Rural Ottawa High-Speed Internet Blog

ITWorldCanada: How competitive is Canada in broadband?

2009-07-02T09:23:00.001-04:00

ITWorldCanada recently posted an article about Canada's competitiveness in the broadband Internet market. This is another article that is not specifically related to rural Internet access, but some interesting information nonetheless.

Me and Bell Portable Internet

2009-06-23T21:19:00.002-04:00

I recently received a mailer from Bell Sympatico offering discounts on their various Portable Internet offerings, as well as half-price portable modems ($49 instead of $99). So I decided to check it out. I phoned up Bell Sympatico and asked about it. The rep (Fred?) said that instead of $49.95 per month for the (up to) 3 Mbps service, it would be $34.95 per month, and only $29.95 in a bundle (which I qualified for as a Bell LD and ExpressVu customer) for the first 12 months. And it would be $44.95 per month after 12 months if I wasn't in a bundle. And I had 15 days to return the modem for a full refund if I couldn't get a signal, but I should be able to get a signal.

My 1-year Xplornet contract expired in early June, so I decided to see if Sympatico Portable Internet would work in my rural Ottawa locale.

I visited the Bell World store in Barhaven, bought a modem for $49. First hiccup was that I was informed by the Bell World guy that it would be $34.95 per month in a bundle, and $49.95 per month in a bundle after 12 months. Hmmm.... a $5 discrepancy between the two Bell sources. I decided to check it out anyway, since I would still see significant savings in the first 12 months.

I took the modem home and following the instructions, plugged it into a wall outlet in my home office and waited for it to find a signal. No signal. Put the kids to bed. Came back. Still no signal. Tried the modem in various other rooms in my house. In a couple of rooms, I got 1 bar (out of 5 bars). But the booklet said that I needed a minimum of 2 bars to get reliable service and the more bars, the better. I got 2-3 bars in my guest bedroom, at the opposite end of the house from my home office. The Bell rep did say the tower was due east my house, and the guest bedroom is at the extreme east end of my house, so I guess that made some sense. Unfortunately, I did not really want to run a 70-plus foot network cable from my guest bedroom through the rest of the house to my home office, and my previous experience had shown me that my wireless router could not get a reliable signal between the two extremities (old house, thick walls, some brickwork).

So I packed the modem up, and took it back to the Bell World store for a refund.

So my little experiment wasn't very successful. I may try Rogers Portable Internet; it's the same network (Inukshuk) as Bell's service, but perhaps Rogers uses a different tower in my area.

Does anyone else have any Bell Sympatico Portable Internet experiences to share? Or with Rogers Portable Internet?

CBC: Small ISPs fight ruling that let Bell throttle internet speeds

2009-05-26T12:56:00.002-04:00

Last fall, the CRTC made a controversial ruling allowing Bell Sympatico (and others) to throttle Internet speeds based on content. A group of small ISPs is now seeking to have that ruling overturned based on such grounds Internet freedom, monopolization, consumer costs, and user privacy.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/05/21/tech-bell-isps-internet-throttling.html

CBC Marketplace: Speed Bumps

2009-04-06T21:27:00.003-04:00

On Michael Geist's website, he posts an article with a link to a November 2007 episode of CBC's Marketplace in which they supposedly test the download speeds of various ISPs.

The tests aren't really very scientific, since there are way too many variables just in the way they've set up the tests with the end-users, and the fact that each user only ran one test of one very large (700MB) file. However, there are a few accurate comments sprinkled throughout the exposé which warrant attention. I'd also suggest that if you watch the video, you also read the comments included with Michael Geist's article, since there are also some accurate observations.

The Latest on my Xplornet Service

2009-03-29T21:00:00.002-04:00

As previously mentioned (in my comments of my posting of 'Life with Xplornet: After 5 Months'), I was moved over to Xplornet's 3.5 GHz service (from the 900 MHz service) and the host tower was upgraded in late January, after which time my download speeds improved significantly. Part of the speed increase was due to the fact that Xplornet gave me a free upgrade to the 5Mbps service until the end of February due to all the problems that I had between October and January. However, since the beginning of March, my service has been downgraded to the 3Mbps service, and my download speeds dropped accordingly.

Mostly the speeds are good, but sometimes they're poor; to be fair, sometimes they're super. There's a lot of inconsistency, and some days are better or worse than others. On my 3 Mbps service, I'm averaging 1.2 Mbps download through March, which I think is fairly reasonable; as I've said before, I'm not naive enough to expect 3 Mbps all the time. Looking at the details, I've gotten as low as 11 Kbps (yes, Kbps) and as high as 5.1 Mbps for individual downloads. For average daily downloads, I've gotten as high as 2.3 Mbps and as low as 50.39 Kbps. In other words, my speeds are varyingly fast and slow, and I can only guess at the reason or reasons. It might be traffic patterns (i.e. other users, since the bandwidth is shared), backhaul network congestion, target webserver load, atmospheric interference, etc. I work (for now) in the cellular industry, and these are all valid factors for affecting data rates to your web-enabled cellphone or smartphone (e.g. Blackberry), and they also hold true for fixed wireless service (since most are outside the control of the service provider). The ISP owns or controls very little of your end-to-end Internet connection. Equipment could be a factor, both in-home and out on the network. I try my best to keep my PC patch-current and malware-free. And yes, it could be policies implemented by Xplornet, as some people claim.

