Interesting interview with Laurent Maisonnave of Île Sans Fil plus a sidebar on the history of wi-fi here.

When wireless internet first became common, cafés offered various complicated and irritating payment systems to get hold of their passwords. Then there was a golden age – all too brief, in retrospect – when every office (and many homes) had a wireless network hanging open and you could sit down on the curb in any busy area and find a selection of open "linksys" or "default" networks to choose from.

Now wireless base stations come out of the box with security as their default, so the vast majority of networks visible on any busy street will also be locked down and inaccessible. (I don't blame them: having had to foot the bill recently for huge downloads made on my Videotron account by an unknown neighbour, I've locked my network down now too. You try to be open and sooner or later someone will abuse it.)

So we're back to the old system. I was offered a $5 wi-fi card in a café the other day and felt like I'd gone back to the 1990s.

What this means is that Île Sans Fil is offering a service that's more valuable than ever. The city ought at least to recognize that it's a major tourism benefit: people want to be able to use their laptop (or iPod Touch) in public places, and preferably without buying stupid cards from a café. And bloggers are among the people benefiting from it too: bravo to Île Sans Fil. posted at 11:11