Earlier this week, I committed to looking into the fact that Petro Canada was rolling out WiFi in some of their locations. Today I got a chance to do that. To see how useful it could I did a search on their website for locations with WiFi and it came back with seven locations that were close to me if I excluded every other option from the search including gasoline. Now that sounds weird, but it will make sense in a second.
I went to the first location which was 7300 Dixie Road in Mississauga Ontario and this is what I found:
It was a Petro Pass location which in Petro Canada speak means it’s a truck stop. That explains why I had to eliminate gasoline from my search parameters:
There was no ability to fill anything other than an 18 wheeler. It wasn’t designed for cars.
But it did have a store. Though it isn’t open on weekends. It’s only open Monday to Friday.
So I was starting think that this was a bust. But when I checked to see if there was any open access points on my iPhone 5S, I found that there was an open access point called “Petro Canada Free WiFi”. After I connected to it, I opened my browser and got this:
I then got this:
Then I was able to surf the net and check my e-mail for free. What’s noteworthy, I was able to do this from outside the store in the truck parking lot which was a good distance from the store. So Petro Canada clearly intends this to be used by truckers whilst they are parked.
Now when I originally stumbled onto this, I figured that you could use their WiFi to get e-mail and the like while you’re filling up your car or you’re taking a break during a long road trip. That would have set themselves apart from every other fuel retailer. Sadly this doesn’t seem to be the case. While these truck stops are near major highways which makes them useful to take a break on a road trip or to grab a drink if the store is open, you’ll have to fuel your car elsewhere. Thus I don’t know how useful these locations truly are. But at least you have another option if you need WiFi during your travels.
Why Is Petro Canada Asking Users To Change The Password Related To Their Petro Points Account?
Posted in Commentary with tags Petro Canada on May 20, 2020 by itnerdA few readers this morning tipped me off to them getting an email from fuel retailer Petro Canada asking people to change their passwords that are associated with their Petro Points accounts, which is Petro Canada’s rewards program. Since I am a member of their rewards program, I checked my personal email and sure enough, I got this email:
So, I went in and changed my password after verifying that this wasn’t a phishing email. But I will ask this question. Why is it that Petro Canada asking users to change their passwords seemingly out of the blue? Did they get hacked? Did they do an audit and found some weak passwords, and out of an abundance of caution is triggering a password reset? This email doesn’t make it clear. In fact, it doesn’t make anything clear other than they want their users to be safe. Petro Canada would really do itself a favor by providing more clarity on this front as people who get this email will be concerned that their Petro Points will not be safe even if they change their password.
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