Calgary Wireless City Showcase Hotspot

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.infoport.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=333-379-617' target='_blank'>http://www.infoport.ca/bins/content...cid=333-379-617</a><br /><br /></div>"Calgary is a major centre for the development of Advanced Technologies, and Calgarians are the leading users of Wireless Technology in North America. With hundreds of thousands of people traveling in and out of the downtown core every day, and tens of thousands more who call it home, it’s a prime location for showcasing Wi-Fi technology and the Calgary-based companies that make Wi-Fi Hotspots work. This exciting Wireless City project was built to illustrate a large distributed Hotspot using Wireless Backhaul, and how a Wi-Fi Access Operator can offer Roaming from Multiple Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs)."<br /><br />It's not often I get to crow about the great things my city does, but this is a rare exception: they deployed a very large access point to give downtown Wi-Fi users free access, up to 60 minutes per day. My wife worked on this project, and while I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, it looks like a solid, well-conceived deployment. Have any of my fellow Calgarians who read this site given it a try yet? What were your experiences?<br /><br />As for the rest of you, does your local city offer any sort of public WiFi access? I wonder if, in a few years, just like bathrooms and water fountains, local governments will offer Wi-Fi access to the public?

[Jimmy Dodd]

As for the rest of you, does your local city offer any sort of public WiFi access?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! :rotfl:

[pivaska]

In Palatine Illinois Harper College http://www.harpercollege.edu has free WiFi from curb to curb 24/7. This is a project that was developed by the Haper College staff. So far the town that I live in, Arlingotn Heights, IL nor the surrounding town have any free hotspots.

[easylife]

I wonder if, in a few years, just like bathrooms and water fountains, local governments will offer Wi-Fi access to the public?

I'm having a hard time trying to think of public bathrooms and water fountains where I live... :? Even if my city provided these things, I doubt that they will provide public WiFi - it would be hard for places like Starbucks to compete with free... :mrgreen:

[opus]

It costs a fortune to live in NYC, and there are lots of annoyances (:2gunfire:), but some perks as well - in particular lots of public hotspots.

See, for instance,
http://www.downtownny.com/wireless.asp which lists seven free downtown hotspots, including City Hall Park.

Bryant Park, right behind the New York Public Library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, is one of the more popular public hotspots:
http://www.bryantpark.org/amenities/wireless.php

Also, my institution of Columbia University (http://www.columbia.edu) on the far Upper West Side has pretty much full-campus Wi-Fi that's freely accessible (http://www.columbia.edu/acis/access/oncampus/wireless/). Given that we have an OC-3 connection to the Internet, they figured that locking down 11Mb/s of bandwith was not worth the hassle :mrgreen:.

[mr_yellow]

Dang! i was just in calgary on vacation for over a week. I knew i shoulda brought my wireless notebook to play with! =)

[GoldKey]

Tallahassee has Digital Canopy over the core of downtown. It has been free for at least a year now. It was more a proof of concept, but they just kept it running. Talk is of expanding it at some point and possibly converting it to a pay service.

[Ashley Dunn]

Bryant Park, right behind the New York Public Library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, is one of the more popular public hotspots:
http://www.bryantpark.org/amenities/wireless.php

Interesting you should mention Bryant Park - it's actually what the Hotspot in Calgary was modelled after. :-)

[lurch]

The only free Wi-Fi hotspot in Indianapolis that I know of is a coffee shop that's offering the service... no government ones (that I know of)

BTW the coffee shop (The House) is on the corner of 62nd & Keystone. (for anybody living in Indy who's interested)

[Jufafs2]

Woohoo!! Calgary Rules!!! You don't even get free healthcare down here (San Diego)!!!

Sure miss it there....

Austen (Original Calgarian!)

[Thinkingmandavid]

Nothing free in HOuston that I know of. There is a coffee shop that lets people use if for free, but it is a bit far. I dont quite remember what area it is considered.

[ctmagnus]

Hmm...

[link to 640x480 image] (http://www.magnusson.ca/wwwd3/Calgary.gif)

Interesting! However, I've never had my GPS with me downtown so I've logged many more than are shown here.

I just wish our town would do something like this.

[David Prahl]

A town near mine (a fraction the size) has free citywide wireless! Although they don't know it! :twisted: They want to charge $33 a month, but I was able to get in with my Axim for free!

You know, &lt;city name>, there is something called W.E.P. ... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[berzins]

Hey Jason.

It works fine! I was at a Microsoft Windows 2003 launch and could get to it (unfortunately) only from the lobby of the Hyatt. Nice to have it in our city. Speaking of which (ok everyone else tune out as I am going off topic a little), have you been to Stampede this year? I've noticed two tower trucks that look like cell phone towers but yet are mobile? Funny looking trucks at any point. One is across the street from Stampede LRT station and the other is across from Victory Park School. Some sort of WiFi? Was on my motorcycle or I would have stopped to see if I could see anything on my IPaq.

Dave Berzins...

P.S. The 2210 rocks! Have five for my guys to play with...

[Jason Dunn]

...have you been to Stampede this year? I've noticed two tower trucks that look like cell phone towers but yet are mobile?

Yeah, Bell rolled out WiFi access to cover the Stampede grounds so information workers could get access to online data using PDAs - I think. I never saw any of them there, but there was a wireless network in place - but the darn thing was locked down, so I couldn't get on. Boo hoo. :cry:

My wife can tell you more if she's monitoring this thread. ;-)

[Howard2k]

Cool, heading out that way next month.

1 hour free per user.. How are they managing that at the back end?

[berzins]

1 hour free per user.. How are they managing that at the back end?

I am going to have to assume MAC. They do ask you for an email address as well but I think thats just for "future use". It does a DNS re-direct until you input the information.

Dave...

[Ashley Dunn]

I've noticed two tower trucks that look like cell phone towers but yet are mobile? Funny looking trucks at any point. One is across the street from Stampede LRT station and the other is across from Victory Park School. Some sort of WiFi? Was on my motorcycle or I would have stopped to see if I could see anything on my IPaq.

Hi, yes, Wireless City, the initiative being taken by the organization I'm working with this summer, along with Bell West and Bell Canada deployed a 1xRTT wireless access zone that covers the entire Stampede grounds. If you visit www.wirelesscity.ca you'll find some stories and more details about what Wireless City is doing in Calgary this summer.

The Stampede project involves people we've deemed Wireless Howdies, who walk around the grounds with wireless Tablet PCs and if a guest needs help finding something, or wants to check in on plans they made at home, the Wireless Howdies are able to connect to the Internet and help the guests out. It's pretty cool, but the only negative is there are only two such people at the Stampede this year, so it's kind of hard to find them.... Perhaps next year we'll have a few more. :-)

[Ashley Dunn]

1 hour free per user.. How are they managing that at the back end?

The way this project works is that there are several different organizations involved, including several service providers. Right now, we have NetWireless and TELUS providing Internet service for this Hotspot. A company called Guest-tek was involved in the project with the job of creating and implementing a VBN which has been designed specifically for the 60 minutes of free use per 24 hour period. Once that 60 minutes is up, the interface automatically punts you to the NetWireless homepage, where payment options become the only way you can access the Hotspot.

You have to sign in upon each use of the service and a timer keeps track of how long you've been online. Once your time is up, then you can either head back to the office or choose the best payment option for your needs.

Again, if you visit www.wirelesscity.ca you can check out the history of the project and if you follow the links to each company, you'll get their version of what their involvement was in the project.

[ctmagnus]

A company called Guest-tek was involved in the project with the job of creating and implementing a VBN which has been designed specifically for the 60 minutes of free use per 24 hour period.

Visitor-based network?