Remember, peak rate (i.e. the advertised rate -- you'll note that it always reads 'up to' or 'maximum' regardless of the ISP) is NOT the sustained or average rate, and ISPs don't publish their target sustained rates. They're not going to put a guarantee on down- or upload rates either, because of the variety of factors outside of their control that can impact performance. Mostly, it appears to be best effort. The fact that I'm occasionally experiencing download rates above the maximum for my service implies that Xplornet is not (or at least not always) throttling rates. On eight of 16 days in March on which I ran download tests, I got maximum download rates in excess of 3 Mbps.

If you don't think you're regularly getting appropriate speeds, you should complain (and I don't care who you're ISP is). If you're still not satisfied, complain with your wallet, either by downgrading your service (e.g. why pay for 3 Mbps when you're not even regularly getting 1.5 Mbps?) or by switching ISPs (if you have that option).

PC World Canada article on USB Internet Sticks

2008-12-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

PCWorld.ca recently posted an article entitled 'Take the Internet with you: Canadian carriers offer USB Internet sticks' on their website.

The article basically describes the mobile Internet services available to laptop users (as opposed to smartphone users). Some readers may have heard or seen ads for Rogers Internet Stick; the article covers such services from Rogers, Fido, Bell, and Telus.

These services are different from the portable Internet services offered by Rogers and Bell on their co-developed Inukshuk network. For one, the data plans are more expensive, and two, the download and upload speeds are lower. Rogers and Fido use a GSM network, while Bell and Telus use an EVDO network. However, they are another option for high-speed Internet access for rural users, especially if you want to take your Internet access with you on the road.

Life with Xplornet: After 5 Months

2008-11-13T21:11:00.000-05:00

My last posting on my Xplornet experience was July 3 (see archive), when I had been with Xplornet for 3 weeks following my conversion from Storm. It's now over 4 months later, and the adventure continues. Here's some of the things I've experienced:

In August, Xplornet's email servers were unavailable for a couple of days. No email lost... as far as I could tell.
In September, I had my antenna re-aligned at my own expense, because I had to remove it from my roof in August in order to re-shingle the roof. When I put it back up, it was pretty good, but decided to spend the $100 to get it accurately aligned for the best-possible signal.
In early October (?), Xplornet's email servers were again unavailable for a couple of days. And again, no email appeared to have been lost.
During the October 18-19 weekend, my service went down. I called Xplornet's customer support line. A recorded announcement indicated network problems in many areas, including North Gower (i.e. the tower servicing me). The service was eventually restored around 11am Monday, October 20.
The next day, Tuesday, October 21, my service dropped 6 times during the afternoon, while I was telecommuting. It was still bouncing on Wednesday. I tried calling the custoemr support line, but after ~15 minutes on-hold, I hung-up and sent an email. Long story short, after several email exchanges and phone calls, my writing of a script to repeatedly test my connection using pings and record the results, and three different tier 1 support reps telling me the same thing each time (except for one who also told me the outages were 'momentary' despite the data I had provided), I finally spoke with a tier 2 support rep on the evening of Tuesday, November 4. That rep arranged for a work order to get an on-site visit by a technician; she said someone would call within 4 days to arrange for the visit. On the morning of November 8, the tech called me, dropped by within 3 hours, and replaced my 900 MHz antenna with a 2.5 GHz antenna, which required alignment with a different tower, farther away. (Aside: one thing I've never been clear on is why Xplornet wouldn't point my antenna at the tower, only 2 km up the road, that I used when I was with Storm. Instead, I was originally pointed at a tower 6 km away and now, supposedly off a tower even farther away.) This problem frustrated me because it could have been resolved a lot sooner, but was mishandled by Xplornet's tier 1 support team. Three different people reviewed my case and told me basically the same things, but added little value. They even appeared to have ignored the hours of ping data that I sent them. Since the antenna was replaced, my connection has been stable, even during heavy fog and freezing rain, but the speeds seem slower and appears to stall periodically.

So, June through September were pretty good months on Xplornet, except for the email interruptions. October was a very rough month for me and Xplornet. I'm hoping the next few months will be much better, to make up for it.

-Chris

Monitor Article: Portable Internet

2008-10-30T13:55:00.000-04:00

In the October 2008 issue of Ottawa's own Monitor Magazine, there's a feature article entitled Portable Internet on page 26. The author, Eric Jacksch, tested Rogers Portable Internet service from his own home in Ottawa south and describes his findings, including upload and download speeds.

