In 2015, the Olds Institute directed funds from its social enterprises, Mountain View Power and O-NET, to the development of a free public Wi-Fi network in Olds. There are currently more than 80 hotspot locations in and around businesses, and another 19 outdoor access points in parks, campgrounds, exhibition grounds, schools and commercial areas within the community61. Approximately 11,000 people connect to this network every month, on average. Another 2,600 devices connect monthly to the network developed within the Olds Hospital and Care Centre (patients have access to free Wi-Fi and can receive their O-NET services while in care)62.
The City of Edmonton is offering a program called Open City Wi-Fi that provides free public Wi-Fi in some of the city’s publicly accessible facilities. More than 14,000 devices connect to Open City Wi-Fi every week, utilizing more than 2TB of data traffic. The service routinely accepts over 4,500 concurrent sessions during peak periods63.
The City of Calgary has also launched public Wi-Fi access in many of its facilities, such as recreation centres, golf courses, and C-Train stations. The city awarded a contract to Shaw Communications to provide public Wi-Fi through the Shaw Go Wi-Fi service. The contract allows anyone to use the service without having to be a Shaw customer64.
On a much smaller scale, the town of Hanna provides Wi-Fi to residents and visitors in and near most municipal buildings65.
References
61Olds Institute. E-mail communication with Mitch Thomson, 8 July 2016.
62O-NET. Community Wi-Fi Hotspot Map. 22 April 2016. Accessed 20 May 2016.
63City of Edmonton. Open City Wi-Fi. Accessed 23 February 2021.
64City of Calgary. Public Wi-Fi (calgary.ca). Accessed 28 February 2021.
65Town of Hanna Wi-Fi - Hanna, Alberta. Accessed 03 March 2021.