Welcome to the self-proclaimed Rural Ottawa High-Speed Internet Blog. High-speed Internet access is virtually ubiquitous in the urban and suburban areas of Ottawa, but when I started this blog in 2005, only about 60% of the rural areas of Ottawa have coverage. However, even for rural citizens, high-speed Internet access is becoming as necessary as telephone service. Happily, high-speed coverage for rural Ottawa has increased significantly, and not only is coverage reportedly above 90%, many rural residents and businesses now have more than one choice of high-speed ISP.

This purpose of this weblog is to track news and events related to high-speed (broadband) Internet access in the rural areas of Ottawa and, to a lesser extent, in nearby townships.

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I've opened up this blog to allow anyone to post to it. However, I continue to moderate and will remove any inappropriate content, e.g. anything not related to high-speed internet access in the rural Ottawa, the Ottawa Valley, Eastern Ontario, and the Outaouais.


Thursday, July 21, 2005

XplorNet Installation Pricing Update

XplorNet has released an update on its high-speed two-way satellite Internet service. The announcements include equipment and installation costs, as well as discounts for signing up for a service plan before August 31.

The listed price for equipment is $699, which includes the 66cm dish and the modem. Installation cost is $199, although it could be higher in certain situations. Thus setup cost is $898 (I suspect taxes are extra).

XplorNet is also offering early signing discounts, depending on the service package selected. Firstly, they are waiving the $75 (annual?) system access fee for all packages (for the first year?). For its cheapest and lowest-speed (512Kbps down burst, 128Kbps up burst), which normally goes for $59.99/month, they are offering the first month for only $9.99. For its next fastest service (1Mbps down burst, 256Kbps up burst), the rate is regularly $99.99/month but will be discounted to $49.99 for the first two months. More details on these and other packages can be found here.

It should be noted that the service is not yet ready for deployment, but Digital City on Merivale Road is taking orders, which will be serviced on a priority basis.

My opinion is that these setup and subscription prices are well above the target prices listed in my definitions. By its nature, satellite Internet access tends to be very expensive. However, the prices may be within some peoples' budgets.

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