You can download the full October 2008 issue of Monitor in PDF format by clicking
http://monitor.ca/monitor/PDF/MONITOR_October2008.pdf.

Side note: I'm soooo glad that Monitor has started producing complete online issues (in both PDF and SWF (macromedia flash) formats). I've been having trouble finding the print copies, and although the feature articles used to be available on their webpage, the ads never were.

PCMag article: Why We Need White-Space Broadband

2008-10-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

PC Magazine has published an article about using unlicensed white-space frequencies for high-speed Internet transmissions in rural areas.

In the USA, the government is requiring all TV broadcasters to convert their analog television signals to digital signals. This frees-up all the analog TV channels on VHF (channels 2-13; 54-216 MHz) and UHF (channels 14-83; 470-1002 MHz). These frequency spectrums (white-space) could be used for wireless high-speed Internet access, especially in rural areas where there is not a lot of white-space use to begin with. And because these are lower frequencies, especially the VHF range, the signals can travel much further, which also makes them suitable for rural areas.

I'm not sure how applicable the article is to Canada, since I'm not sure if the Canadian government is going to follow the USA's lead in the matter. If anyone knows for sure, please provide info.

Article: Slow road to high-speed Internet frustrating consultants

2008-10-17T18:10:00.000-04:00

The October 10, 2008 edition of the Manotick/Winchester EMC features a front-page article entitled Slow road to high-speed Internet frustrating consultants. The article describes problems and frustrations associated with gaps in the high-speed coverage in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry. The counties are looking to access some of the $30 million budgeted by the provincial government to improve rural high-speed access.

Anyone wishing to report gaps in the rural high-speed access within the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry should contact Actionable intelligence at 613-535-2673 or actionable.intelligence@rogers.com.

Bell Sympatico offers high-speed for rural and cottage areas

2008-09-27T08:34:00.000-04:00

I was just looking around Bell's website for anything new and internet-related, and found a service that I had not seen before: Bell's WiMax In-Home 2Mbps service, which offers up to 2 Mbps download and up to 256 Kbps upload for $50 per month ($45 per month when bundled).

From Bell's webpage:

High speed Internet for rural areas and cottage country.

Innovative high speed Internet access that's available in areas not previously served.
Available in 178 cities across Canada and continually expanding!
Professional installation of the required modem by a Bell technician.
Download your favourite songs and videos at speeds up to 35x faster than dial-up.

A complete list of communities covered by the Bell WiMax In-Home service can be found at:

http://www.bell.ca/shopping/popups/personal/internet/BellWiMAXcoveragearea_en.html

Then main difference (besides data rates) between this service and Bell's other WiMax Internet services is that the other services are portable (using a plug-in-anywhere wireless modem) while the In-Home service has the wireless modem professionally mounted on the building's exterior.

I checked my phone number, and the service is not available in my area of Manotick/Kars, which means it might not be rural enough, given that the webpage states that it's service for areas not previously covered and my area is covered by Bell's WiMax Unplugged - 3Mbps service.

Over the years since I've started tracking rural high-speed Internet access, I've has many inquiries about high-speed access in the really rural areas outside of rural Ottawa. For those people, this service may be worth checking out. I suspect that this is an extension of Bell's and Rogers' Inukshuk WiMax network, which places the WiMax antennas on existing cell towers. If Bell Mobility cell phones can get service at your home, especially outdoors, then there's probably a very good chance that you can get this high-speed wireless Internet service.

This also may be a re-branding of Bell's Unplugged service, since I recall seeing offers for the exterior modem before, but it seems that the data rates offered has dropped to 2 Mbps. The lower peak speed might be due to the longer distances involved from the cell tower to the subscriber's house for more rural areas.

For a comparison of Bell's wireless (WiMax) internet services, see:

http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpInt_Int_Chart_WiMax.page

HiSpeed in West Carleton Update

2008-09-20T08:58:00.000-04:00

Posting on behalf of Sulo out in West Carleton. Sulo provided the update about 10 days ago, but I've been too busy to post it until now. --Chris

I waited patiently for Barrett Xplornet (a full year) to get their act together.

A few weeks ago their installer showed up and stated that they had upgraded the tower and equipment to 3.5.

The upshot was that I would require a 40 foot tower to receive the signal from Carp. $1500 bucks for a new tower and perhaps half that for a used one.

The installers indicated that they had recommended that a repeater be installed at Carp Road (Regional Road 5 and Richardson Side Road) but this was not done.

Based on other tests that they did in the area, it appears that the area bounded by Magee Side Road in the North, Richardson Side Road in the south. William Mooney in the east and Spruce Ridge in the south. This is the same dead area that I indicated in my post from last year.

Needless to say, I was not keen on a tower of this height and could not afford the cost.

