Salmon Arm city council in B.C. is debating whether to renew a Wi-Fi deal with Rogers that provides public hotspots at local sites like parks and recreation centres.
While advertised as free, some councillors argue it only benefits Rogers customers. The free Wi-Fi was formerly part of Shaw, before the latter was acquired by Rogers. The service before was known as Shaw Go WiFi, and those former customers can still use Rogers WiFi hotspots.
Coun. Sylvia Lindgren shared her frustration, saying the Wi-Fi blocks access for non-Rogers users. “When I take my phone downtown, the Shaw hotspots hijack my phone, but won’t let me on the internet because I’m not a Shaw customer, and it’s incredibly frustrating when you’re trying to pull up your Canadian Tire points card or whatever,” she said, according to Castanet.
To get past this, users need to disable Wi-Fi to enable mobile data. If you’ve previously joined a free Shaw Wi-Fi hotspot, your device will auto-connect when it’s within range.
Barb Puddifant, deputy corporate officer, said Salmon Arm first signed a deal with Shaw back in October 2014 for Wi-Fi. The five-year term was renewed in 2019, and is up for renewal this year. Areas covered include Little Mountain Sports Complex, the Memorial Arena, the Rec Center, Blackburn Park, the fairgrounds, Klahani and Marine Peace Park, to name a few.
Puddifant said no other provider has come forward to offer similar Wi-Fi service, and also acknowledged others had similar complaints as experienced by Councillor Lindgren.
Despite concerns, the renewal passed with Lindgren and Councillor David Gonella voting against it. Lindgren argued that if Rogers limits access to its own customers, it should pay for the service instead of branding it as free for everyone. Staff will follow up with Rogers on the possibility of making the Wi-Fi open to all users.
Recently, the arena in Salmon Arm was renamed to Rogers Rink, as part of a name licensing deal with the telco.
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They should make a law regarding this.
If that councillor is no longer a Shaw or Roger’s customer, then she should remove the configure profile from her phone so that her phone won’t auto connect anymore. I agree that the way Roger’s/shaw forces it to auto connect via configuration profile is stupid, but this is partially user error on her part.
Either free wifi for everyone or noone. Rogers/shaw customers shouldn't get a free pass. Absolute nonsense, but what do we expect from such a dumpster fire company?
Good lord. The button is called “forget this network” just push it.