To be clear, “free wifi” of a sort had been available at Starbucks previously: you had to have a Starbucks.com account, and by logging in you could get 2 free hours/day. The new free wifi service is two-click: agree to the terms and click connect. (“Free wifi” versus “free free wifi”? “Free+libre wifi”?)

When you do so, it takes you to what is currently an almost blank version of the Sympatico portal: http://starbucks.sympatico.ca/home

I don’t know what the equivalent page looks like in the US, but I’m guessing that it’s more elaborate:

Building on the Wi-Fi update, Schultz also revealed plans for a new online customer experience called the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!, which will debut later this fall. This online experience – available only in U.S. company operated Starbucks stores – will be unique in its content offerings, allowing customers free unrestricted access to various paid sites and services such as wsj.com, exclusive content and previews, free downloads, local community news and activities, on their laptops, tablets or smart phones.

Driven by Digital Ventures, a new business unit within Starbucks led by CIO and General Manager, Digital Ventures, Stephen Gillett, the Starbucks Digital Network in partnership with Yahoo! opens up a uniquely valuable customer experience, while at the same time appeals to leading online content providers and provides a new channel for customer engagement. Launch content providers will include, among others, iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! and ZAGAT.

http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=397

I like imagining how deals come together. I’m guessing this one went something like:

• (Jun 14) Starbucks announces that the free wifi will be even more free at their US stores starting July 1st. Canadian Starbucks fanboys and fangirls are pissed.
• (Jun 15) Starbucks Corporate hates calling Bell as much as anyone else, but they do it anyway, to see if they can work something out.
• (Jun 25) Bell says “yes, we can do that, but it’ll cost you”. Starbucks pays Bell.
• (Jun 30) Starbucks announces that the free-free wifi will be in Canada too — the day before it launches. Bell sets up token Sympatico portal page.

Bell is surely making way more money now than they were under the terms of whatever revshare agreement they had with Starbucks previously.

After spending a lovely afternoon in Dufferin Grove the weekend before last, and seeing the enthusiasm so many people have about the wireless access there, I feel inspired to get together and make something new happen.

i think it might be a good time to get together and start hatching new plans.

Personally, I’d like to explore the idea that if we pick just one of all the great ideas that have been kicking around WT lately, and all get behind making it happen in the next two months, the combined energy and teamwork might help generate enough momentum to roll us into other projects.

So we’re on for Wednesday the 26th.

Let’s meet at the 3 Brewers on Yonge Street, south of Dundas, at 7pm.

Bring ideas!!

DGP is one of my favourite places in the city to spend the day; plan to come by and hang out!

More info:
http://janeswalk.net/walks/view/dufferin_grove_park_and_its_friends/

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115459481805754

The launch of the project will take place on March 31, 2010, at the El Mocambo (464 Spadina Ave, Toronto), in association with Spacing’s spring 2010 issue release party. Wednesday, March 31, 8pm-12am. Admission is $10 (gets you a new mag), or $5 for Spacing subscribers.

Hope to see you there!

For more info, see http://year01.com/insitetoronto/.

—
Updates:

• video on Vimeo
• Google Map of In-Site Toronto venues
• Post on NowPublic

“FWIT” offers short writeups on many spots:
http://www.freewifiintoronto.blogspot.com/
http://torontoist.com/2009/12/free_wifi_fo_fum.php

TOwifi.info intends to map a user-gen list of hotspots, the WT hotspots, the TPL hotspots, and paid hotspots:
http://towifi.info/
http://ptoone.com/index/ptoone-launches-towifi-info-a-free-map-of-wifi-spots-in-toronto/

The original (as far as I know) in Toronto was Wireless Bandit, which was active from 2003-2005:
http://www.wirelessbandit.com/

I really liked the Seattle/Vancouver Wifi Mug, but the wiki’s filling up with spam and the Google Map is broken:
http://vancouver.wifimug.org/index.cgi

hotspotr.com is attempting a global wifi map:
http://hotspotr.com/wifi/map/614-toronto-canada

There are a bunch of important challenges to successfully running a site like this:
1) Collecting the information, either through legwork or by encouraging contributions from others.
2) Presenting the information in a helpful way, recognizing that different people will have different needs. (Is the captive portal mobile-friendly? Are there lots of power outlets? etc.)
3) Surely the hardest: keeping it up-to-date.

People often (very often) mistake wirelesstoronto.ca as a website which maps free hotspots in Toronto (while in reality we set up free hotspots) — clearly people are looking for this kind of info. While we’d love to also map out others’ free wifi hotspots, we’ve got our hands full running and expanding our network… I hope that one (or more!) of these sites are successful!

The objective of this workshop (for me) is:

1. To train other folks so that they can help with Wireless Toronto router installations and/or to help fix routers that go down.

The objectives of this workshop (for you) are:

1. To learn how to do some basic stuff, so that you feel comfortable “adopting” a Wireless Toronto hotspot near you, and/or help installing new Wireless Toronto hotspots.
2. To learn generally about advanced wifi router configuration.

Here’s the tentative plan:

PART 1: Linksys WRT54GL
- Flashing firmware: why and how
- How to set up a router with wifidog for a Wireless Toronto hotspot
- A little bit about the wifidog auth server
- A teensy bit about tweaking settings for better wifi performance
- Things that might go wrong, and what to do if they do

PART 2: Open-mesh
- Mesh networks: what and why
- What I like and don’t like about open-mesh
- Compatible hardware
- How to set up a basic open-mesh network
- Things that might go wrong, and what to do if they do

I’m only going to cover concepts and technologies that directly relate to what Wireless Toronto does. If you’re interested in other stuff too, that’s totally cool — I’ll do my best to answer questions in the workshop, and we’ll have plenty of time to chat about other stuff over drinks afterwards. It’s not imperative that you bring a laptop, but it’s a good idea.

If you’re interested, but can’t make it on the 23rd, email me off-list — I’m open to scheduling another similar workshop in December or January. If people are interested, we can also plan some kind of advanced masterclass or something.

If you plan to come, drop me an email, just so I have a general idea of how many people are coming.

Tip: you can’t actually get to it directly through the mall, you have to go outside. It’s on the southwest side, near Sears.

Tip: the wifi is stronger on the lower floors.