So, I went to Rogers and purchased one of their indoor Portable Internet (WiFi) modems ($100) and pointed it at their closest cell tower. Surprise - 5 bars signal strength. Note that Rogers uses Near Line of Sight technology vs. Barrett's Line of Sight technology. The former is very forgiving of the geography (e.g. trees, other obstructions) whereas the latter requires almost a line of sight to the transceiver. Rogers also offers an outdoor modem for those with a more distant location from their cell towers (they don't utilize the cell cell network but mount their Wifi gear on these towers).

I attached the Rogers modem to a Wifi router and now have secure broadband access from anywhere on my grounds.

Woo Hoo!

-Sulo

Xplornet offers discounts for Storm converts

2008-07-15T17:33:00.001-04:00

Today, I received the following message from Xplornet, so I thought I'd pass it along. I am unsure if this discount only applied to Storm subscribers which have already converted, or to future converts as well. If you have any questions about it, I suggest you contact Xplornet directly.

-Chris

Thank you again for becoming an Xplornet customer. We appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with exceptional services, and support that you deserve.

We understand that your transition from Storm to Xplornet may not have been as smooth as it should have. We would like to apologize for this and thank you for your support and patience

Upon further review of our service package offerings, Xplornet is now able to provide you with an even better value. For you, our Xtreme package has been lowered to $49.99 (a $10/month savings) and our Xpress package to $44.99 (a $5/month savings) when a contract is agreed to. This discount will continue even after your contract expires.

If you have previously agreed to a contract on one of these packages, there is no need to contact us as we will automatically update your account with the new pricing. If you are currently not on a contract, and would like to take advantage of the new pricing, please contact us at telesales@xplornet.com.

Again, on behalf of Xplornet, I apologize and thank you for your patience and understanding. We look forward to continuing to serve you in the future.

Kindest regards,
Allison Lenehan
Chief Marketing Officer

Highspeed Fixed Wireless coming to Kingston Area

2008-07-07T14:56:00.000-04:00

This ITWorldCanada article is a little outside the Ottawa area, but I'm posting it here mainly as a general interest article on what is happening in other nearby areas.

http://www.itworldcanada.com/Mobile/ViewArticle.aspx?title=&id=idgml-5aec0a47-ccfd-465d-afca-2d2b6f965e26&format=Print

My Xplornet Update: after 3 weeks

2008-07-03T21:03:00.000-04:00

It's now been 3 weeks since I was converted from Storm's wireless internet service to Xplornet's wireless internet service. My last posting generated a lot of comments, so I thought I'd post a follow-up.

During the last 3 weeks, my Xplornet experience has had highs and lows. Here's a summary:

My first attempt at technical support was using email to request a second email address. This was resolved within 2 business days.
My second attempt at getting technical from Xplornet was via phone. I was on-hold for 10-15 minutes without talking to anyone. I hung up.
Attempt #3 was also by phone. My internet service had been down for 6 hours, so I called to see what was up (or not up). I was on-hold for 10-15 minutes, then got a tier 1 techie who me ran through her script, which involved disconnecting my router, messing with my PC's config, and several reboots, none of which resolved the issue. She transferred me to tier 2 support, where I was placed on-hold for another 15 minutes or so. During this time, I power-cycled both my router and the Xplornet modem, and got connectivity. So I hung up.
Another email to technical support was also responded to within 48 hours, although the answer was useless. I was complaining about intermittent connection drops and stalls (which affected my connectivity and thus my productivity while I was connected to my customer's network), and the guy said I had to call them while it was happening. Given the short duration of the problems, and the long on-hold times of Xplornet's tech support, I've so far declined to call them on it.
The latest call to technical support was very interesting. I was only on-hold for a couple of minutes when I got to talk to someone who didn't even attempt to walk me through a script. I was complaining that my 5 Mbps service had been giving sustained speeds of 400-900 Kbps, which made it worse than the sustained rates I was getting on my 3 Mbps Storm service. The guy checked a few things, put me on-hold for a minute, and then came back to tell me that the tower servicing my radio didn't support 5 Mbps. This struck me as odd, so I asked him why this wasn't identified once my radio was installed and they knew what tower would be providing service; he didn't know the answer. What he did do was set my service to 3 Mbps and credit the difference back to my account. BTW, my radio is pointed at the tower behind the city of Ottawa's client services centre on Roger Stevens Drive in North Gower.
A funny thing is that reducing my service to 3 Mbps seems to have resolved the intermittent problems that I had experienced, and I actually got a higher sustained download rate of ~1.2 Mbps. Today, I was logged into a customer's network for ~7 hours without any connectivity problems from my end, and the VoIP call that I had going simultaneously for ~7 hours only experienced one short stutter (which is a vast improvement in the quality of the same VoIP client's calls over Storm's network).
You might have noticed that we've had a lot of heavy rain and fog in Ottawa lately. The Xplornet service seems stable enough in bad weather, comparable to Storm.

