Coming soon, Super Wi-Fi to blanket Vancouver, Calgary...

[Guest guest]

Heard this on the radio this morning, very disturbing, but not a surprise.

Full news story by google searching for " shaw communications blanket

super wifi vancouver "

Excerpt follows:

Shaw, Cisco to build Wi-Fi super network in major cities

Shaw Communications has teamed up with networking giant Cisco to create

a super Wi-Fi network that will blanket public areas in Western Canada's

major cities, providing Shaw customers with Internet access for their

mobile devices everywhere from Stanley Park to the Calgary Stampede.

Work on the network, which will focus first on Calgary, Edmonton and

Vancouver, has already started, but it will be next April or May before

it's ready for customers to use.

The service is aimed at the fastgrowing mobile-device market that is

seeing people tune into Wi-Fi networks from their smart phones, tablet

computers and other devices.

Rather than providing coverage at a limited number of hot spots such as

coffee shops and other businesses, the Shaw Wi-Fi network, which is

being built in collaboration with Cisco, will attempt to provide

seamless coverage over broader areas, such as along rapid-transit lines,

throughout stadiums, in parks, or along busy urban streets.

Bissonnette said the Vancouver coverage will extend throughout the Lower

Mainland and, after the initial network is in place, the company will

continue to expand on it, filling in areas where there is demand.

It's a public Wi-Fi system, not meant to replace home Internet

connections, and will be available only for Shaw Internet customers, now

numbering just over 1.8 million. It won't be accessible to customers who

only subscribe to Shaw television or phone service. Bissonnette said the

service will be secure, with users required to sign in and data

transmissions encrypted.

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Searching for more information on Super Wi-Fi, I found:

The IEEE

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers>

has published this standard recently its official number is 802.22. What

does Super WiFi bring to the table compared to other WiFi

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi> Standards? Well according to IEEE

these speeds can bring up to 22Mbps to devices as far has 62 miles! How

is this range possible? Well ever since the United States

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States> made the switch to digital

over the air broadcasts there was this “extra space”

The vacant space left by TV channels 52-69 is between 698-806 MHz

Further reading:

http://ciscoskills.net/2011/07/29/welcome-super-wifi/

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-true-meaning-of-super-wifi/7398