Last week's news that Toronto Hydro will blanket the city with wireless access within three years has us dreaming about surfing at Christie Pits. But how does our city's WiFi plan stack up?
Toronto
Coverage: Six square kilometres of the city's financial district -- from Jarvis to Spadina, and Front Street to Bloor.
Time frame: The financial district is expected to be up by the end of June. The city's goal is to blanket the entire city within three years.
Price: Free for the first six months, then customers will pay for access. No price has been set yet.
Installation cost: Early estimates are less than $10-million.
Philadelphia
Coverage: 350-square-kilometre network spanning the entire city.
Time frame: By spring 2007.
Price: Subsidized access for 25,000 low-income households, at about $11.50 per month. Provider EarthLink will sell to Internet providers who'll provide service to the public, aiming to keep access under $25 a month
Installation cost: Between $8-million and $11.5-million. EarthLink will rent space on light posts for its transmitters, generating nearly $350,000 a year for Philadelphia. EarthLink will give the city 5 per cent of its access revenue, to be spent providing 10,000 computers to kids in low-income households.
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Coverage: About 40 per cent of the city -- 10 square kilometres in total -- including the downtown core, parks, libraries, arenas and malls.
Time frame: Available since 2003.
Price: Free. The city sells household and business broadband access, through its telecom carrier e-Novations. But no one uses the maximum amount of bandwidth allocated. The excess is enough to provide the city with free access.
Installation cost: About $500,000.
Tempe, Arizona
Coverage: About 100 square kilometres, but soon to connect with two other Phoenix suburbs, Gilbert and Chandler, to create North America's largest WiFi grid -- roughly 480 square kilometres.
Time frame: Tempe, operational since the end of February. Chandler and Gilbert, by the end of this year.
Price for users: $35; $23 for students. Two hours of free access a day in the city's downtown. Shorter time frames are also available.
Installation cost: Undisclosed.
