Free public Wi-Fi in Moncton?

Fredericton has it, so does Moncton.

Well, maybe not permanently, but for five minutes Sunday night, from our apartment at the bottom of Lutz Street, my girlfriend was able to connect to a Wi-Fi network labelled "Free public Wi-Fi". Before I could find out more about it, the network disappeared as fast as it had arrived.

There was talk a few years ago about creating a city-wide public access Wi-Fi network in Moncton similar to the one Fredericton has developed. Maybe this was a test for such a network. However, searching the city's website along with any Google result for "public wireless moncton" turned up nothing. A list of a few hotspots came up but that's about it.

There is a local company, Yamatech, offering wireless broadband service to subscribers under the Red Ball Internet brand. This is not Wi-Fi. Rather, Red Ball uses the IEEE 802.20 frequency (popular in Japan) to provide wireless broadband throughout the city.

Although a great service using cutting edge technology, Red Ball has one downside : its cost. First you must rent or buy the special receiver (regular Wi-Fi cards won't work). Then monthly service charges range from $13 to $55. This seems decent until you check out the bandwidth limit (100 MB to 2 GB respectively). Now broadband is great for many reasons, but mostly because it can handle audio and video streaming.

However, with such pitiful bandwidth limits, users will be paying through the nose if they choose to watch Têtes à claques or listen to podcasts. If you're only going to use the service for email, then it's affordable. In that case, though, you probably don't need broadband.

Anyhow, the "Free public Wi-Fi" network remains a mystery. It would be great, but might deal a significant blow to Yamatech. Then again, maybe not. The Moncton-based company has rights to offer the service across Canada.