North Bay-based Blue Sky Net announced it has launched a broadband information portal to determine the demand for high-speed internet access in some underserviced areas of the North.
“It’s quite clear that there is a divide between the more urban communities and those that are more dispersed when it comes to access to higher capacity internet services,” said Susan Church, Blue Sky Net executive director, in a news release.
The main challenge of delivering affordable high-speed internet to many areas of rural Canada is in the installation and operation costs, the uncertainty over these markets’ ability to return on the investment.
“What we want to do now is determine the demand for service improvements.”
Blue Sky Net and other internet service providers (ISP) created a regional broadband mapping project three years ago, which is a visual database of Northern Ontario, outlining areas that lack high speed access.
Blue Sky Net, in coordination with its counterparts in Muskoka, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, and FedNor launched Connectednorth.ca.
One of its features is a high speed service availability checker where visitors can search their street address to see what ISP delivers connectivity to their cottage, home or office.
The site hosts an internet speed test measuring how a visitor’s internet service is performing, in real time. Test results – not personal information – will be captured and shared with the ISPs.
The responses from the access survey will be linked to speed test results to get a more complete picture of a visitor’s internet usage and their desire to obtain a better connection.
“It is a bit of an experiment” said Church. “We’ve taken a cue from other campaigns that use crowd-sourced information to affect change. This is an opportunity for local residents to speak directly to the ISPs who can make investments based on these priorities.
“We’ve been working in broadband development for over a decade now and we recognize that there is a constant trend to demand higher capacities and speeds and we have no reason to believe that this demand will stop,” said Church. “The ISPs we work with realize this but are challenged by the costs to bring these services to market. A real focal point of Connectednorth.ca is to not only provide visitors with useful service-related information, but we also need visitors to participate in building a better internet for Northerners.”
For details go online at www.connectednorth.ca.
