La Presse had a story yesterday about the Ville de Montréal and Ile-Sans-Fil in talks to install and deliver free, public WiFi in public parks and busy places in Montréal. The City would give the non-profit organization $200 000 each year to manage and monitor the hardware and pay for the Internet fees.
This would bring WiFi to a next level in Montréal, where there are actually more than 200 free, public hotspots. It’s now common to come into a coffee shop and discover at least 10 or more people working on their laptops. Having WiFi in public parks and spaces would increase the technology’s rate of adoption; although we certainly won’t have Montréalers working on laptops, but most probably devices like the iPod or wifi-enabled cell phones.
For instance, the Skype Phone is WiFi-enabled and would enable Montréalers to use Skype thanks to Ile-Sans-Fil’s network.
I still have open questions though. The city of Paris in France had a similar project but it was attacked by France Télécom this summer as illegal as they were also selling a subscription service to Parisians who wanted mobile WiFi. Here, Montréalers who live near parks and public spaces could get in theory free Internet access, and I don’t see Bell, Telus or Rogers seeing idly their customers going away.
Comments
Francois November 23, 2007
I would point you to a blog post by a friend of mine to set the record straight…
WiFi to be avalaible in parks and public spaces | Montreal Blog November 23, 2007
[...] WiFi to be avalaible in parks and public spaces | Montreal Tech Watch La Presse had a story yesterday about the Ville de Montréal and Ile-Sans-Fil in talks to install and deliver free, public WiFi in public parks and busy places in Montréal. The City would give the non-profit organization $200 000 each year to manage and monitor the hardware and pay for the Internet fees. [...]
Mark November 23, 2007
pressure/bribes/deals from Bell and Rogers on the city of Montreal. It
will be found to not be feasible, the funding will mysteriously
disappear. There is too much at stake for the telecos to let free,
community Internet access take hold.
Francois November 23, 2007
pressure/bribes/deals from Bell and Rogers on the city of Montreal.”
That, I don’t think. If that were the case, believe me that the media would cover the story pretty damn fast and that would look really bad for the city and the so called telcos (journalists have long been pretty active on the ISF network) … We’re not talking about a publicly funded blanket coverage of the island. We’re talking about the city providing free access on their premises (parks, city halls etc…). The telcos can still continue to think that people will actually go and pay for their service when they go to cafés…
Heri November 24, 2007
By the way, i think you are wrong, if the telcos find out they are loosing money in this, I would bet they would try to block this, even if they get bad press
PhilG November 28, 2007
The telcos want nothing of this.
Ben M December 11, 2007
Ottawa’s free Wifi network, ogWifi | Montreal Tech Watch January 07, 2008
[...] Ile-Sans-Fil offers support for businesses wanting to offer wifi for their customers, within a model that makes it viable for everyone. The business owner doesn’t have to deal with technical problems, for instance setting up a router and security; customers gets free, city-wide Wifi. Ile-Sans-Fil has been expanding now for several years, at the point they are now negotiating with the city to provide wifi in parks and other public spaces in Montréal. [...]
fredfred March 23, 2008
Montreal Tech Watch » Montreal’s future wifi network threatened by City August 24, 2008
[...] the Ville de Montréal administration. The non-profit organization, which had earlier this year a plan to blanket the city with free wifi coverage, is discovering endless layers of authorizations, officials and representatives, even though the [...]
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