In the nearly seven years since BAI Communications Canada won the contract to install wireless hardware in Toronto's subway stations, only Freedom Mobile has come on board to use this cellular infrastructure.Few of the hundreds of thousands of people who ride the Toronto subway daily can use their cellphones in the tunnel, and the company that installed the cellular infrastructure wants them to start kicking up a fuss about it.
In the nearly seven years since the company won the contract, only the relatively small Freedom Mobile has agreed to come on board, in 2015. The other carriers, which have the vast bulk of the market, have kept their distance, in some cases arguing that they would have preferred to install their own hardware.The result has been a protracted impasse that BAI is now hoping to break. BAI said there are not currently any meaningful talks with the major carriers.
“We built a platform that can host any company with licensed spectrum,” said Ken Ranger, chief executive of BAI. “It’s time to ensure that public knows that the option is there for coverage.”A statement from Telus contained identical language used with The Globe and Mail last year, saying the company “continuously” looks for ways to offer better network access, but that there are “no concrete plans” to add Toronto subway service.
Most of the TTC's subway tunnels do not have cellular service, which is restricted to the stations, the downtown U of the Yonge line and the extension to Vaughan. However, only Freedom Mobile customers can access it in those places.“Canadian wireless providers including Bell look forward to building out the wireless infrastructure required to serve customers on the Toronto subway system but have been denied access to do so,” Bell spokesman Nathan Gibson said in an e-mail.
DemandAccess BAI also monetizes user information. No thanks.
DemandAccess I suspect the telcos will wait it out. Most people in Toronto either don’t know that the telcos won’t play ball with BAI or think that there’s nothing they can do about it. The telcos will wait for BAI to abandon their service.
BAICommsToronto It seems clear that BAI‘s motivation for giving us this unusable “free wifi” was to create an experience that fosters frustration in riders so that BAI can then use these riders to lobby Toronto telecom providers to give BAI more business and profit. I find this highly unethical.
BAICommsToronto So this “wireless builder” installed “free subway wifi” that barely works and is now using the login screen of that platform to disseminate their own propaganda.
I had no idea we don't have underground cell service. I have a signal, good one. Well, except Royal York Station. Idk why.
it should be good enough to have a skype video call that is clear and as it's on a desktop screen.
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