In the wake of Bell Canada’s announcement last week of improved services in several district communities, there remains some confusion and demand for faster Internet.
“It’s nice stuff but I think we really need high-speed Internet and I don’t know when that’s going to happen,” said Emo Reeve Russ Fortier, who added as far as he knows, the service is available as announced by Bell Canada.
But his enthusiasm ends there as it is still not up to par with the technology of larger urban centres across the rest of the province.
“They’ve got stuff coming at us in a three-foot pipe and we’re trying to get at it with a straw,” he argued.
To date, there is no indication Bell Canada is planning to provide high-speed Internet access in the district although Caren Naismith, Bell’s regional director of community affairs and customer services, said she is prepared to work with district leaders towards that goal.
“I’ve had several conversations with community stakeholders and all I’ve been able to commit to is to work with them but as of right now, there is nothing on the table,” said Naismith.
A big hurdle in establishing a point of presence for high-speed access is the cost but Naismith added the potential exists for a partnership with other contributors.
Meanwhile, although the phone service upgrades in Nestor Falls, Devlin, Emo, and Atikokan have now been completed, some confusion seems to exist as one Emo resident has been told the service is not available.
When Lincoln Dunn, a web designer for the Fort Frances Times, called to ask if the could apply for Bell’s ISDN Microlink for his Emo home, he was surprised to discover he could not receive the service even though he lives only a few blocks from Emo’s main business area.
“When she called me back, she said, ‘Yeah, it is available but they have to do a feasibility study.’ Then she called me back and said ISDN is not available where you are,” Dunn recalled.
A spokesperson at Bell’s ISDN Microlink service centre explained that any customers have to be within a cable length of 4.5 km from the switch–a distance which cannot be determined by the physical distance between the switch and nearby buildings because of possible twists and turns in the cable.
“It’s very distance sensitive, it’s not just a basic ‘Emo has ISDN in it.’ Every person who wants ISDN has to give their address to do a feasibility study,” explained a Bell rep.
“If it’s too far away from the switch, it won’t perform the way it’s designed to,” she added.
Being told he lives to far away to receive the service doesn’t sit well with Dunn, who was first told ISDN wasn’t available, then told he could subscribe, told he had to wait for a feasibility study, and finally once again told he was not able to receive the service.
“There’s no way, there’s no way. I mean it takes me 15 seconds to get on the highway,” he argued.
Naismith was surprised Dunn could not access ISDN.
“It seems very unlikely because you know where Manitou Rapids is and they get ISDN,” she said. “There are certain limitations to that type of technology.
“We check their location and it would be customers that are quite outside the hub of Emo that wouldn’t get it.”
The Bell upgrades follow the Highway 11/71 corridor, and the same service is scheduled to be available in Fort Frances as of March 26.
Besides ISDN Microlink, Bell has promised Rainy River District communities other services such as Centrex Data, ISDN Megalink, Centrex Voice, and Voice Mail-Call Answer.
Fort Frances Times
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