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Rogers LOS Internet

2K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  racerrunner 
#1 ·
After many years of great service from Mountain Cable(Hamilton) for Internet service, they were sold first to Shaw, then recently to Rogers.

This past Sunday we were informed that our now provider, Rogers will not repair issues with their tower and equipment so that our Internet isn't interrupted during any type of weather event. In fact we were told by the service tech and Customer Service that we should look for another Internet provider as Rogers wishes to shut down the system.

That would be easy if we were near a cable system. We will never see cable, fiber or any of those types of service as we are about 4 miles from town. Its not like there is multiple wireless Internet providers here.

So, what do we do when a multi-million dollar company says we bought a service but not interested in maintaining it?.
 
#2 ·
This was an issue for customers in non-cable or DSL areas several years ago when Rogers and Bell shut down their Inukshuk partnership service. They basically want to reduce their costs while increasing prices for wireless internet service...and continue to 'hoard' spectrum which they don't intend to use for new services.

It's possible that they may offer some sort of deal for customers transitioning off legacy networks for service on their LTE network. Though generally you'll pay more for this service than your current wireless internet.

There are some alternative wireless-ISPs operating. You may wish to research which WISPs serve your area and get pricing details. Though, as you mention, few WISPs are available due to the aforementioned spectrum hoarding issue that exists with the big players.
 
#3 ·
Well as you suggested I have done some looking around for other providers in the area. We have a company coming out in February(backlogged) to do a site survey to verify that the signal is strong enough. Their closest tower is 10 miles away.

If it isn't, I suggested that they could build a transmitting tower here on our land as many of my neighbors are on the same system as we are and will need to find a new service.

Just a thought, could the providers be waiting on the lure of government money to pay for the expansion of rural Internet? If I read the press releases correctly the money for the expansion is for system upgrades to existing fiber networks. That is of no use to us as fiber will never be extended outside of the town limits. We can get Bell out to fix the decades old buried phone lines sometimes.

One may think that in this era of connectivity, with Internet viewed as a required resource IE government ministries, departments, banking all gravitating to using online services exclusively that there would be a push to provide access.

At least in this area, not so much.
 
#4 ·
Oddly, it's areas like yours--just outside of towns or cities--that often face the greatest challenges procuring telecommunications services. Government subsidies for internet services generally go to communities with no DSL, cable, fibre, cellular, or WISP internet access, not semi-rural areas with some (albeit costly) options.

Hopefully the WISP you contacted is able to offer you service. Good luck.
 
#5 ·
Just an update...still having problems with service. Latest was that the tech can out on Thursday and broke off the locking bolts to affix the mast to the tower, then promptly left leaving the Internet off once again. Splendid!

In mid February the alternate provider did come out, did a signal survey and as expected the signal was too weak to provide a reliable service.

We recently learned of a local provider which is locating WISP towers in many small communities in the county, they think we may be close enough to a tower to get a decent signal.. the saga continues.
 
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