When interviewed by Condo Living in 2004 (Issue #8) Paul Battistella of Battistella Developments was musing over how to wire Chocolate, his $30 million, 165-unit building. After wrestling with idea of installing wireless Internet for the whole tower, Battistella decided against it -- with one exception.

“In one of the common rooms we will install a wireless hub, but there are security issues with wireless and it's too easy to hack into,” said Battistella. “We will let the condo board manage the room and let people know that it's not secure.”

Calgary's wireless hot spots (wi-fi) are no secret either. A spot seeker created http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com where 30 legitimate Calgary spots are listed. A dead give-away of a hot-spot thief is someone who sits in a parked car across your street, working on their laptop. Even though most wi-fi signals have passwords, hacking through them is easier than you think.

The vision for Chocolate's common room on the second floor, opening onto a landscaped yard is for anyone sitting on a patio chair with a laptop to be able to catch the wi-fi signal.

“When you are selling these condos its great to have those technical features but it's not what's sexy about the unit,” says Paul hinting that people' s attraction to design is what matters most. “We try to give people what they ask for and we try to anticipate where technology is going.”

Since Shaw went digital last Feb. 14, 2005 the push for control of the telephone and Internet market has been fierce, but consumers are reaping the spoils of healthy competition, such as Shaw's free Canadian long distance plan with digital phone service.

“We put the wires in the walls that people need,” said Battistella.  “But sometimes you end up being a follower more than a leader.”

On the construction site, Paul's brother, Simon Battistella, project manager, sees that each stage of  the building process is executed with perfection. Chocolate will have Cat5e wires, a more versatile set of wires than Cat3 allowing faster data transfer speed (100 MHz) and people can create networks between the computers in their home.

“We try to look for what people want or use instead of adding costs that we don't have to,” says Simon.

Each doorway of the 20-floor condo tower is wired to synch with an access key which will open doors, access the elevators and have garage door controls too. This $60,000 security feature is designed to take the complications out of having different keys for different doors. Wondering how long it takes to install all this wiring? It takes 5 certified electricians a week to do each floor.