My overall grade for Xplornet so far is 6.5/10, mostly because of problems and delays that I've had with their tech support. The wait times are too long, and I was disappointed with the "5 Mbps on a 3 Mbps tower" scenario. At this point, I'm going to stay with Xplornet but am glad that I've only signed a one-year contract. A friend of mine in Carp has had Xplornet 3 Mbps service for several months now, and says he likes the service.

My Storm-to-Xplornet Conversion

2008-06-14T08:27:00.000-04:00

About 3 weeks ago, Xplornet contacted me to see if I wanted to convert to their wireless service, since they had bought Storm's wireless business and I was a Storm wireless customer. I decided to go with Xplornet, and chose their Xtreme 5Mbps (peak) service; I had 3Mbps (peak) with Storm, which was typically ~1 Mbps sustained/average, and wanted something faster for my heavy telecommuting activities

On Wednesday, June 11, Xplornet again called to say that they would have a technician in the area the next day, and if it would be okay for him to remove the Storm gear and install the Xplornet gear. I agreed, and was informed that the tech would be at my house around 2pm.

The next day (Thursday), the Xplornet technician showed up ~3:30pm (not significantly later compared to some utility companies). It took him a couple of hours to complete the removal and installation.

The first thing I noticed was that the new antenna was pointed south-west (at the North Gower client services centre tower) instead of north (to the repeater atop a silo at Acredale Farm). Storm has told me on a couple of occasions that they could not get a strong enough signal from the NGCSC tower; I guess that the Xplornet gear on the tower is either positioned higher on the tower, and/or it's different gear.

I then fired-up my PC and started some testing. I immediately noticed that the downloads were faster with Xplornet than with Storm. A couple of download tests (using testmy.net) I ran over the first 24 hours indicated average speeds in the 4Mbps range; not bad for a 5Mbps service.

I requested an additional email address on Thursday. It's now Saturday, and other than an automated email response stating that my request had been received, I have not heard anything back from Xplornet. Hopefully, I will get a response within the next business day or two.

CBC: Bell Sued Over InternetThrottling

2008-06-03T09:51:00.000-04:00

Although not specifically related to high-speed Internet access in the rural Ottawa area, the ramifications of this law suit could have a broad impact, which could possibly affect the discrepancies between advertised (peak or burst) speeds and sustained speeds (which are often less than 50% of the peak speed). My 2 cents.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/02/tech-quebec.html

Barrett Xplore Inc. Buys Storm Internet Services wireless operations

2008-03-31T22:33:00.000-04:00

I was notified by email from Barry Williams, president of Storm Internet Services and by comment posting from Tony that Storm's wireless business has been bought by Barrett Xplore, a.k.a. Xplornet. The contents of the email which I (and presumably all Storm wireless customers) received are given below.

Storm Internet Services and Barrett Xplore Inc. (www.xplornet.com), through its Xplornet brand, are pleased to announce that Xplornet will now be the service provider for Storm's wireless Internet services
customers. Barrett Xplore is Canada's largest and fastest growing wireless Internet Service Provider (ISP), with tens of thousands of subscribers across the country.

Xplornet offers both fixed wireless and satellite high-speed Internet services, enabling Xplornet to reach virtually every single Canadian. We are confident that you will be pleased and impressed with Xplornet's service offering.

Some benefits of Xplornet are:

24/7/365 technical support
Guaranteed rates: your rate will be protected for the duration of your contract
No additional download volume fees
All customers receive 2 Gig of storage with Xplornet email accounts

The process of moving each customer to Xplornet's service is expected to take a few months. Xplornet will contact each Storm customer individually starting in April 2008 to begin this transition process. Customers will be grouped by area served and package type in order to
coordinate the appropriate equipment changes/upgrades and to answer any questions you might have about Xplornet services. Rest assured that this is being done over a period of time to ensure that each customer is handled with the great concern and care that Xplornet prides themselves on providing.

Until the time that you are contacted by Xplornet and converted to their equipment and service packages, you will continue to contact Storm for all technical, billing, questions and problems. Storm will also be billing you during this period.

When you are contacted by Xplornet they will be happy to answer any questions that you have concerning this conversion.

Kindest Regards,

Barry Williams
President
Storm Internet Services

HiSpeed in West Carleton Update

2008-03-31T22:10:00.000-04:00

I am posting this West Carleton HiSpeed Internet update at the request of Sulo Viherjoki, the author. I have made only minor changes/additions. --Chris

The winter is almost over (touch wood!) and thought I'd give you and your readers an update about what has happened in my neck of the woods since December 2007. I have received responses from some of your readers on my original posting.

There is nothing new to report on from Xplornet and my friends/politicians at city hall.

No new news to report from Sympatico Unplugged or Xplornet either.

