Tag Archives: CityWest on Quadra

Communications

Disruptions of CityWest Services on Cortes and Quadra Islands

Leave a comment

CityWest’s internet service for Cortes Island was cut off again, sometime after 10:44 on Saturday, March 8, and not restored until after 9:00 on Monday, March 10. This is the third or fourth time in the last 12 months. 

The outage did not affect CKTZ, which relies upon Mascon de TELUS, but did shut down numerous CityWest customers (including Cortes Currents).

‘Rumour’ has it that the fibre cable was cut somewhere on the underwater stretch between Denman Island and Williams Beach.  

Continue reading Disruptions of CityWest Services on Cortes and Quadra Islands →
Communications

Cortes Island Residents Waiting for CityWest To Connect Them

CityWest started hooking Cortes Island residents up to the internet in December 2023, but many homes are still waiting. As the evidence is anecdotal, it is difficult to say how many people are currently connected through CityWest and how many are not.

Sherman Barker just informed me that he has never met anyone who is connected. After waiting for two years of waiting, he was using Starlink by the time a CityWest crew showed up to do the final hook-up. 

“I have a pile of CityWest cable, all the way from my driveway to my yard, that they don’t want back.”  

Sean Coyote, a techie who works for Cortes Community Radio, said typically people who have yet to be serviced are told their names are on a list. Some, like Sherman, subsequently moved on to other internet providers. Sean added that there are a couple of CityWest trucks working on the island right now. 

Continue reading Cortes Island Residents Waiting for CityWest To Connect Them →
Communications

High Speed Internet could reach Cortes Island as early as December

Cortes Island’s new high speed internet system could be live as early as December, otherwise early in 2023.

Randy, from CityWest, gave Cortes Currents a very graphic illustration of what this will mean. I am currently downloading data from the internet at a rate of 21.35 megabits per second (Mbps) and uploading at 6.50 Mbps.  Randy discussed plans for up to 100 or up to 500 Mbps, download and upload, depending on how much I wanted to pay. That ‘up to’ is important because customers might not experience these speeds at their computer terminals, but we are still talking about much faster service. He also said there are no limits for the number of gigabytes I could use in a month, hence no overage charges.

Continue reading High Speed Internet could reach Cortes Island as early as December →
Communications

High speed internet: Are Read, West Thurlow and part of Quadra Island being left out?

How our local government works – Part 4 of 5 from the Feb 9 SRD Board Meeting

As the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) prepares to amend its indebtedness agreement with CityWest, to pay for the installation of high speed internet, Regional Director Jim Abram is concerned that parts of area C are being left out.  

Continue reading High speed internet: Are Read, West Thurlow and part of Quadra Island being left out? →
Communications

Update on CityWest’s progress in our area

Dino Tsakonas, Regional Manager for CityWest, gave Cortes Currents an update on how the Connected Coast initiative to bring high speed internet connection to our area is progressing.

Continue reading Update on CityWest’s progress in our area →