Tag Archives: Mascon by TELUS

Communications

A New Internet Provider for Cortes: Raincoast Networks

As of September 30th, 2025, Raincoast Networks serves the 347 remaining customers in what was once the Twincomm service area on Cortes Island. Mascon by Telus acquired Twincomm in 2022. 

“I come from Savary Island. We provide internet to those who have decided to live off grid and in remote communities and cannot be served well by other telecom providers, majors and things from space, explained Oliver Linsley, owner of Raincoast Networks.

“We’ve been doing this for eight years and we service areas from Howe Sound all the way to Cortes. It has been a wonderful adventure, mainly because I get to meet some fantastic people in places I didn’t even know existed. We’ve helped communities up and down the coast, and that’s where we got our pride from. It’s not from a paycheck (laughs), I can tell you that, but it definitely is from the fact that I can go to someone’s house and they have baked cookies for me. They’re just super happy that we came in a boat and we’ve driven across a whole bunch of crazy oceans and we’re at their house and we’re going to fix it.”

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Communications

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. 

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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. 

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Communications

Help Cortes Radio Power the Tower

CKTZ is looking for donors to help power the tower during 2024 and 2025. 

Cortes Currents caught up with Bryan McKinnon, station manager and President of CKTZ, while he was manning the radio’s booth at Lovefest. In addition to the hum of conversation from some of the first people to arrive at the festival, in the background you can hear a sitar and tabla from the opening performance. 

Q: So tell us about the ‘Power The Tower’ campaign?

Bryan McKinnon: “Our broadcast antenna is on a tower, and all that equipment goes back 20 years to when  the radio station was first set up. Back then it was a pirate station where people were really pulling together equipment that was already used and old at the time. What we want to do is make sure that our signal goes as far, wide, and clear as possible. We’re looking to upgrade basically all the equipment around the broadcast tower.” 

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Communications

CityWest finally delivers: some Cortes Island homes already receiving service 

CityWest finally delivered on its promise to bring high speed fibre-optic internet to Cortes Island. 

It has been five years since Victoria Smith, then the  Strathcona Regional District’s Special Projects and Sustainability Manager, confirmed that Cortes Island was a proposed recipient for the Connected Coast Project.

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