Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. Ltd. finally found a way to get high-speed Internet service this year — it moved some of its operations to Charlottetown.
Owner Bruce MacNaughton decided mail-order business couldn't wait until a new broadband service rolled out to his town, New Glasgow, a stop on PEI's tourist trail. Paperwork for food shipments to the United States was taking too long with a dial-up connection.
“We ended up buying out another business that had the proper facilities and access to high-speed Internet, and was also in the mail-order business,” he explained.
That's how far some rural businesses will go for a high-speed Internet hookup. The digital divide affects many rural communities, which say it's bad for business. In their search for ways to bring broadband to residents, they are turning to different solutions, such as emerging wireless technology.
In 2001, the federal government pledged to bring broadband to all Canadians by 2004. But by the end of that year, only 68 per cent of rural residents had high-speed Internet access, compared with 98 per cent of urban dwellers. Ottawa is looking at ways to bridge the gap as part of a broader review of the telecommunications sector, and is expected to release its report next year.
“We were getting a lot of calls with people looking for high-speed [Internet],” said Norman Dewar, manager of KenNet Inc., which operates a technology centre in Kensington, PEI.
KenNet became the community champion, leading the “Malpeque Bay Community Broadband Network” project to introduce high-speed Internet in New Glasgow and neighbouring towns.
The main sticking point for getting high-speed Internet to remote areas is that it's very costly to extend landlines to offer broadband over large distances with few residents. Some remote communities are getting broadband access through satellite, which has a wide and quick reach, but users have to pay hefty upfront installation costs.
So for many remote residents, wireless is an attractive option. Connecting to a fibre-optic or satellite network, providers are using wireless transmission points on towers or poles to distribute access.
Slower dial-up service over phone lines wasn't cutting it for the area covered by the Malpeque Bay project, an area along PEI's northern coast that is home to a wide range of businesses including oyster farms, lobster restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and the Green Gables house. It was time-consuming to deal with customers through dial-up service, and businesses were bogged down by the delays when accessing or sending on-line forms, Mr. Dewar said.
In order to receive federal funding, the community was required to use a technology that would reach all residents, and wireless fit that bill, Mr. Dewar said.
The company selected by the community project to sell wireless broadband service in the area was Route2 of Summerside, PEI, which also offers the service to other areas in the province. It finished building the network at the end of September, although it must add more relay points to pass on the wireless signals and reach the whole area.
One of its new clients is Steve Howatt, president of New Glasgow-based Atlantic AgriTech Inc. Broadband is making his agricultural research firm more efficient;.
it now takes only seconds to send a file that used to take up to 20 minutes. “I couldn't imagine going back to dial-up, and it's only been three months,” Mr. Howatt said.
There are various wireless broadband technologies and the quality can vary greatly, said Jupiter Research analyst Joe Laszlo.
Speed and security can be problematic, said Miles Lee, a vice-president at telecom consultant Adventis. “It's better than having dial-up,” Mr. Lee said. “But it's not the ideal solution.”
One major hurdle is getting the so-called line of sight, say communities with wireless broadband. Antennas on a house or business must have a clear view of the transmission tower.
