Comments on: Toronto Hydro Telecom’s OneZone: First Impressions

By: Web Conferencing Consultant

Web Conferencing Consultant — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:30:33 +0000

Does anybody know the status on the OneZone? I’m curious to know other people’s experience to date, have you been able to connect? What has the signal been like? Will the service continue to be free? Does anybody actually work there, they don’t answer the phone?

I’ve found it be a difficult process for my laptop to connect to their signal. It recognizes the signal, however, unable to connect.

I hope the service improves…it’s a great idea, and good for the city of Toronto.

Cheers,
Dave

By: billonlogan

billonlogan — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 17:58:03 +0000

I was on Jury Duty last week at the Provincial Court House on University between Queen and Dundas. I decided to bring my laptop to do some work while waiting to be called. To my surprise I was able to get a signal from One Zone, not a strong signal but enough to login and check email. I kept losing my connection during the day, but enough time to download email. I called One Zone and they were surprised I even got a signal from inside the court house. The Jury waiting room has windows all along one side I told them. They were still surprised. So if you have to go to Jury Duty, bring along your laptop, you might be surprised and get online.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:32:22 +0000

My 6th floor office window overlooks Queen Street E., between Yonge and Victoria. I’m on the north side, and I can see partway down both Victoria and Yonge.

Yet with my Palm PDA, though I can scan a One Zone access point, I cannot get more than 10% signal — not enough to even log in.

By: djw

djw — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 03:33:33 +0000

I’m giving the One Zone thing a try myself. I just happen to have my desk right by the window, so things work fine when I’m working here. When I take it a little bit further into my apartment, however, the signal quality fluctuates wildly.

Still, I’ll give it a try for the next few months, see how things pan out. Maybe I’ll give a wireless-to-ethernet bridge a try. I kind of like the idea of having all my services with no technicians to rely on if I decide to move.

By: Graham Longford

Graham Longford — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 04:48:54 +0000

Fred,

After selecting the One Zone network and opening your browser, a portal page will appear. From there you have to register by entering your cell phone number (required) and a user name and password will be sent to you via a text message on your phone. This is the system for authenticating that they are using for now. So if you don’t have a cell, you can’t access the network. I think this is a temporary solution to police concerns about the lack of an authentication system in the initial plan.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 17:39:56 +0000

How does one get a pasword or is one needed? I can’t seem to find any references to this. I am downtown a lot and would like to use it.