Toronto WiFi Goes live
Toronto Hydro Telecom announced today the launch of it's city-wide WiFi initiative, One Zone. The first phase of a plan to provide all of Toronto with affordable wireless internet is now active. Phase 1 covers an area from Front to Queen, and from Church to Spadina. By the end of this year that coverage will be significantly expanded, reaching all the way north to Bloor, and from Bathurst to Parliament south of Queen -- six square kilometers, the largest WiFi network in Canada.
Mayor David Miller attended the press conference saying, "this is a watershed moment that will put Toronto on the leading edge of the telecommunications industry nationally and globally". Since the City of Toronto is the sole share-holder of Toronto Hydro Telecom, the wireless service made "good business sense" and could support Libraries, The TTC, Toronto Police and even Toronto Community Housing.
The wireless service will be offered free of charge for a six month period ending March 6th, 2007. After that, there will be three options for users wanting to log on. There will be a $29 monthly subscription, a 24 hour subscription for $10, and an hourly subscription of $5.
Miller added that the service, "sends a strong signal to investors, researchers and other business partners that we see Toronto as a hub for innovation, investment and continued prosperity". Get it? "Strong signal".
Coverage Maps (click to enlarge):
Photo by author, maps by Toronto Hydro Telecom
Comments (17)
Excellent for now, but this is a huge business move for Toronto Hydro, because all the people using the service during the six free months will be "strongly encouraged," I'm sure, to switch to the pay plan.
Also, will this coverage interfere with Wireless Toronto's awesome free signal?
The pricing structure is rather good for monthly subscribers, but the daily and hourly rates are steep!!!
Ha Matt! You're right, this will make things a little handy for the next two weeks.
Jerrold, you're right as well, the pricing structure is decent on the monthly end, I think cheaper than Starbucks. That being said, free is always better.
It's a great idea. It's just too bad that the downtown-centric thinking is going to result in the people living Uptown not getting any free preview.
Yes, cheaper than Starbucks for certain but more importantly better coverage, I hope. Free for 6 months is great. The picture above is too funny, are they sitting on the sidewalk?
I think the daily and hourly rates are going to be best for travelling business users and rich tourists.
So far the network doesnt stretch above queen, so it may not help the festival reportage so much.
And for the sake of bringing in some traffic to blogTO, you can digg this story here.
Won't help my festival reporting (seeing as all my screenings are at Varsity or Cumberland) but will definitely help people watching movies out at Paramount, NFB, and Roy Thomson Hall.
$$$ TOO EXPENSIVE $$$ Typical 'rich get richer' price structure. Most Torontotonians who need this service cannot afford $360 a year. Prices should be half of what they are. Can't Whitey ever get it right? How cool would it be if all around the globe people were talking about how Toronto gives it's citizen internet access for $15/month? Man. Greed. Shame.
please wake up and make an educated choice. both bell and rogers have "internet anywhere" systems in place that don't put out the damaging wifi signals.
do your homework and you will find that the convenience cannot possibly justify the "signal fog" that will be blanketing the downtown core. thank god we live out of range !
The wireless network is good, but they need to fix the certificate issue on the log in page..
See here for details
Toronto One Zone Wireless Network Review
http://jtsang.blogspot.com/2006/11/toronto-one-zone-wireless-network.html
Let's get the word out, so Toronto Hydro Telecom will fix it ASAP.
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