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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Monday, May 21, 2012

CTV: Dial-up Internet still a reality for many Canadians

According to this article on CTV's website [http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120521/dial-up-internet-still-a-reality-for-canadians-120521/], an estimated 250,000 people across Canada still use dial-up to access the Internet. No shocker that most of these people live in rural locations.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

And, many of us are delivered dial-up speeds by high speed providers on a regular basis. :-(

May 24, 2012 12:56 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And at high-speed prices.

May 29, 2012 8:47 am  
Blogger Vishnu said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

May 31, 2012 2:15 am  
Blogger Vishnu said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

May 31, 2012 2:16 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I have the Bell Turbo Hub service and it's been so bad lately that we've started using dial-up again. I'm buying a directional yagi antenna in hopes to help the incoming signal. On the very light brighter side the dial-up connection I have is free. I've stopped paying a few years ago but it dial-up still connects. I called the company about a year ago to make sure they weren't billing me through a credit card I might have lost track of but they couldn't find my account. :-)

June 11, 2012 11:12 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nonny on June 11: Just had a Wilson antenna installed for my Hub and the difference is like night & day. Now have a stable connection, no more DNS errors. At present,the installation is temporary, permanent to be done later in the week a with heavier-duty cable, thus will be even better signal strength. Check the Bell site for approved antenna installers in your area.

After enduring the W35 for 17 months, I talked Bell into swapping it for the Netgear or they'd be losing me as a customer. Even without the external antenna, there was a big improvement.

Now if Bell would only do something about their data prices/caps for the Hub ;(

June 12, 2012 9:23 am  
Blogger Chris Spencer said...

I agree with Anonymous w.r.t. the Yagi antenna. I finally installed the one that I bought a month ago. I have the Netgear MBR1210 Bell Turbohub.

Today, with the internal antenna, the signal strength was -103 dBm. Once I connected the Yagi and pointed it in the general direction of the tower (~7km NNW), signal strength improved to -87 dBm. I re-enabled the internal antenna and the sig strength was -93 dBm, and then I once again enabled the Yagi, and sig strength was -87 dBm.

Your improvement may vary. I cannot get my Yagi high enough to clear the 60-foot maples on my property aqnd the wooded lot next door, and I'm not sure what impact such foliage has on signal strength. Also, it is overcast and raining today. The walls of my 150-year-old house are ~12 inches thick.

I bought my Yagi antenna through a 3rd party company on amazon.ca. AFAIK, it is a Wilson Yagi.

June 12, 2012 3:13 pm  
Blogger Chris Spencer said...

I should point out that an increase of 6 dBm (from -93 to -87 dBm) may not seem like a lot, but it's HUGE, given that a 3 dBm increase represents a doubling (2x) of signal strength. So, a 6 dBM increase is a 400% improvement in signal strength.

Conversely, a 3 dBm reduction is signal strength is equivalent to dividing the power in half.

June 12, 2012 3:23 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Initial euphoria has subsided somewhat :<. From -85 & -87, now holding at -91, but still more consistent connection than internal antenna, have only had DNS late afternoon. TestMyNet results vary wildly.

I read that pines soak up signals like a sponge, don't know about maples, tho. My neighbour tells me he loses his vehicle's Sirius radio when he turns into his heavily pine-treed yard. With deciduous trees, you should expect some improvement once the leaves drop.

June 14, 2012 8:22 am  
Blogger Chris Spencer said...

Today, in the bright sunshine, I'm getting -83 dBm. Same maples. :-) Maybe now that the leaves aren't covered with rain drops, it's allowing more signal to get through (less dispersion).

I just read an interesting article -- perhaps written by an end-user -- which echos a lot of what I've been observing. Check out:

http://www.adnetalgoma.ca/HSPA%20Hardware%2017Jan%2012.pdf

June 14, 2012 12:36 pm  
Blogger claytonfarm said...

When I had xplornet fixed wireless (on unlicensed 900MHz band), it was slow but unlimited data. When that service failed due to interference (possibly from Hydro One smartmeter???), no one would but the effort into diagnosing the actual problem. I switched to a Bell Turbo Hub. The change in speed was dramatic and the connection is good all the time, but I quickly discovered my usage exceeded the 3G/month data cap in about 5 days. So no more using youtube like a TV. 3G is fine for email and facebook and web surfing, but forget video streaming when the over use charges add up at $15/GB.

I still keep my National Capital Freenet dial up account active for wireless outages, but so far with 5 months of the Bell service I haven't needed it.

Xplornet is now offering a 4G fix in Almonte with basic packages that include 50GB. I've heard it is working fine, but I'm now locked in to a 3 Year contract with Bell.

If anyone knows how to break a cell contract without the $400 penalty I'd really like to hear about it, IMD.bh9z at ncf.ca

thanks, David

September 22, 2012 8:27 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

I switched to a Bell Turbo Hub. The change in speed was dramatic and the connection is good all the time, but I quickly discovered my usage exceeded the 3G/month data cap in about 5 days. So no more using youtube like a TV. 3G is fine for email and facebook and web surfing.
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November 20, 2013 3:56 am  

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