ORCnet Update - Rural High-Speed Internet Service - Coming Summer 2007

On June 1, I received the following newsletter from Chris Cope of ORCnet:

It has been a while since my last ORCnet bulletin, and although most major milestones in the project are expected later in the summer, I wanted send out a quick update now. I am delighted to report that steady progress has been made since the City of Ottawa named Barrett Xplore as its preferred private sector partner to deliver high-speed Internet to rural Ottawa, on March 28, 2007. Much of this has been behind the scenes as Barrett Xplore and City staff have been hard at work fine-tuning the final network design needed to deliver broadband at affordable rates.

Once the formal partnership agreement with Barrett Xplore and the City is finalized in mid-June we will be busy with preparations for a successful roll out this summer. By this fall residents will finally receive access to this much-needed service.

For Ottawa, Barrett Xplore will use two technologies to deliver 100% rural broadband coverage - fixed wireless and satellite. Barrett Xplore will rely mostly on fixed wireless systems, where a tower beams a signal to and from a receiver mounted on the consumer's property. But, in cases where topography or foliage makes this impossible (estimated to be less than 5% of rural households), a small satellite dish - 67 cm - will be used to deliver satellite broadband service to those hard to reach consumers.

The needed fixed wireless towers are being installed over the next few weeks. The locations for new towers were chosen very carefully to minimize impact on the community. The towers are between 30 meters and 45 meters high. In comparison many of the towers that cellular telephone companies use are much higher at 75 to 90 meters high. Barrett Xplore has tried hard to make use of existing towers, even silos, and more than half of the required sites will not require construction of a new tower.

The costs to the consumer will be very close to that of urban Internet service providers, but will depend somewhat on whether a resident can use fixed wireless, or will require a satellite installation. Fixed wireless packages start at $29.99 per month. Basic installation costs for the wireless service are $149 with a two-year contract and $99 with a three-year contract. Barrett Xplore will offer a heavily reduced fixed rate of $199 to cover the costs of satellite installation for the few customers who will require that service. Satellite packages start at $49.99 per month.

If you are interested in learning more, visit Ottawa.ca/rural. If you want to sign-up for this new service, visit www.xplornet.com and click the Ottawa link for detailed information. Barrett Xplore will be in touch to provide updates and installation information. Your friends and colleagues without Internet access, can call Xplornet at 1-866-841-6001.

Chris Cope
ORCnet Coordinator