Tech In The North

2 Jun, 2008 Tech

I have been vacationing at my Aunt and Uncle’s cottage, in north eastern Ontario about 2hrs from Ottawa, for the last week. I was surprised to find that Telus (my cellular provider) has increased their coverage so that I get reasonable service for my mobile phone (call and data). I was very surprised to find that the local laundry mat has high-speed internet and free WiFi access. According to the proprietor the WiFi is free because of a deal he has with the municipality that provides free WiFi for the larger community that is 25Kms up the road, they subsidize his internet so he can provide it to the small community here . Now had I know this earlier I would probably have blogged about it sooner because this is spot is only 8Kms from the cottage. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised by the municipalities providing free internet through wireless because it is easy to deploy and the area that needs to be covered (at town of only about 3000) is relatively small. Some people will see the invasion of this technology as a bad thing, people using their cellphones out on the lake and bringing their laptops into the cafes and laundry mats, but what I see is a whole wealth of new resources being offered to communities that can really benefit from them. For me it provides an easy way to stay in touch and still do the things I like from a place that I truly love.