I Want My WiFi!

In one of my previous blogs, I talked about the issue of "free" WiFi" and how there seems to be a movement towards that we have a "right" to free WiFi.  For all intents and purposes, I questioned if this was practical and reasonable to expect.

Now - I will totally contradict myself - to an extent.  Yesterday, I was a WiFi "consumer" frantically looking for WiFi hotspots at Bay and Bloor.  Before I go on, I am not changing my mind on the issue of free WiFi.  With this blog entry, I am simply looking at this from a different perspective.  I don't really expect that I had a right to expect WiFi access, but gosh darn - yesterday, it would have been very nice!

Waiting for some friends to arrive from the subway, I was somewhat bored, so I thought that I'd whip out my iPod and try to connect as I waited.

Well - I was first of all astonished at how many WiFi networks were accessible from the south east corner of Bay and Bloor.   The little grey padlock indicating a private network dashed my hopes of being able to join in, but I didn't give up.  I walked around the downtown core looking for public networks that perhaps I could partake of.  I actually found a public (i.e. not password protected) called something like Toronto_Public_WiFi.  With a network name like that, one would expect that is exactly what I was looking for.  However, no luck - couldn't connect, so off I went looking for others.

As I'm walking south on Bay Street, I thought to myself that perhaps that in a previous life, I was a a professional water-dowser.  I was pointing my iPod in every which direction looking for the oasis of free access.

I eventually gave up and went low-tech and had a coffee at Starbucks.  Didn't occur to me that they'd have a free hotspot.  I must have spent a good half hour trying to figure out to connect and by the time that I finally did, it was time to meet my party.

Free WiFi access for the masses!  No - not really, but yesterday, it certainly would have been nice.

Righting the Rights - Is the Right Right or is the Right Wrong - Writing about This Dilemma

A few weeks back, I read an article about some jurisdictions which have established that people have the legal right to broadband access. As I was out today, listening to my iPod, this article came to mind as I was somewhat irked that I didn't have WiFi Access.

I then started thinking about this article and I wonder where this issue of if electronic access is a right or if it should be a privilege. Relating back to my last newsletter article about how we chase technology's tail, how long will it be before it is deemed that the minimum 1 megabit broadband access is insufficent. I would not at all surprised to see that as the technology matures, that faster Internet access is considered a legal right.

Reading on Wikipedia about this, Estonia, France, Finland and Greece all have made Internet access a basic human right. What I'd like to know is who pays for this. Of course we all know that it's everyone else that pays.

I suppose that I should be more understanding of the underprivileged that don't have access to Internet. Certainly, there is a very legitimate rationale for providing Internet access to those that normally can't get it. I'm certain that not having access to it puts these individuals at a significant disadvantage when it comes to job searchs, housing and community and social services, so I suppose that it's at first glance not a bad idea.

On a related note, it also appears that there are a number of cities (Austin TX, Portland OR, Atlanta GA and San Francisco CA among others) who are attempting to enable WiFi access across most of the metropolitian areas. As a consumer of WiFi, I think that it's a wonderful idea, but I wonder if there is enough infrastructure in place in order to fully implement this type of a solution and I question who should be paying the bill for this.