Recent work. |
Several year old repair |
There have been some updates my progress with navigating the Digital Canada 150 program, and overall quest to get some sort of wired internet access.
1) I wrote a personalized letter to our MP and the Minister of Industry to highlight concerns with the program as to how the Hex-ID's are classified. I did get a response from both and I will highlight a section from the response:
"Over the course of the summer, Industry Canada consulted with Canadians and Internet service providers to update national Internet service coverage maps. In some cases, while our national broadband map shows that service is available in a given area, some residents in that area have reported that they may not have access to high-speed Internet service or vice versa. Once we have incorporated Canadians feedback and refined our data, we will prepare the launch of the Connecting Canadians call for applications later in the fall. Projects that propose to extend or enhance coverage to underserved households will be eligible under the program, even if the hexagon in which they are located is depicted on the maps as served overall.
Once again, thank you for providing detailed information on the coverage in your riding. Connecting Canadians program engineers are undertaking a detailed examination in your area and have been in contact with local service providers to collect more ample information on the nature of coverage in RenfrewNipissingPembroke."
It was actually a pretty good response from the minister, and seemed to emphasize that areas that have service lower than the standard are eligible.
2) Unfortunately, bureaucracy is still the king of politics in some ways...
My area is still designated by the updated map as served despite providing my 2-4 Mbps speed tests for me and 16 of my neighbours. I guess that means my neighbours and I are part of the 2 percenters for a while... the 2% who won't be provided the minimum broadband standard.
I received an email from the Director General - Connecting Canadians Branch stating they had updated the coverage map to reflect newly eligible and not eligible areas. Unfortunately my area is still not eligible.
"If you have not already done so, you are encouraged to visit the Connecting Canadians website to see if your area is shown as having service at 5 Mbps. If the map or an Internet speed test shows that you do not have access to service at 5 Mbps, you may wish to contact the Internet service providers listed in the Connecting Canadians search engine to discuss the possibility of extending high-speed Internet access to your area."
It is a interesting statement, since I have been contacting all kinds of ISP's for a while... from NRTC, Cogeco, to Bell to anybody.
Even with the previous assurances from the Minister, nobody is interested... however I actually was able to NRTC to actually communicate with someone... to their credit, they did approach their GM who ended up giving a firm no.
My 16 neighbours and I currently have the best internet available for my area... a Bell Turbo hub at $7 to $10 a gigabyte and 2-4 Mbps. Some chose satellite, which I had for 1 year....
Xplornet lived up to it's reputation of being a poor provider of service to the most desperate of customers.... those with no other hope.
I had provided Industry Canada my spreadsheet with discrepancies of coverage in my area (ie. an underserved area who has confirmed address of say 25 Mbps coverage). I have since updated the sheet to reflect the government's newly updated area.
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docs.google.com/spreadsh ··· =sharingIt appears that at least 6 areas that currently have some damn good internet coverage will be getting taxpayer funding Fibe TV upgrades, as it is all Bell that has the infrastructure in those areas.
Bell is really taking the taxpayer for a ride on this issue by likely reporting some outdated numbers to areas with infrastructure just recently put in place.
I strongly suspect this sort funding manipulation is going on throughout the country, as ISP's report inaccurate numbers in order to get funding. I also further suspect that a disproportionate amount of funding will also go to upgrading cellular towers to provide the most profitable internet service.
I also did up a sheet of what ISP's Industry Canada states serves my area:
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docs.google.com/spreadsh ··· =sharingIt is actually pretty interesting.... companies that don't even serve my area on there, or companies that charge the exact same price as each other. They did update as compared to a few months ago, as they had ones that didn't even serve in my province (only the Quebec side about 20 KM away)
Some competitive market.... two choices, both absolute crap.
Anyways, it appears my neighbourhood is close to having no hope for a single wired provider other than perhaps forming our own ISP.... however I don't think I have the time to manage that.
3) The wife and I are considering selling and moving to a more internet friendly area. Curiously, we will likely be going more rural to get landline access, and might even be upgrading to more acreage and a nicer house (and far bigger garage), all while only being 10 to 15 KM farther from the city center. It might be worth it actually as we could technically still have far less household expenses.
Our last months internet bill was $472 for the month - a total of 50 gigs usage at 3 Mbps. I could easily put the internet savings towards a far nicer house that has wired internet.
After a quick MLS search, and some Bell website checking, one house I know is for sale reportedly has FTTH, and is on 40 plus acres (about 10 KM from me). Another, in a different area, about 15 KM from me.... 200 acres with high speed wired coverage. There are some great offerings in the right rural areas actually.
It is pretty sad that we are considering doing this... but in our area, we see no evidence of upgrades... nothing. No pad for a 7330, no sign of anything. All around us, FTTN, FTTH. Within KM's of us.... but nothing for my neighbourhood.
4) I am going to assume for now my neighbourhood will be in the 2 percenters that the government or ISP's won't help until at least 2020, and leave stranded with cellular and satellite offerings (satellite has too high a latency for my wife's VPN connection, and cellular is barely working here).
5) Haven't heard back from the FTTH 20/20 dedicated business Bell rep in about a month. The cost was to be $600 a month with as of yet unknown build out costs on a 3 year term.
I have a feeling this might be a dead proposal from a salesman who isn't quite in tune with the business side of things yet, and perhaps the costs of build out.
6) Just wanted to end the update with some pictures of both old and new repairs of my area to emphasize some of the likely challenges with the current setup.
I snapped these while out walking my daughter.... not too sure when the recent one work was done... I know four wheelers use the area to cross, and I wonder if some drunk 4 wheeler hit it!!! Around here drinking, hunting, and quadding seem to go hand in hand!
Note these are repairs to the landline voice infrastructure only, as DSL and cable aren't offered on my lines. By the looks of things, we are almost due for landline updates alone!
While I am sure the Bell techs are working hard to keep things afloat, however, it is pretty sad when things look like this. I know the techs don't have much say in upgrades....