A map of broadband
- July 31, 2009 11:01 AM |
- By Paul Jay
By Paul Jay, CBCNews.ca.
About four years ago, when I was visiting my soon-to-be-wife at her home in the village of Wakefield, Quebec, I used to try to get some work done on the side using her internet connection. And boy it was slow -- painfully slow compared to what I was used to in Toronto. Now, thanks to a new government page, I can see why.
The federal government has posted its national broadband map, prepared from publicly available data, input from the provinces and territories and Canadian ISPs (internet service providers).
As the map shows, Wakefield has cable or DSL, but not both, and somewhere between 100 and 199 homes have no broadband availability -- so I think things have improved. It is hardly as unconnected as some places, particularly First Nation communities in northern regions, but somewhat surprisingly worse than northern communities like Val D'Or.
So, how does your region fare? Have a look.
About the Authors
- Tara Kimura
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
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Comments (3)
Rural areas are suffering from lack of broadband creating a new digital divide. The feds need to step up and put some of the recovery money into building out infrastructure. Leaving it to the telecom/cablecom's is a waste of time. They're too busy fighting with each other in attempts to keep their monopolies going.
I tried to check the map for the Maritimes, but as an illustration of just how horrible my dial-up connection is it kept dropping the download before it could be completed... pathetic. We've been promised 1.5mbps 'broadband' speeds via an antiquated WiMax system through EastLink, but even that's months off. The only other option is satellite right now, and that has plenty of drawbacks and unfavourable pricing. Is 5-15 mbps really too much to ask in this day and age?
My cable Internet connection in Vancouver is very reliable and effective. It's been interesting to contrast that quality with the often sub-par speeds in some parts of Ottawa.
There is almost a noticeable difference in Internet culture in the Ottawa area. There are very few places where one can actually find a free wi-fi coffee shop there. Having come from Vancouver where there is nothing but free wi-fi I found this most annoying. The places in Ottawa that did have free connections still required me to get a print of their log-on info as if legions of people would sit outside their establishment and steal their scarce bandwidth.
All in all I'm not surprised to hear that many regions in Canada have poor Internet access. The federal government should prioritize this and invest in better connections for rural areas and free access to every major urban centre in Canada.
Jason Lamarche
LiberalMinute.ca