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Mascon By Telus Cuts Off Some Cortes Customers, CityWest Update

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Mascon by TELUS informed at least 10 Cortes Island residents that their internet service will be terminated on June 2, 2025.

A dozen people were chatting about it on the Cortes Island Is Home Facebook page, where one typed a message to Regional Director Mark Vonesch, “The SRD was part of the whole CityWest to insure all communities were connected? Most of us do not have access to CityWest yet and now we are losing access to our only other option.” 

Nancy Kendel posted a comment on the Tideline, “A LOT OF GOVERNMENT MONEY was given to the Connected Coast Partnership of CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District, but THE JOB IS NOT FINISHED! When will Cortes Island be connected?” 

She also emailed Cortes Currents, which is what led to this story. 

Image credit: Mascon by TELUS dish at the Kendel’s house

Nancy Kendel: “Ray and I have  been on Twincomm Internet for years and  we were always very happy with Twincomm. It was a local business, it was locally managed and run, and with great service. About a year ago, we were informed that TELUS,  with their subsidiary Mascon, was going to be buying out Twincomm.  So we were told by Mascon that for a year they would maintain the rates we were paying  Twincomm and  in a year, they would increase the rates, which we’re fine with.  The last year has been great until two days ago I got an email from TELUS,” she began. 

It stated: “Due to circumstances that impact tower infrastructure in your area, your mask on by TELUS service will be discontinued, effective June 2nd, 2025. We understand this may be disappointing and we sincerely apologize. Regrettably, there are no alternate options available for us to continue providing your service. We strongly encourage you to consider other service providers in the region to ensure continuity of your internet service prior to the service end date.” 

Nancy Kendel: “We were really upset because there is no other local service provider at this point, and that brings me to CityWest.” 

“Probably three or four years ago, CityWest started going around to everybody in the neighbourhood and asking what services you’d like. If you signed up with them then, you would get a discount. So we signed up for their internet, and we watched them in various places on Cortes, burying the main lines along the road.” 

The rocky outcrop on Red Granite Road that CityWest did not get past
Ray Kendel holding the stick that marks the end of CityWest’s cable on Red Granite Road
CityWest’s ‘big box’ at the corner of Batholomew and Red Granite Roads

“Then they got to Red Granite Road . At the top of the first hill, where our driveway is, there’s an outcrop of bedrock which seems to have stumped them. We’ve had two crews come over the last probably two years. The first crew  put  the big box in at the bottom and got the pipe run actually up to the outcropping of granite.”

“Then they went to the other side and  started to lay the cable down towards  Red Granite point.  I know they had trouble in some of those places because there were cables sticking out of the ground here and there. Another group came in and ran the fibre optic cable on the ground up from the bottom of our driveway up to our house. Someone came and hooked it up to the box on the house and there it sits.” 

“A year and a half ago, a crew came and we were all excited. They were going to get this resolved.  They left  spray painted instructions on the gravel road for the next crew so they would know what they were supposed to do.” 

“Maybe six or seven months later, long after the spray paint had disappeared,  I walked to the bottom of our driveway and there was another crew sitting in a truck looking very perplexed. They said,  we’re just trying to figure out what that last crew did. They were no good. They were all fired. And we’re gonna fix this up.” 

“I said, ‘well, great, here’s what I know about the system.”

“They said, ‘okay, we know now. We got to go down there and get a generator and a compressor and figure out what’s going on.’ They did all that, apparently,  spray painted up the road and left. We haven’t seen anybody since.” 

(Maps of CityWest service area – courtesy SRD staff report)

Cortes Currents:  I was one of the lucky ones who was hooked up at the beginning  and so far I’ve met another eight Cortes residents who are CityWest customers. I’ve also learned of 37* who have yet to be connected. These numbers are probably not fair for comparative purposes, as Cortes Currents  is more likely to hear from people with complaints, but they do show there’s a serious problem. 

Nancy Kendel: “I’m upset because CityWest was part of Connected Coast, which was a partnership of  CityWest and Strathcona Regional District, and funded by  six government agencies, federal and provincial and regional, and CityWest. If you go to their website and look at Connected Coast, you’ll see, the plan was to lay cable from Prince Rupert all the way down through Vancouver Island and Sechelt. they were going to connect everyone.”

“I feel like they’ve really let Cortes Island down. I feel that they don’t communicate openly about what their plans are.  You just never can get any idea of when we’re going to be connected and now I know I have a deadline, June 2nd.” 

Cortes Currents informed the Strathcona Regional District there’s a lot of people still waiting on Cortes Island. They said to contact CityWest, as it is their responsibility.  

The relationship between these two entities is spelled out in a staff report attached to the board meeting minutes of March 15th, 2023: 

“ In April 2021, the board supported the establishment of a last mile partnership agreement with CityWest to provide partial funding  for the construction of last mile broadband infrastructure on Cortes Island, Zeballos, and three and three remote communities on Quadra Island. This partnership agreement supports communities that receive federal provincial grant funding as a result of not having an internet service provider that could deliver minimum internet speeds, as set out by the CRTC.  In this partnership agreement with CityWest, The regional district will contribute 10 percent of the cost to construct the last mile infrastructure and receive an annual dividend of 20 percent of the net profits realized from each of the project areas for the life of the agreement. 20 years. The remaining capital funding for these communities comes from financial contributions from CityWest and the province. CityWest is responsible for the cost of all operations, maintenance, and repairs within the project areas.”  

Nancy Kendel: “I know that there’s a lot of people on Cortes that are still waiting to be hooked up. When you call,  the message you receive is they have no technicians now to do any of the hookups.”

One of the people chatting on that Facebook page suggested trying Starlink. 

Three of the others were former Twincomm employees. One of them called the people at Mascon by TELUS, ‘bozos,’ adding, quote, ‘I’m sorry that they’re not better at customer service, but I am and want to help.’ All of them wanted to help. 

The rocky ground at Red Granite Road and Tiber Bay is challenging for CityWest
CityWest cable laid on top of the ground at the Kendel’s house

Someone from CityWest was reading the Facebook messages and added, “If you are losing your Mascon services and would like to move your services to a local provider, we are here to support you.”

“There are some properties that currently are unable to connect to our network due to construction constraints. Our teams are actively working on solutions to expand our fibre network to connect more homes and businesses on Cortes Island. We want to ensure that every home and business in our footprint has access to the local, reliable Internet they deserve. We are proud to serve Cortes Island and look forward to being part of your community for years to come.”

Links of Interest: 

*On March 21, I changed the number of people not to connected to 37, from ‘two dozen,’ after tallying result of recent Facebook comments.

Top image credit: Nancy Kendel sitting at her computer. All undesignated photos by Roy L Hales

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2 thoughts on “Mascon By Telus Cuts Off Some Cortes Customers, CityWest Update”

  1. I am connected to my original electric shed where the crew completed an under ground wire, from my property entrance then disappeared. No other properties were connected to my knowledge. As I am at the end of a rather long road with 20 more properties, I do not have any expectations that I can ever be connected to that system. I wonder if Twin Com could be revived?

  2. Hi Myrna, I would wait a bit… before trying something else, like a telus hub. I think things will start to happen here soon.
    Nancy

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