However, Rogers has a cell tower within viewing range of my living room window and it supports Rogers Portable Internet. To my knowledge, the only subscriber is the property owner on which the tower is located. He (a mutual friend) was unaware until I told him that Rogers had Wireless internet on this tower. This tower is located on the south side of Richardson Side Road, mid way between the intersections of David Manchester Road and Spruce Ride Road.

Note that although the Rogers website shows only limited access from this tower, their coverage map may be overly pessimistic. This is after talking to their staff at the Rogers Centrum Kanata location. Since they have both an inside and outside installable modem available, I am optimistic that I will be able to get a signal. I have to wait till the snowbanks around my house are gone though!

In addition, I would like to share with you and your readers that the current issue (April 2008 - No. 199) of Harrowsmith Country Life has an article on Rural Internet Options ("High Speed in Cow Country"). The 2 highlights of the article IMHO are:

1.) All of Nunavut now has high-speed, and

[Chris' note: While this may be true, my understanding is that most of the high-speed is satellite based.]

2.) a small startup homebrew operation near Woodstock, Ontario is offering wireless service for a one time connect/install fee of $99 and monthly charges of $29. They were able to do this in most cases by partnering with local farmers to install their equipment on silos, rather than building expensive expensive towers from the ground up.

[Chris' note: The now-defunct Arryba Communications tried to do something similar. In the fact, the tower that services my home is mounted on a silo about 2 kilometres up the road. I think some other small ISPs in the area (Northwind?) are doing something similar as well, but I could be wrong. In any case, I think co-op ISPs are an excellent grass-roots means of getting high-speed to rural areas; I considered do it myself.]

Sulo Viherjoki

City Responds to West Carleton Posting

2007-12-19T21:06:00.000-05:00

In response to an earlier posting on this blog entitled "Internet Hi-Speed (Broadband) Access in West Carleton", Chris Cope, Economic Development Consultant for the City of Ottawa, has requested that I post the following message.

As subject matter expert on the City's Broadband initiative, I'd like to respond to a number of recent enquiries and expand a bit on the objectives of the City’s broadband initiative. I hope that you will post this to your blog so that everyone can learn about the City's process and the reason that we are confident in, and excited to be announcing that "every house in Rural Ottawa now has access to high speed."

Right up front, I want to confirm that the City continues to work with Xplornet to assess today's fixed wireless coverage to determine if additional coverage is required. The process is well underway and will continue throughout the term of the City's contract with Xplornet. Although so far, the focus has been on the gaps designated by the City as having no service, many other areas are covered as well.

Some areas in West Carleton are heavily forested in every direction. In that context, one of the features that makes these neighbourhoods so wonderful, also limits broadband connectivity. The physics of radio frequency propagation (and not any plan to force customers toward satellite service) works against these locations regardless of tower heights. Cell phone coverage is spotty in West Carleton as well, as everyone knows, but that technology uses licensed radio spectrum which by nature, has a much greater ability of dealing with topography and foliage issues because of both frequency and significantly higher signal power.

High-speed or "broadband" Internet is not a utility that is provided by the City, but rather a communication service that is provided by independent private companies. Since 2003, the City has worked with virtually all of these companies, but they have increasingly indicated that there is no business case to spend money on infrastructure to extend their services beyond the larger villages and other populated areas. Where population is sparse, their investment would not provide a reasonable business return on investment even if everyone signed up for the service. This resulted in a situation where by fall 2006, about 40% of rural Ottawa had no access to any form of high-speed Internet and people living in these gap areas were unable to enjoy increasingly media-rich Internet sites and services using dial-up. The situation in West Carleton was even worse, where about two thirds of the homes in the Ward were unable to access any form of broadband.

The City wanted everyone to be able to have high-speed and set out to find a way that would cause one or more companies to accelerate their plans to extend their high-speed service to previously un-serviced areas. The private/public (P3) partnership with Barrett Xplore inc. (Xplornet) does just that, by providing a suite of high-speed services to the areas previously without service. We are delighted to be in a position to say that now everyone in rural Ottawa has access to some form of high-speed service and at prices that are similar to service offerings in urban Ottawa.

Xplornet offers a variety of services and although they are concentrating on their wireless service, they also offer a group of satellite high-speed options. There are up to 5 wireless packages varying from varying from $29.99 to $59.99 per month with corresponding download speeds between 300 Kbps to 5.0 Mbps. Not all wireless services are available in all areas however, and because Xplornet uses line-of-sight technology for their fixed wireless system there will be some rural Ottawa residents, especially those that live in heavily forested areas or where topography works at odds to a strong signal, who cannot receive fixed wireless service. That's why Ottawa and Xplornet are offering state-of-the-art satellite broadband to ensure everyone has access to high-speed.

There are 4 satellite packages available for consumers with speeds varying from 512 Kbps to 2.0 Mbps at prices ranging from $49.99 to $179.99 per month. The basic installation fee for satellite is an "all-in" fee of $199 on a 3-year contract. This compares to elsewhere in Canada where the same installation is $399 for equipment plus the cost of labour resulting in a total cost of $600 to $900.

