Quinton Eon is amazed by what some people will do to get high speed internet.
He’s seen receivers hung from trees, grain elevator legs, old television antennas and giant masts mounted on houses.
He’s even seen a frustrated rural resident get out the chain saw and start cutting.
“We had a guy who cut down a half mile of bush to get the line of sight,” said Eon, sales and marketing manager for Yourlink, a Saskatoon-based high speed internet service provider that focuses on bringing high speed internet to rural areas.
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“People do interesting things to get the internet.”
Yourlink uses fixed wireless towers to connect homes and businesses to the internet that are within sight of the towers. Trees and terrain are limiting factors for the line of sight technology.
Eon said high speed access is becoming a major priority for rural customers, especially if they recently moved from the city where high speed was the norm.
“People move from the city to the country and take internet for granted and how well they had it,” he said.
“They try to do on-line banking. Something that takes minutes in the city will take up to five hours in the country.”
Yourlink regularly receives calls from people considering moving to the country from larger centres in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Before they move, they want assurances high speed internet is available.
He said a final decision on a $300,000 home may hinge on a high speed connection, and realtors are listing internet access as a selling feature.
Eon predicts that within a few years high speed internet will be a necessary utility all home owners will demand, just like telephone and electricity. He also predicts it won’t be long until larger internet providers begin buying the smaller carriers and providing more continuity across larger areas.
The number of independent internet providers in Saskatchewan is only a fraction of what’s available in Alberta because of higher start up costs.
In Alberta, independent providers can hook up to the government-built SuperNet and deliver service to customers. In Saskatchewan, independent operators must rely on large carriers such as Shaw, Bell and SaskTel for their fibre network links.
Large carriers, with an eye on pleasing shareholders, are reluctant to provide service to more isolated communities where there is less chance of paying for their investment. Eon said it’s in these areas that governments could play a role to help offset the cost of bringing high speed to rural homes.
“I would like to see everybody have the same access to internet as someone in the city,” he said.
“It would be nice for the government to provide some sort of government incentive to encourage companies to serve the underserved areas so everyone has the same opportunities and get the same type of service.”
Service, rather than profit, is the goal of Equity Internet, a municipally delivered service of Beaver County in central Alberta.
Darren Popowich, director of broadband services, said at $20,000 for each internet tower and $5,500 for smaller repeater sites, even a non-profit organization needs to be selective in its locations. About 90 customers can receive high speed internet from a single tower, but in rural areas usually only 30 to 40 customers are connected to each tower, so it takes longer to pay back the initial investment.
Popowich said local governments have no choice but to become involved in setting guidelines and providing access to high speed in rural areas if they want to attract and keep businesses.
Building and maintaining information highways on the internet will soon be the same as building and maintaining traditional highways, he added.
