Skip to content

Data stream not luxury

Dear editor,

Dear editor,

When the CBC broadcasting tower burned down in 2009 and took my only two channels with it, I asked for it to be fixed.

The CBC said no way; we can’t afford to but we are going digital in 2011. The CRTC said ask the CBC, we are a regulator.

Well it’s 2011, where is your digital plan CRTC/CBC? I’ve been told that a digital signal will not work going through the trees when they blow around. Wonder if trees blow around in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island much? So the new Over the Air digital signal will be a bust, too.

I live where there is no cable. I live in the forest and have no clear access to any satellite.

I was lucky enough to be the last person within range in this Dove Creek neighbourhood to receive ADSL at a very paltry degraded rate but better than dial-up.

All those beyond me have to use those expensive and ineffective USB stick cellphone things at usury rates. We all deserve high-speed Internet.

If I want information I have to use the Internet to get it. Surfing for TV news is not fun. If I want to research information a lot of it comes in PDF files, which have to be downloaded to be inspected.

When I participated in my local government’s Regional Growth Strategy it took lots of data. It all adds up. This is not a luxury in Canada.

I have an account with a local reseller and it gives me 100 GB of traffic. I use NetMeter and I see that I have never used less than 30 GB per month with peaks over 40 since I got this ADSL connection.

A 25-GB ceiling is a cash grab by the Big Boys as the ceiling is too low. It’s all over the Internet how the costs of providing these services work and it isn’t by the bit.

They gouge Canadians with their exorbitant cell phone rates. No one else in the world pays so dearly. Now they want to do it with the Internet.

Tell them to put up or get out of town and let someone else handle the traffic.

Grant Gordon,

Comox Valley