For comparison, one of the major telephone companies in Ottawa offers high-speed service in the City's urban area at $49 per month although they too have smaller and larger packages. Their wireless service is $55 per month. Similarly, a local cable company offers their most popular Internet on Cable service at $52.95 per month (plus $3 per month modem rental or $99.95 modem purchase plus taxes) although they too have several other packages including a light version at $32.95 Monthly Service Fee (plus $3 per month modem rental or $99.95 modem purchase plus taxes).

Some people are disappointed to learn that their home is not in a location where wireless service is available, but satellite service while a little more expensive is a tremendous improvement over dial-up. To give you a sense of this, here's a quote from Suzanne Bird, who operates a business from her home and is a recent satellite customer. Ms. Bird lives in a neighbourhood in West Carleton called the Pinery, which has beautiful tall trees:

"As a "mum-preneur" balancing being a mom and operating my own business, I was having serious difficulty making the business work effectively in rural Ottawa. Why? Because like most businesses, photography is becoming more and more reliant on the internet - being able to send and receive images electronically instead of couriering or driving hard copies to clients around Ottawa. A rural business like mine was at a huge disadvantage because dial-up Internet made sending large files simply impossible.

I was at an impasse. The only way to balance rural living, family care and business was with high-speed Internet. Now that I have Xplornet using a satellite system my business has fundamentally changed. The gap between myself and photographers in urban Ottawa has closed, and I'm experiencing both growth in business, and more time at home. There's no question in my mind that business in rural Ottawa will expand, and the rural Ottawa lifestyle will get even better than it was before."

It is important to note too, that should Xplornet's fixed wireless service become available at a later date to residents in areas not presently served by wireless, Xplornet will install the new wireless service and remove the satellite service at no additional cost. People should also know that Xplornet has a 30-day risk free guarantee. If they end up going ahead with the satellite service, they have 30 days to kick tires and if during that time they want to cancel, Xplornet will cancel the contract, come and remove the equipment and give them back their money. Xplornet is committed to having only satisfied customers and this seems to me to be an excellent way of ensuring this.

I hope this information is informative. I would encourage anyone with additional questions to follow up with me directly.

Chris Cope
Economic Development Consultant
Economic and Environmental Sustainability Branch
Email: Chris.Cope@ottawa.ca
(613) 580-2424 ext. 28991

OBJ article: Hydro Ottawa to sell off telecom business

2007-12-08T09:53:00.000-05:00

The Ottawa Business Journal published an article called 'Hydro Ottawa to sell off telecom business' on Friday, December 7, 2007.

Although Telecom Ottawa provides service mainly in metro Ottawa, I mention in this blog simply because Telecom Ottawa also provides the fibre-optic internet backbone used by many ISPs in the area, including rural Ottawa. Thus, the article is at least indirectly relevant to this blog.

The Packet article: Get connected: Broadband internet comes to rural Ottawa

2007-12-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

The Friday, December 7, 2007 edition of The Packet contains an article on page 5 entitled 'Get connected: Broadband internet comes to rural Ottawa'. The article basically is basically high-level information about Xplornet's deployment of fixed wireless and satellite high-speed internet service in the rural Ottawa and adjacent areas, plus some background history on the City's rural high-speed internet initiative.

For the most part, there is nothing important in the article that hasn't been covered previously on this blog. The main item of interest is the accompanying graphic, which shows a map of Xplornet's fixed wireless coverage. The map shows solid, blanket fixed wireless coverage for all of Ottawa outside the urban core, except for the south west corner of the City limits, i.e. Burritt's Rapids area. It also shows Xplornet's fixed wireless coverage extending well south of Kemptville along the 416 corridor. Everything else on the map is indicated to be covered by Xplornet's satellite service. The fixed wireless coverage indicated on the map paints a more thorough coverage than readers and contacts from West Carleton are reporting, so there appears to be a discrepancy somewhere.

The article also gives the following contact info, which except for the phone number, have also been previously published on this blog (and appear in the right margin of the main page).

The Packet is a free community newspaper serving South Ottawa, Richmond, Kemptville, and Merrickville. The afore-mentioned article does not appear to be available online, nor does The Packet appear to have any online presence.

Internet Hi-Speed (Broadband) Access in West Carleton

2007-12-06T22:44:00.000-05:00

I received the following email from a reader, who requested that I post it on my blog. It is addressed to his fellow residents in West Carleton. I have not edited the content.

-Chris

Hi Neighbour:

You have read in the press that Ottawa city council has provided taxpayer funding to a private sector firm to provide competitive internet access to rural areas which the current ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are not servicing.

The contract was awarded to Barrett Xplornet ( http://www.xplornet.com ). You may even have received one of their brochures in your mailbox in the last 2 or 3 months.

