The eminent design futurist Buckminster Fuller once argued that modern buildings were so many fancy nozzles on the really important stuff of the city: the engineered services that are hidden below ground. While architects may take issue with being dismissed as mere stylists, Toronto just added another invisible technology to Fuller's modern city. Today, a city is not a world contender unless it offers a ubiquitous, high-speed Internet service. Now Toronto has one.

The international press is alive this week with news about Toronto Hydro's "Zone One" service. What has caught the attention of the world's geek community? It turns out that Toronto Hydro has unleashed a world-beating wireless system that boasts the fastest speeds of any competitive cities. Wi-Fi Technology writes:

Testing was conducted in mid-December by Novarum Inc., an independent consulting firm offering comprehensive broadband wireless advisory, analysis and testing services. Novarum is developing the first standardized benchmarks for overall wireless network performance. All of the North American wireless mesh networks were tested from a user perspective with industry-standard tools and methodology in Q3 and Q4 of 2006.

“We tested 41 wireless networks in 14 cities, and the performance of Toronto Hydro Telecom’s One Zone, delivering speeds of up to 5 Mbps bi-directionally, was stunning,” said Ken Biba, one of Novarum’s analysts. “One Zone’s performance is better than my broadband connection at home and, on average, five times faster than any of the other networks we tested. Most impressive was the fact that this exceptional performance is being delivered in the challenging environment of a dense urban canyon.”

Forget about Toronto's lack-luster promotional advertising, this is big news for the city and provides a competitive difference to businesses and cultural producers here. In the 21st Century, access to information is power. In that way Toronto Hydro's decision to give us this access is a further catalyst to the city's renaissance. It also reminds us that a city is not only its buildings - sorry AGO and ROM, we love you anyway. The foundation of a successful city is often the stuff hidden below grade or the invisible mesh of a wireless network. Ask Fuller.



Zone One covers this six square mile section of the city's core.

1. Has anyone successfully used this network? I tried 3-4 times during its initial six month trial period. No matter where I went within the “ZONE” I could see plenty of networks, yet none of them were the Hydro Zone One network. I regularly use a couple of free access points in coffee shops near my home, and was anticipating using the Hydro network except it was inaccessible and undiscoverable (despite the hype). Very disappointing experience.

   Posted by Peter  on  01/29  at  12:44 PM

2. I have only successfully connected to “One Zone” twice. I really recommend that you don’t bother.

   You can’t get a clear signal except outdoors, and then only if their are no big buildings in the way. (A real problem, as it only covers the financial district at present.)

   At the login page, you have to give it your cellphone number. Several minutes later they text message you with a username and password that are each 7 random characters, and thus difficult to remember.

   If you can successfully type these into the login page (which by this time has dropped your connection), you’re in. You can’t change your username or password “for security reasons”, and if you try to reuse them at a later date, you’ll likely be told that they are no longer valid.

   While the speed seemed to be very good, the spotty coverage, dropped connections and poor login authentication make this one of the worst services I have ever used.

   And in a month or two, they’ll be charging $30+ a month for it!

   You should consider supporting these folks instead:

   http://wirelesstoronto.ca/

   Posted by  on  01/29  at  01:20 PM
4. I agree. The stuff WirelessToronto has been doing is far more commendable than Hydro trying to monetize a network they use for their own use. And I'll take your word over the speed and reliability over Hydro's claims. Another option, though similarly priced is Wireless Nomad. Hopefully, the growth in wireless access in Toronto will lead to faster, more affordable, more reliable net access for everyone.
   
   Posted by Peter  on  {comment_date format=’%m/%d’}  at  {comment_date format=’%h:%i %A’}
Posted by Peter  on  01/29  at  01:34 PM

5. Maybe I’m the anomaly here but I needed wireless access between meetings near Dundas and Bay so I stopped in a coffee shop, fired up my Mac and joined the network. Got the cell phone login and password and was off. Worked perfectly and was fast too.

   Anyone else have a story about One Zone?

   Posted by Editor  on  01/29  at  02:32 PM

6. I just tried it again, from Queen E. near Victoria (the Cafe Supreme) and from the NE corner of Queen and Yonge (the Sen5es cafe). In both spots, I could detect the One Zone network, but couldn’t raise a signal of more that 1 quarter bar. Numerous other services came in at up to 4-1/3 bars.

   Is it possible that the window of your coffee shop looked out on a One Zone access point?:

   http://www.thtelecom.ca/onezone/detail_map.html

   Anyway, I agree that this is a good thing, because the more providers competing to supply Wi-fi, the better we consumers make out.

   Posted by Diane  on  01/30  at  02:34 PM

7. I was able to use this network inside the Sheraton hotel downtown. It was quick and painless. I gave my cell phone number and got a login instantly.

   The only problem is the connection sometimes flakes out, which makes large downloads difficult. Good for browsing Reading Toronto though!

   Posted by  on  01/31  at  04:00 PM

8. Does anybody know an update/status, on the OneZone? Today is March 22nd, and I can echo the same pain and frustration as commented.

   Thanks for the tip on http://wirelesstoronto.ca/

   Will check out some of the locations.

   Dave

   Posted by Web Conferencing Consultant  on  03/23  at  12:41 PM

9. my experiences with it have been very hit and miss. i was using it fine in the jury lounge in the courthouse yesterday morning, but in the afternoon, it just died. no one else around me could get connected either. today, same location, no one could even get an IP address from the gateway. onezone appeared to be dead.

   no wonder they’ve delayed charging for it… it’s just not reliable enough to spend $30/month on it.

   i also wrote about it on my livejournal, including some odd technical observations:
   http://bunnyhero.livejournal.com/223280.html

   Posted by bunnyhero  on  04/04  at  01:40 PM

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