GPRS or wireless provider recommendation

[Peter]

Thanks Simone and Richard. 

I have been doing some more research and I think that I know what I need for
myself. The elderly gent remains a problem however. He is the only person I know
who runs Vista with update on through a modem connection. The last time we
talked his computer was downloading 150MB of crapware updates through his 56k
modem. Nobody deserves that kind of punishment, certainly not my grandfather.

Problems:

1. There are tons of lists of access points but no maps. Some people tried to
make maps but so far they are not so great, and non for .to . Does anyone know a
hotspot map, esp. around Mt. Pleasant Str. ? Examples of what I found:

http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2005/07/google_maps_hac_2.php
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=wifi+hotspot+map+toronto&ie=UTF8&z=12

The latter is less than ideal. Worse, all lists list addresses, and putting
those on a map is a sisiphic task for what I need now. More (better):

http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/findmesomewifi.com
http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/free-wifi-hotspot-finder
http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/findmesomewifi.com

Providers, <$30/month, not clear how they bill, do they use contracts or is it
pay as you go ? (I'm interested if anyone is using these on Linux or BSD, i.e.
good or bad, getting shafted at billing time, horrors stories etc.)

1. http://www.thtelecom.ca - good but does not cover what I need (Mt.Pleasant)
2. boingo ? (US company, coverage in .to ?)
3. Fido Bell Rogers etc (coverage maps are inexistent ?!)
4. hotspot.com

It would be nice to know what works and what does not, in the Linux/OSS context.

thanks,
Peter


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