Bell is offering wireless broadband high speed internet with its Sympatico High Speed Unplugged service. This allows you to access the internet anywhere by plugging in the modem to a power outlet and that's it! The broadband incoming to the modem is from the cellular towers, and Bell claims the speed is around 3 Mbps which allows you to use multimedia. Bell's offering is part of the Inukshuk Inc. venture with Rogers to allow wireless broadband access to all of Canada within 3 years. Bell and Rogers will have their own competing service and each own 50% of the venture. More details and news about the venture can be found here.
My take is that this is good in that you can pack the modem and then connect if you're within coverage area and you don't have to worry about providers because if you're in a different coverage area (Wi-Fi hotspot), you have to use that hotspot provider. The bad part is that, you have to carry the modem with you and find a power outlet. If you have Wi-Fi hotspots, you don't have this issue with carrying the equipment, in fact if you have Wi-Fi everywhere like what Toronto Hydro plans to do in downtown Toronto (see my post on this).
What we need to have is multiple internet entry points. That is, if your mobile device or laptop is close to whatever internet connection like cellular 3G, or Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, then connect over that. Or, if someone shares their internet connection, then you can connect to that device. In fact, why not have a peer to peer internet connection, in that you connect to the nearest neighbour who connects to another until it hits one of the neighbours that has a broadband internet connection. Then you don't have to worry about connecting directly to a central internet access point. This is kind of similar to what they have at MIT, where they have antennas on the rooftops of residences and in a peer to peer fashion, they connect to the main internet access tower at the MIT building.
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