Thou shalt not share

Earlier this year, I wrote about sharing WiFi with my neighbours through a small mesh network, and how glad I was that Teksavvy’s Customer Agreement & Internet Usage Policy doesn’t explicitly forbid sharing or redistribution. Well, that’s about to change.

Effective May 1, 2011, Teksavvy’s instituting new “Terms and Conditions of Service” that (among other things) states:

2.4 You shall not in any way resell, license or allow any third party to use the Service without receiving our prior written consent. You may not share or transfer your Services without our express written consent.

A real bummer to see our little mesh network outlawed. Other changes to Teksavvy’s policies are being discussed over at DSLR. Thanks for the heads-up, Karen.

Update: A ray of hope on the DSLR forums (again, heads-up from Karen).

Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

Via Gabe and the wirelesstoronto discussion list, a link to Won’t You Be My Wireless Neighbor? It’s a lovely essay about sharing (some might say “stealing”) your neighbours’ wireless internet. In it, confessed WiFi-moocher Helen Rubinstein fondly remembers SSIDs gone by, and laments the loss of an open, unprotected network called Belkin_G-Plus_MIMO. She closes with this:

Perhaps the solution is a simple, old-fashioned gesture. Just knock on a neighbor’s door, and ask if she might be able to spare some wireless.

I can’t agree more. Here at Queen and Parliament, my neighbours and I have happily shared a single wireless network for years now. It’s wonderful. We simply bought a bunch of Meraki mesh repeaters (back when they were $50 apiece), and split the monthly internet bill a few different ways.

But here’s the thing: Here in Canada, many ISP user agreements prohibit you from sharing your internet connection. Here’s what Rogers’s Acceptable Use Policy says about the matter:

Without limitation, you may not use (or allow anyone else to use) our Services to [...] use the Services for anything other than your own personal purposes (such as reselling the Services, providing Internet access or any other feature of the Services to any third party) or share or transfer your Services without our express consent

And from Bell’s Service Agreement:

You may not sell, market, provision, resell, re-market, directly or indirectly transfer, distribute or in any way exploit any portion of the Service.

Here on our corner, where we happily share our wireless internet access with anyone in reach of the signal, we use Teksavvy, a company whose Customer Agreement & Internet Usage Policy doesn’t explicitly forbid sharing or redistribution. I wish Helen’s proposed solution was as simple as it sounds, but at least here in Canada, it isn’t.

Peter’s Cajun lives!

I’m a huge fan of Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza. For many years, it was directly across the street from our apartment, and our go-to place when Jenna and I didn’t feel like cooking. Pete’s was tiny, adorned with old-timey jazz memorabilia, and usually packed. There were two small tables, one long table (with old theatre seats), and a bar with room for one (maybe two) people. In the summertime, the garage-door front window would open up and let the breeze in.

Peter is Serbian, and the apparent contradiction of Serbian Cajun Creole Pizza is just one of those things that makes me smile and feel lucky to live in Toronto.

In short, Pete’s Cajun was a gem.

Last summer, Peter expanded beyond pizza, opening Peter’s Corner in the former Mr. Tasty location on the northeast corner of Queen and Parliament. They erected the sign (promising “Hamburger, Panini, Steak, Coffee, Gelato”) on July 2nd, but didn’t open until the end of August. That’s a long time for a restaurant to sit empty. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect the 2009 Toronto city workers strike had a lot to do with the delay. Then, earlier this year, both Peter’s Cajun and Peter’s Corner closed, with notes on the doors from the landlord.

I almost wept.

–

But then, hope. A blog comment from Hunter:

well the good news is Peter is opening a new location in the same neighbourhood within the next few weeks. so you’ll get your panzerotti fix and i’ll get my estate pizza fix…

Well, it’s been a long couple of months of waiting, but today, based on a tip from neighbour Val, I stopped by Peter’s new location just north of Parliament and Gerrard, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that they’re open for business. I talked to Peter and Roma, and let them know how much we miss them on the northwest edge of Corktown.

Can’t wait to get a panzerotti.

Coming soon to Dundas and Parliament

Just north of our apartment in Corktown, the development at the corner of Dundas and Parliament continues. Yesterday, I noticed these harbingers of gentrification:

Bad news: Pete’s is closed

I noticed something strange earlier this week. Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza, our favourite pizza place, was dark before midnight. Then, Tina left a comment at this blog suggesting that Pete’s has been “shut down by the landlord.”

Tonight, upon closer inspection, I confirmed that Pete’s (and Peter’s Corner) are indeed closed, and there are notes on both doors from the landlord.

Not good.

Where will I get my panzerotti fix?

Hallelujah

As promised, as of 7:00 this morning, the diversion of Queen streetcars is over. That means no more screeching.

Perhaps now I can get a proper night’s sleep.

Peter’s Corner is now open

Peter’s Corner (“Profile of Excellence”) is now officially open for business on the Northeast corner of Queen and Parliament. Hope to try it out soon, if I can wean myself off Pete’s Cajun. I’ve not yet stepped inside, but judging by the menu boards, it has to be better than the previous tenant, Mr. Tasty.

Screeching redux

Yup, the screeching is back, as of this morning:

The TTC has scheduled streetcar service to resume along the Queen Street East bridge across the Don River at 5 a.m. today. Construction at Church and Queen Streets continues to disrupt streetcar service.

Via Transit Toronto

The diversion has itself been diverted

The horrible streetcar screetching at Queen and Parliament that I wrote about? For the past week, we’ve been spared. It seems that the previous diversion has been diverted by more construction on the Queen East bridge. So until August 27, the 501 will take this convoluted route:

501 Queen Streetcars will divert eastbound, from Yonge St.; east on Queen St., south on Victoria St., east on Adelaide St., south on Church St., east on King St., north on Parliament St., east on Dundas St., south on Broadview Ave., east on Queen St. to route. Streetcars will divert westbound, from Coxwell Ave.; west on Queen St., north on Broadview Ave., west on Dundas St., south on Parliament St., west on King St., north on Church St., west on Richmond St., north on Victoria St., west on Queen St. to route.

Laura and I tried to get to the subway today via the 501, and boy, was it confusing.

That horrible screetching you hear at Queen and Parliament? Get used to it.

The other day, Jenna and I awoke to the sound of screaming steel at Queen and Parliament as TTC streetcars diverted south. Streetcar after streetcar made the turn, and I thought, “I wonder what’s wrong. I wonder how long long they’ll divert traffic.”

Turns out we’re in for more than a month of this. From TTC.ca:

Route diverting during watermain replacement

Starting 6:00 am, Monday, July 20 until 7:00 am, Tuesday, September 8, The City of Toronto and the TTC will conduct watermain replacement and streetcar track reconstruction affecting Queen Street East, between Berti Street and Jarvis Street. During construction, route 501 QUEEN and 502 DOWNTOWNER streetcars and 301 QUEEN route all-night streetcars will divert eastbound via Victoria, Adelaide, Church, King and Parliament. Westbound streetcars will divert via Parliament, King , Church Richmond and Victoria.

The stops on Queen Street East, between Victoria Street and Parliament Street will not be served.

Want to know what it sounds like? I made a quick and dirty recording. Make sure you listen all the way through before reading on:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

One more thing: the 501 passes by our corner often. From 6am to 11pm, it comes by about every ten minutes. In both directions, east and west. So if we’re lucky, we hear this once every five minutes.

How long before I go crazy, I wonder.

[mp3 download]

[original image by mattjiggins]