From pdinnen at gmail.com Wed Mar 8 11:12:31 2006 From: pdinnen at gmail.com (Patrick Dinnen) Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 11:12:31 -0500 Subject: [wirelesstoronto-news] Press Release: Wireless Toronto response to Toronto Hydro WiFi plans Message-ID: <440F026F.1050504@gmail.com> For immediate release. Attention News, Business, Technology & Assignment Editors: Wireless Toronto welcomes news of Toronto Hydro WiFi Plan, hopes for Public Consultation TORONTO, March 8 - (http://wirelesstoronto.ca/blog/) Local community group Wireless Toronto has expressed a positive response to yesterday's Toronto Hydro announcement. The group sees Toronto Hydro Telecom's plan to blanket Toronto's downtown core with WiFi as an ambitious one with far-reaching consequences. Bearing close resemblance to municipal wireless initiatives in Philadelphia and San Francisco, Toronto Hydro's plan expands the local internet access market. Gabe Sawhney, a volunteer from Wireless Toronto says, "In addition to having important economic implications for individual consumers and businesses, the new availability of wireless access enabled by the proposed mesh architecture in areas of the city that currently have little or no access, is of key importance. The blanketing of the downtown core with seamless, and lower-cost network access opens the door to exciting opportunities for innovation and improved access among local residents, community groups, artists, and small businesses." Focused on exploring ways free wireless networking technology can be used in interesting and innovative ways, Wireless Toronto is excited to hear further details from Toronto Hydro. In particular, Wireless Toronto looks forward to a process of public consultation that engages a variety of stakeholders affected by this initiative. A non-profit, all-volunteer community group dedicated to encouraging no-cost public access to WiFi in public spaces, Wireless Toronto has a growing network of community-based hotspots across the GTA. Once complete, Toronto Hydro's WiFi zone will be Canada's largest. Currently, the city's largest public WiFi hotspot is at St. Lawrence Market, launched in November 2005 by Wireless Toronto and the South Market Tenant's Association, and it is free to use. A full list of other free WiFi hotspots offered by Wireless Toronto can be found at: http://wirelesstoronto.ca, and an in-depth blog discussion of the proposed Toronto Hydro plan can be found at http://wirelesstoronto.ca/blog/ For more information contact: Gabe Sawhney 647-222-6677 gabe at pwd.ca or Hanna Cho 416-821-6672 hanna at wirelesstoronto.ca From gabe at pwd.ca Sat Mar 11 21:47:19 2006 From: gabe at pwd.ca (Gabe Sawhney) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 20:47:19 -0600 Subject: [wirelesstoronto-news] Wireless Toronto March meeting Message-ID: <95b1c3780603111847y4e80141l9d2dbd9c143cb4c7@mail.gmail.com> The next WirelessToronto meeting is on Wednesday March 15th, at the Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina (between Queen and Dundas), Suite 120; http://socialinnovation.ca The meeting will run from 6 to 7pm; at 7 we'll move to (a bar, TBA). --- This month, we'll be expecting reports on: - venue sprint! - the Toronto Hydro announcement - Dufferin Grove Park node plans - prepping for our one-year anniversary - more --- Get involved! Whether you're into writing press releases, surfing Google maps, or tweaking iptables rulesets, we can use your help. If you can't make it to the meeting, subscribe to our "discuss" email list to find out what's going on and how you can help. (http://wirelesstoronto.ca/lists)