Comments on: Life on the Other Side of the Digital Coin http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/ Insight and Analysis from North of the Border Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:06:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Jim Courtney http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-83595 Jim Courtney Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:28:10 +0000 http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-83595 Yesterday, in testing out a Rogers WiFi HotSpot for using my Blackberry, (meaning at a Second Cup coffee for the majority of locations) I had lunch in the neighbouring Subway and made the WiFi attachment at the Second Cup just fine. Rogers does allow free access to their own WiFi HotSpots (not the entire Canadian HotSpot Network) if you are on a $30/6GB per month data plan. Rumor has it that many park their cars throughout the night at Starbucks in the U.S. just to get WiFi access. Yesterday, in testing out a Rogers WiFi HotSpot for using my Blackberry, (meaning at a Second Cup coffee for the majority of locations) I had lunch in the neighbouring Subway and made the WiFi attachment at the Second Cup just fine. Rogers does allow free access to their own WiFi HotSpots (not the entire Canadian HotSpot Network) if you are on a $30/6GB per month data plan.

Rumor has it that many park their cars throughout the night at Starbucks in the U.S. just to get WiFi access.

]]> By: Mark Evans http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-83038 Mark Evans Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:10:45 +0000 http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-83038 Todd, Thanks for the comment and the insight. For all the talk about municipal Wi-Fi, it's great to see libraries in smaller towns take the bull by the horns. Mark Todd,

Thanks for the comment and the insight. For all the talk about municipal Wi-Fi, it’s great to see libraries in smaller towns take the bull by the horns.

Mark

]]> By: Todd Lamothe http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-82362 Todd Lamothe Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:51:48 +0000 http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-82362 I am a Sys Admin with the libraries in Lennox & Addington and it is amazing how many people will use our free WiFi from their car, sitting on the step when the library is closed. The kids tell me they love the WiFi for downloading stuff to the PSP and iPod touch. Public WiFi is a service which libraries are in a good position to serve. In our area, there are large pockets where high speed at home is not available, so our WiFi service is needed. I am a Sys Admin with the libraries in Lennox & Addington and it is amazing how many people will use our free WiFi from their car, sitting on the step when the library is closed. The kids tell me they love the WiFi for downloading stuff to the PSP and iPod touch.

Public WiFi is a service which libraries are in a good position to serve. In our area, there are large pockets where high speed at home is not available, so our WiFi service is needed.

]]> By: Erik http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-82249 Erik Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:19:52 +0000 http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-82249 I had a similar experience last year while at a friend's cottage on the Rideau. I needed to plug-in to send a few emails that were ready to go on my laptop, and headed into Smiths Falls only to find that there were no internet cafes. I did find internet access at the library, but unfortunately not wifi...I got blank stares when I asked about it...and they completely freaked out when I tried to unplug the ethernet cable from their PC and plug it into my laptop. So I ended up using a jump drive to cut emails from my laptop's outbox and paste them into webmail screens on the library's computers. Needless to say, it was a long and harrowing ordeal. I had a similar experience last year while at a friend’s cottage on the Rideau. I needed to plug-in to send a few emails that were ready to go on my laptop, and headed into Smiths Falls only to find that there were no internet cafes. I did find internet access at the library, but unfortunately not wifi…I got blank stares when I asked about it…and they completely freaked out when I tried to unplug the ethernet cable from their PC and plug it into my laptop. So I ended up using a jump drive to cut emails from my laptop’s outbox and paste them into webmail screens on the library’s computers. Needless to say, it was a long and harrowing ordeal.

]]> By: Jim Courtney http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-82076 Jim Courtney Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:11:00 +0000 http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/07/24/life-on-the-other-side-of-the-digital-coin/#comment-82076 Mark, you need to take your vacation 116 km north on the Bluewater Highway in Southampton where the almost 100-year-old <a href="http://www.brucetelecom.com/fibrefaq.shtml" rel="nofollow">Bruce Municipal Telephone System is installing fiber to the 1200 homes</a> - at no expense to the homeowners other than permission to lay the fiber to the building. By this fall their residents (many of whom are summer only) will be getting Internet/TV/phone all via fiber. Mark, you need to take your vacation 116 km north on the Bluewater Highway in Southampton where the almost 100-year-old Bruce Municipal Telephone System is installing fiber to the 1200 homes - at no expense to the homeowners other than permission to lay the fiber to the building. By this fall their residents (many of whom are summer only) will be getting Internet/TV/phone all via fiber.

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