Tag Archives: Connected Coast

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.

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Communications

Telus invests $10M to improve connectivity in Haida Gwaii

Editor’s note: The Connected Coast project has just laid 87 kilometres of fibre-optic cable across the seabed of Hecate Strait to bring high-speed connectivity to Haida Gwaii.

By Kaitlyn Bailey,  Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

More than $10,000 in Telus-funded upgrades will benefit Queen Charlotte and Skidegate after the company’s June investment in the broadband and cellular services, the telecommunications organization announced on July 4.

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Communications

500 kilometres of fibre optic cable laid

The Connected Coast is a joint communications project undertaken by CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). They will bring high speed internet to 90,000 households in remote communities from Haida Gwaii to northern Vancouver Island. As of June 2, they have laid more than 500 of the 3,400 kilometres of the fibre optic cable needed by this project. 

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Communications

CityWest may be charging people with long driveways extra

Up until now, CityWest has been offering to install high speed internet to Cortes Island homes for free. They did not take some of the island’s long driveways into account. This is changing, CityWest says some people will need to pay extra.

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Communications

Erroneous internet speed reporting may cost the SRD $12.5 million, study suggests 

A recent study suggests that incorrect reporting may be responsible for Southern Quadra Island, Tahsis, Gold River and Sayward not qualifying for funding under the Connected Coast High Speed internet program. Their service provider reported their internet speed already met the national standard. Consequently, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) had to arrange for loans of up to $12.5 million.

BC’s Ministry of Citizens’ Services, the Union of BC Municipalities and the Northern Development Initiative Trust hired TANEx Engineering to study reports that the amount of broad service available in rural communities is less than what servers like TELUS, Mascon Cable Services (a TELUS company) and Bell are reporting on the National Broadband Internet Service Availability Map. According to the ‘Summary of Findings,’ released by the Ministry, ‘there was medium to high evidence of possible discrepancies in 106’ of the 940 localities studied.

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