There’s a piece in today’s NOW Magazine about wifi in Toronto:
“Hotspot we’re not”
Joshua Errett mentions Wireless Toronto, the 21,000 users we serve, and quotes me pointing towards new models for free wifi.
I don’t know why this happened, but the article takes an awfully negative approach — making it seem like LinuxCaffe and Dark Horse are two of the few places in the city that offer free wifi. I posted a comment to the story, mentioning a few of my favourite places for free wifi…
Oh — I understand now why the article was so negative, having picked up a copy of the paper edition. The wifi piece was a sidebar on the cover story, which is about how technologically backward Toronto is.
I’ve spent pretty much all of my time over the past 6 years trying to find interesting ways of using technology to help make our experience of the city more fun or interesting — so maybe I’m bound to dislike Errett’s angle.
Hmm – great interview all the same, Gabe.
Would’ve been nice if he had listed one or two of the places WT is serving, like Dufferin Grove and Y-D Square; guess there’s not much you can do, when the piece has a slant already built-in.
I agree with the premise of the article that Toronto could use more universal wireless access. The extreme negativity seems unnecessary, though, and the criticism against WT in the online comments is puzzling — why attack people who are trying to help? Thank you to Gabe and others at Wireless Toronto who are voluntarily working to improve the situation in Toronto, even if it is only one part of a larger solution.