Toronto Hydro's OneZone Finally Launches

So almost 3 months after the Press Release, we have some more news from Toronto Hydro. They finally launched in some strategic downtown spots including Queen's Park and St Lawrence Market. A PDF map is available on their website.

But this is not really the case as we speak. According to a friendly support rep, by October it should be further north and to Bloor by end of year. The current coverage is between Front and Queen from Spadina to Church according to 416.599.DATA (their support #).

Some interesting design choices from their how-to page on connecting:

1. Open your WiFi enabled device
2. Use the network connections manager on your WiFi enabled device to view available wireless networks.
3. Select the SSID One Zone_High Speed Internet
4. Open your web browser and visit the new user page.
5. Enter your mobile phone number in the space provided.
6. Within minutes you will receive a text message containing your username and password.
7. Enter your username and password.
8. Start surfing.

So they are using the cell phone # as a way to activate that service. Pretty tricky and nice, but I wonder why they didn't just choose to have people register on a proxy website before they can surf like the rest of the world does. Seems strange. Of course they are collecting a nice database of cell phone #s and will be able to let people know when they can buy. It's a decent upsell, but for this reason I am not sure I'd want Toronto Hydro to have my cell phone number. There is nothing about terms of use of this cell phone info.

Now on to the 6 months deal. The service is free until March 6 2007 (6 months) After that the following pricing applies:

A pre-paid monthly subscription priced at $29 per month

A daily subscription including 24 consecutive hours of use priced at $10

An hourly subscription at $5

The monthly deal is decent. If this truly is a decent service and has decent support, I think this may be a way to cut the cord from a high speed cable provider. If I get 1MB service, then they do a great job competing with the big boys. And of course you have WiFi in the whole coverage area so you can pretty much go anywhere and use high speed. Even the daily rate is decent, while the hourly rate is obviously steep. That's the only thing I'd change. I think 0.99 for an hour is more like it.

OTOH, this line from the FAQs made me take a double take. Are they serious?

Speeds of up to 7 megabits per second can be achieved on the One Zone™ network.

If you are looking for wifi spots now, they are very localized (from the FAQ)

Q: Where can I access the Toronto Hydro Telecom One Zone™?
A: The Toronto Hydro Telecom One Zone™ will be launched in 5 stages beginning in September 2006. By year-end six square kilometers of the downtown core will be blanketed in wireless Internet access. For a full coverage map please see the coverage maps section in the media centre.

And finally their FACT SHEET:

In Canada, six large telecommunications carriers account for 79.6% of all data communications services, with total annual revenues of $3.78 billion.

Toronto represents 13.5% of the total data services market in Canada, with a value of $533.4 million (according to the Report to the Governor General in Council, ‘Status of competition with the Canadian Telecommunications Market’, November, 2004).

The Toronto market accounts for 13.8% of the total Internet services market in Canada, valued at $455.5 million.

According to The SeaBoard Group, Wi Fi technology is changing the way Canadians view their landline connections; Seabord predicts that by 2008, 13% of the substitution of landlines by wireless will be in the business market.

According to a 2005 report by IDC, 63% of firms with 250-499 employees surveyed said they will be considering piloting Wi Fi networking within their firm.

City-wide Wi Fi networks – built in collaboration with municipal utilities -- are a major trend in the United States. Canadian cities with municipal Wi Fi networks include Ottawa, Fredericton and Whistler-village.

While there are currently an estimated 200 hot spots in Toronto, Toronto Hydro Telecom’s Wi Fi network will provide users with access to the largest seamless, unfettered hot zone in Canada.