Toronto Hydro rolled out the city’s free Wi-Fi – or wireless Internet access – Wednesday morning. The service will be free for six months – and will allow people wireless access to the World Wide Web throughout the downtown rather than solely at pre-existing Wi-Fi hotspots, generally cafes and restaurants.

The current zone is from Jarvis to Spadina and Front to Bloor. Toronto Hydro will be gradually increasing the coverage throughout the 2006.

To gain access to One Zone WiFi follow the easy steps below.

* Open your WiFi enabled device
* Use the network connections manager on your WiFi enabled device to view available wireless networks.
* Select the SSID One Zone_High Speed Internet
* Open your web browser and visit the new user page.
* Enter your mobile phone number in the space provided.
* You will instantly receive a text message containing your username and password.
* Enter your username and password.
* Start surfing.
* Your username and password will remain valid for free service until March 2007

The service will cost $29 monthly afterwards or you can get 24hr access for $10 and 1hr access for $5.

I haven’t tested the service yet, but Hydro One claims up to 7 Mbit/s speeds is