I saw an interesting story on the CBC news tonight, it seems that effective Sept 4th, a big chunk of the downtown core of Toronto will have free wireless internet access. Well, free for now anyway.
For the next 6 months or so, the city will offer wireless service for free, and then attempt to convert it to some sort of pay for use service at that point. It is an interesting idea, but when I see these things, I wonder how it affects businesses in the area. Let’s say you were running a coffee shop with a boingo or whatever hotspot inside your shop. Suddenly, the city blankets you area with free wireless, and your clients stop paying for wireless access. Or let’s say you are the local cable provider, and suddenly everyone living in the downtown core suddenly has free internet.
Free broadband wireless access over a whole city will almost certainly change the economics of the internet, and change the way we use the net. I have a feeling that it will make hand help computers / PDAs way more useful, and it will make every little coffee shop, donut shop, and outdoor terrace into a hotspot. The results will be interesting to follow.
I will post some links if i can find them, so far I haven’t found anything (maybe tomorrow)
[tags]toronto, wireless, toronto wireless, wireless internet [/tags]