Aggressive plans to blanket downtown Toronto with wireless Internet access have been delayed by a range of unexpected factors, from security concerns to worries about public health, but the telecommunications arm of the city-owned electrical utility behind the idea says it will be ready to launch in September.
Toronto Hydro Telecom also believes it should be able to keep most of the existing, random scattering of wireless hot spots in cafés, offices and homes from interfering with its WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) zone.
Toronto Hydro Telecom's project, unveiled in March, is among the biggest of its kind in North America. Its WiFi network will allow people to access the Internet throughout the city's core, instead of in one specific hot spot. Customers will also be able to make phone calls over the Internet connection and at a later point access video.
The eventual goal is to cover the entire city, but that's a few years down the road.
The service is expected to deliver speeds of between three and seven megabits per second (Mbps), roughly in line with the land-line Internet offerings of rivals Bell Canada and Rogers Communications Inc., company officials said at a briefing yesterday.
The company is not ready to discuss what the service will cost. But it has been open about some of the roadblocks that have held up the first phase of the rollout, covering the financial district, by two months to the end of August. The official introduction is now slated for Sept. 7.
For one, the company first had to address law-enforcement concerns about its plan to offer the service for free for the first six months. That raised worries the service could be used by some for illegal purposes, such as moving child pornography or communicating about drug activities, Sharyn Gravelle, vice-president of wireless at Toronto Hydro Telecom explained.
In response, the company has created an authentication process for the service. Users will have to enter a cellphone number, then receive a text message with a code and password to log on. Those without cellphones won't be able to use the free service.
Concerns expressed by the city's public-health department about exposure to electromagnetic fields also contributed to the delay. The two parties held talks in May and June, and Toronto Public Health is now "satisfied" the WiFi network is in line with safety guidelines, according to the company.
Finally, the company needed extra time after discovering only a small percentage of the streetlights it is using for the wireless transmitters had 24-hour power.
The next potential trouble spot would be interference between Toronto Hydro Telecom's zone and other hot spots, a factor that could slow customers' Internet speeds but won't drop their connection.
"The probabilities are low here we're going to be encountering this," Ms. Gravelle said in a phone interview. "There are areas where this will come into play though, and we're proactively looking at how we would address that."
