Internet bill can reach as high as $800 a month in not so ‘unique’ rural Vaughan

‘Developing nations have better options’

Yorkregion.com
April 19, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Mark Hopkins might be living in an area considered rural in Vaughan, but he comes with ton of international experience.

As a telecommunication program manager for a former customer Digicel, Hopkins saw how three Caribbean islands --Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia --gained access to high-speed internet after building fibre networks for them via a World Bank fund.

“People in those islands have a better coverage than I do, just north of Toronto,” Hopkins, who pays $157 a month, using a microwave link for his internet, said.

Telecommunications signals can be carried out through copper, fibre cables or via a radiofrequency, with fibre-optic internet currently being the fastest and most reliable.

“Where we are, we don't have any cables, whether it's metal or fibre, and the only service we have is via microwave,” he explained, adding, “Now microwave is a line-of-sight communication, and our problem is that in the summertime, when the trees come in to leave, we have problems with signal.”

“Bad weather can also interfere with the signal,” for him and his neighbours at Cold Creek Road, he said.

Mark Hopkins of Klienburg has seen how other countries improve their international situation. Steve Somerville/Metroland

Worst, the internet’s quality doesn’t meet the expectation given the hefty amount paid.

Rick Sant, who has a greenhouse operation that employees 130 people, pays $480 a month for the past five years, and complains that the internet can abruptly disconnect.

“It's not a consistent internet. I'm sure if we were closer to the source, it would be a lot better but ... where we are, it's not,” Sant said, adding how he can’t always have an easy Skype video call.

“We're running a business here, and everything is the internet now especially this time of year with the pandemic. We have people working from home that have to log in, and it's really been a struggle.”

Rick Sant showing his bill. Steve Somerville/Metroland

The bill can be even higher, especially for their neighbour Maddelena Vani’s family.

“Currently, we just started paying $300 a month with a new internet service provider, which required us to pay to install our own satellite,” said Vani. “Prior to that, my parents were paying roughly $800 a month with Bell, as there is no fibre-optic cable that comes to our area despite it (being) all around us.”

For Hopkins, the status quo doesn’t make sense.

“There are a lot of developing nations that have better telecommunications options; essentially faster internet and satellite than people in rural Ontario,” he said, but half a mile away from Cold Creek Road, the “fibre is available, but not here.”

Hopkins believes that municipalities need to be far more involved, and in a more wholistic way, to bring cheaper and faster connectivity.

“It doesn't make any sense commercially to design a fibre system for one road like Cold Creek Road; it should be a much broader design approach.”

Hopkins also criticized the government’s approach so far in fixing the issue.

“We have a very piecemeal approach to how fibre-based services might be provided,” he said, emphasizing the municipal role in bringing a minimum standard.

Deb Schulte, MP for King-Vaughan, explained how the local community’s frustration with internet isn’t exclusive to them.

“We’re not unique,” said Schulte, but it’s across the country’s rural and remote communities, hindering “their economic growth.”

“So we’ve accelerated investments to connect 98 per cent of Canadians to high-speed internet by 2026, and all Canadians by 2030,” Schulte said. “Among other initiatives, Canada's Connectivity Strategy is underpinned by the new $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund.

However, for Hopkins, the federal government’s universal broadband is still not sufficient enough for businesses in certain areas.

However, Schulte described the federal government’s position as clear, and how “access to affordable high-speed internet should not depend on your postal code.”