Our local councilor had the following information posted:

http://www.ward5eli.com/content.php?doc=79

The current status is that Barrett committed to having their service up and running by October 31, 2007, with free installation (as opposed to a competitors $400 installation charge in this area). Due to delays this offer was extended to November 12th, which has now expired.

After discussions with the players/stakeholders (our city councilor, city bureaucrats, local dealer installers and the service provider (Barrett), I have come to these conclusions:

1. Barrett cannot provide reliable service in an area approximating and bounded by March Road on the north, Spruce Ridge on the west, William Mooney on the east and Richardson Side Road on the south. This is an area of 2K by 6K (about 12 square kilometers).

2. While some of you in this area may currently have:

i) hispeed access to Barrett due to favorable topography (access is line of sight dependent), but if it is marginal now, then the service will degrade as the trees continue to grow.

ii) access to a previously defunct ISP being serviced by a tower at the corner of David Manchester & Richardson, this service is not guaranteed to continue. In addition, the ISP servicing this tower was charging a $400 installation fee.

3. The tactic of Barrett and the city is to try and steer you to their satellite service. This is unacceptable for financial, practical and operation reasons. The cost is higher and there are delays in bouncing the signal 25,000 miles up and back down again. There may also be obstructions to your view of the satellite.

Real estate agents have told me access to Hi-Speed (Broadband) is a prerequisite to selling your property, so even if you are currently satisfied with your dialup connection or do not currently access the internet, access to Hi-Speed is in your interests.

If this issue is of concern to you, I urge you to contact the following players/stakeholders:

Councilor: Eli.El-Chantiry@ottawa.ca

City Bureaucrat: Chris.Cope@ottawa.ca

Barrett: BillM@BarrettXplore.com, JackieK@BarrettXplore.com, lenm@BarrettXplore.com, LeslieC@BarrettXplore.com

Why am I not providing my name and address/email?

1. There is no other information that I can provide.

2. If this issue is of concern to you, I want you to get the information directly from the guys in charge.

3. Well OK, if you really want to contact me: definnbaker@yahoo.com

Rogers Portable Internet availability tool

2007-12-05T13:24:00.000-05:00

I just noticed this, and thought I'd pass it on. Rogers has recently improved their Portable Internet Availability Tool.

Previously, it would ask you for your postal code, and for some of us rural folks, that can be a big area and the service availability would thus be indeterminant.

The new version (and I'm not sure how long it's been this way) will ask you for your address or the nearest intersection, and it will display a colour-coded map which will indicate if you can use an indoor modem or if you will have to get an outdoor modem installed. Even if the search tool cannot find your address or intersection, you can simply select your home city from the MapControl widgit, and then drag the resulting map to your neighbourhood to see what, if any, Portable Internet service is available to you.

Portable Internet (standard) has peak advertised speeds of 1.5 Mbps down and 256 Kbps up (~26x dial-up down and 4x dial-up up). The lite version, Rogers Portable Internet Basic, has peak download speeds of 256 Kbps (4x dial-up); no upload speed posted.
Please refer to the above links or go to Rogers main site for more details.

Xplornet's Burst and Sustain Rates: Fair Access Policy

2007-11-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I asked Chris Cope of ORCNet if he could review a comment left by an anonymous poster on November 2. The comment was in regard to Xplornet's sustained and burst download speeds.

Today, I received a response from Chris. He had forwarded my email onto to people at Barrett Xplore, who provided the response below. Posted with permission.

Hi Chris,

I asked Barrett Xplore Inc. (BXI) to provide an answer to the question you received. Here is their response and please feel free to post it on your blog.

Fair Access Policy

BXI manages subscriber usage by implementing a burst and sustained model. This approach ensures that every subscriber receives a quality Internet experience on a shared network. Our competitive intelligence of our industry category would indicate that all sustainable and reputable service providers implement some type of similar procedure. Instead of limiting the amount of throughput usage during an hour, day or month, our bandwidth control is implemented on a per transaction basis. A transaction could be the click of a mouse on a web site that downloaded a new page or a download or upload of a music file or any other similar transactions. When a customer initiates a transaction, the initial speed of the data transfer is determined by the burst speed of the service package. Once a volume threshold is reached during that transaction, the data transfer rate changes to the sustained speed setting. Once the transaction is completed, the system immediately reverts to the burst mode.

During normal web browsing, the system would always be operating at the burst rate. The only difference would be with larger file downloads where initial data transfer would be at the burst rate and then, depending on the size of the file, the remaining portion would be downloaded at the sustained rate. The next transaction would in turn commence at the full burst rate.

BXI does not publish specific package configurations as it is competitive information that allows us to differentiate ourselves and consistently offer quality services to all our users. Most ISP’s do not publish their settings as they become unique features of each provider.

The Fair Access Policy (FAP) approach is further described on our Website in the Legal section.

Chris Cope
Economic Development Consultant
Economic and Environmental Sustainability Branch