Wi-Fi hotspot loans from Kitchener, Ont. library a Canadian first | Hacker News Reader

Wi-Fi hotspot loans from Kitchener, Ont. library a Canadian first

cbc.ca

26 pointsrocky113810 comments

Choice quote:

"There's still a large population that don't have access, in any form, to the internet. So we believe that we're providing a service for a group of our customers who don't have access and could use it; whether it's students working on projects or individuals looking for work," said Chevreau. "The library is the greatest equalizer in our society."

Choice snippet:

Patrons will be given the benefit of the doubt and limits will not be placed on how the hot spots are used or how much data is consumed.

I wonder what kind of deal the library has with the ISP. In Australia, data overage charges from multiple people using a hotspot could bankrupt a library, and my experience in Canada was that mobile data was even more expensive

I would guess libraries here in Australia don't have these sorts of limitations that home connections have.

Heck, even if they were super stringent they could use something like TPGs unlimited plan.

Presumably the device is exactly what you could get from a cell carrier itself, just financed and managed by the library. It wouldn't be connecting to the library's infrastructure directly.

Though that would be interesting. Build radio towers on libraries, use Ubiquiti gear to to act as a wireless ISP.

You could tie it into city wide free wifi / mesh wifi.

I'm also surprised that they're using the cell network, but hopefully this is a relatively short-term thing and they're thinking of deploying APs with real wired connections in the future.

The point is that someone can borrow the device and physically take it to wherever they need it, so wired wouldn't really work. Of course blanketing the whole city with public wifi would be even better, but a much larger undertaking.

It isn't that obscene:

http://www.rogers.com/web/content/mobile-plans

(The library specifies Rogers in their description of the service: http://www.kpl.org/sites/default/files/hotspot2015.pdf )

I guess they are paying in the hundreds of dollars per month for each device, which isn't off the charts.

There's still a large population that don't have access, in any form, to the internet

I wonder if this is because free WiFi was never prevalent in that area, or if all the security fears drove open WiFi to near-extinction? I remember several years ago, they were everywhere and it wasn't hard to find an open access point in most populated areas.

There has been a similar program being run by New York Public Library in the last year. I think programs like this can make libraries relevant again.

http://hotspot.nypl.org/

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