Québec City, April 20, 2004 – Vidéotron officially launched its WiFi service at a press conference in Québec City today. WiFi service gives Vidéotron customers more flexibility by letting them access the Internet quickly, easily and securely from any location with a Vidéotron wireless high-speed Internet access point.
WIRELESS HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS SOLUTIONS
HOTELS
Through an agreement with i-hotel , Vidéotron's WiFi service is already available at 10 hotels in Québec and will be offered at an 11th by the end of the month, enabling business people and travellers to access the wireless high-speed Internet service from their notebook computers 24/7, quickly and securely. Once logged on, clients can download files of any size without losing their connection while moving about the hotel – between guest rooms and conference rooms or even on the elevator.
LIST OF HOTELS WHERE WIFI SERVICE IS AVAILABLE:
Le Capitole de Québec, Hotel Clarendon, Hotel Val-des-neiges, Hotel Le Méridien Versailles-Montréal, Château Versailles, Ramada Plaza Manoir du casino, Hostellerie les Trois Tilleuls, Hostellerie Rive Gauche, Best Western Dorval, Best Western Europa and, starting April 30, Best Western Gatineau. Vidéotron is in discussions with other hotels about offering WiFi service at more establishments.
Vidéotron's cable television service is available daily in 43,838 hotel rooms across Québec. The confidence demonstrated by leading hotels attests to Vidéotron's state-ofthe- art five-star service.
Simplicity itself
To access the WiFi service, subscribers need a wireless Ethernet network (WiFi) card. If they do not have a built-in WiFi adapter, they can attach a USB adapter. The process is simple: when the computer is powered on, a signal indicating that an access point has been detected appears. In the Vidéotron profile, the client unchecks the use a proxy server (for your LAN) option and is ready to start using the Internet.
HOTSPOTS (restaurants, cafes)
Hotspots are restaurants and cafes that have installed WiFi access in order to promote customer loyalty. Patrons can access the Internet by entering their user name and password on the Internet homepage, buying time with their credit card (or a scratch card sold by the establishment) and then entering their Vidéotron high-speed subscriber number. Vidéotron's wireless high-speed Internet access service is compatible with notebook computers, hand-held computers and PDA devices. It makes the limit of one or two Internet connections per room a thing of the past; WiFi service can support high-speed Internet service to hundreds of users in a single room.
Vidéotron's wireless high-speed Internet service is available free at Hotspots for a limited time.
Vidéotron Ltée, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development and Internet access services. Vidéotron Ltée is a leader in new technologies, thanks to illico, its interactive television system and its high-bandwidth network allowing it to offer, among other services, high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital TV services. In Québec, Vidéotron serves 1,433,000 million cable customers; more than 240,000 also subscribe to interactive TV on its digital service illico. Vidéotron is also the leader in highspeed cable Internet access throughout Québec, with more than 435,000 Internet customers by cable modem and dial-up modem.
