Computer users cry freedom
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY WiFi networks changing life for students, business But Toronto lags other cities in providing hotspots
Teaching assistant Hanna Cho knows that all those students with laptops clattering away during lectures at York University aren’t religiously taking notes.
“ They have Instant Messenger and chat with friends in class and outside, setting up plans to meet later,” says Cho, 25, a master’s student in a joint RyersonYork communication program. Her thesis explores the social impact of WiFi wireless networks and how they affect civic participation and bind communities.
“ No one passes notes in class anymore because it’s all wireless,” she says.
York and Ryerson, like most Ontario university and college campuses, are WiFi hotspots, meaning anyone with a laptop, handheld PDA or mobile phone can lock onto a signal and gain Internet access.
WiFi, or “ wireless fidelity”, is the commonly used term for wireless local area network ( WLAN). As the name suggests, it’s a wireless connection to a network, and, in most cases, a network linked to the World Wide Web.
Until recently, those seeking wireless access in coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and airports simply paid for it, through services such as FatPort or Inukshuk, the joint Rogers Wireless/ Bell Canada, $ 200- million venture.
“ Being untethered is refreshing,” says Cho. “ It draws people out of rooms and into public spaces. At York, we’re outside with our laptops on the grass. I don’t have to be in the library or locked in my room simply because I need the Net to work.” WiFi is a radio system that sends data to and from a device through a router connected to the Net with a 30- to 45- metre range. Most new laptops have WiFi capacity built in, while older laptops require a $30 card or USB key.
Other examples of WiFi commercial applications include: ‰ At the Air Canada Centre, waiters with handheld units take food and drink orders from fans in the stands, and can even complete a credit card transaction on the spot. ‰ In stores, colour wireless cameras provide security, while sales staff with handheld units assist customers with transactions or checking items in stock. ‰ Courier companies can precisely track parcels. WiFi also attracts customers: Nearly 20 airlines offer wireless Internet for a small fee during flights, as does VIA Rail. Even some McDonald’s restaurants in the U. S. offer free access. Some mobile phones ship with WiFi capability, enabling users to surf, collect emails, download files and even make voice over Internet protocol ( VoIP) telephone calls and avoid hefty charges imposed by cellphone carriers. WiFi is cheap and easily installed; it simply needs power and an Internet connection and
requires little or no
maintenance. Toronto,
however, is behind the
times, with a scattering
of pay- for- play hotspots and not nearly
enough free locations,
says Cho who, is working with Toronto Wireless, a non- profit group
building free WiFi hotspots sponsored by
business groups. The City of Toronto has contracted with Bell to create a hotspot at Nathan Philips Square in a pay-for-access pilot project. But while private companies look to extend their wireless networks on a similar basis across commercial properties, the city itself has no plans to create a publicly subsidized network. That’s being left to groups such as Toronto Wireless and another grassroots organization, Wireless Nomad, a membership co- operative effort.
In the past, finding “ free” signals was a geek- sport played by so-called “war-drivers” who tracked and piggy- backed onto unsecured signals “leaking” from corporate or personal networks. Now, citing broadband access as a new- age literacy cause, cities such as Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York, Montreal and even Fredericton have built or are building an interwoven mesh of hotspots, in some cases with private-public partnerships, often with free or nominal access fees. Canada lags the world in deploying WiFi , both in the corporate and public sense, says Ronald Gruia, Toronto program leader of enterprise communication at research house Frost and Sullivan.
“ It amazes me that I was just at BCE Place having a coffee and I couldn’t get a WiFi signal,” says Gruia. “ CISCO ( the maker of Internet hardware) is right there. It’s Bell’s flagship location.” Deployment of WiFi, he says, is a no- brainer compared to the challenge of laying fibre- optic cable and building mobilephone transmission towers. It’s critical because business flexibility demands it and consumer technologies of the future, such as TV over Internet ( IPTV) may also find growth dependent on an established high- speed WiFi network.
“ It’s cheap and easy,” he says. “The change in technology is such that there’s still time for Toronto to catch up.” And catch up we must, says Cho, for the sake of the communities making up the heartbeat of the city itself. “The digital divide, between those who have broadband access and those who don’t, is growing,” says Cho, adding that drawing people into public places brings vitality back to otherwise empty streets, which in turn boosts local business and communities.
“Online interaction leads to offline interaction and wireless access is too important to be left to a corporate agenda. You shouldn’t have to pay $ 7.50 an hour to do it.”