Toronto Wi-Fi Release Date Delayed Over Technical and Health and Safety Concerns

The first phase of Toronto Hydro Telecom's Wi-Fi project was slated to blanket Toronto's financial district by June or July at the latest (see E-TIPS®, "Toronto Hydro Plans City-Wide Wireless Hot Spot", Vol 4, No 18, March 15, 2006). With August now upon us, Toronto's financial district is still lacking Wi-Fi capability. The delay was sparked by a number of factors, including technical and health and safety issues. To Toronto Hydro Telecom's surprise, many street light poles in downtown Toronto do not have a constant flow of electricity. In order to blanket the city with Wi-Fi, the access points attached to the light poles need to be operational 24/7. To achieve this goal, many poles required rewiring. Health concerns were also raised over the electromagnetic radiation that will be spread across 235 city blocks. Discussions were held in June and Toronto Public Health is now content that the amount of exposure to radio frequency (RF) will be well below Health Canada's recommended levels. Toronto's Police Force had raised objections regarding free service being offered in the first six months of operation. The police wanted some form of tracking to avoid "illegal or unsavoury" network uses. In response, an innovative yet controversial solution will be implemented: Toronto users must supply a cell phone number to which the system uses SMS (short messaging service) to deliver a user login and password. As a result, if a person does not have a cell phone, they may lack access to the network. For a relevant news story on IT Business Canada's site, see: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=40122 And for a story in the Toronto Star, visit: http://tinyurl.com/ml4v7 Summary by: Oren Weichenberg