecom is a project our users have been chatting about for a while, since they've been getting free service (though with some complaints of spotty coverage). The utility recently purchased the city's light pole network for $60 million and has perched Wi-Fi gear on every fourth or fifth pole. Dubbed the OneZone network, the service covers six square kilometers in downtown Toronto and is free to residents until full commercial launch in March. A new report touts OneZone as the best performing Wi-Fi network in North America.

"We tested 41 wireless networks in 14 cities, and the performance of Toronto Hydro Telecom’s One Zone, delivering speeds of up to 5 Mbps bi-directionally, was stunning," said Ken Biba, one of Novarum’s analysts. "One Zone’s performance is better than my broadband connection at home and, on average, five times faster than any of the other networks we tested. Most impressive was the fact that this exceptional performance is being delivered in the challenging environment of a dense urban canyon."

The OneZone service uses Siemens Mesh@vantage MR gear, which integrates wireless mesh technology from BelAir Networks. The service is free until March, after which it will cost $29 per month, $10 per day or $5 per hour. The network FAQ has additional detail.

You can find Novarum's complete wireless rankings here. Note that in their overall rankings list (which puts a heavier weight on coverage), eight of the ten networks are cellular. Philly's muni-Fi network came in second place in terms of broadband performance, which is surprising considering the volume of analyst ire that's been directed at muni-Fi network performance of late.