Not everyone can use data on TTC

TConnect, the TTC's soon-to-bemothballed public Wi-Fi network, never offered an especially good user experience.

- JOHN LORINC

TConnect, the TTC's soon-to-bemothballed public Wi-Fi network, never offered an especially good user experience. You had to futz around with the settings on your phone, launch the sign-in, click the terms of service button, and finally watch the little countdown to connectedness. Oh, and there were these tiny ads, none of them memorable.

Often, all those steps took enough time that the train was already pulling in to the station once you'd finally gotten online. The 12-year-old service, initially operated by BAI Communications Canada, an Australian firm, had a cheap and anachronistic quality, like dial-up.

So perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that the TTC and Rogers have decided to pull the plug on TConnect, which Rogers acquired from BAI last year. Usage, as the Star's Ben Spurr reports, is down 65 per cent, with a growing number of riders opting to access data on their phones via the 5G cell network that suddenly came to life in the wake of last year's mayoral election and violent incidents on the subway which highlighted the need for connectivity in the stations.

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