The Reality Of Rural Fibre Internet!

Most rural residents choose to live in that type of environment because they enjoy the relative quiet and privacy that country life provides. However, this type of lifestyle comes at a cost, a literal cost. Utilities are more difficult to come by, and definitely more expensive to access, if they are even available. Many of our rural roads did not even have access to hydro until the 1950's. Natural gas and sewers are pipe dreams for truly rural locations, and many rural residents in our area have to truck in water as functional wells aren't even a possibility for some. Which brings us to internet.

For some reason, there is a disconnect between ISP's and other utility providers. While people are willing to pay thousands of dollars to have other utilities installed or delivered, the general perception is, it should be inexpensive to access high speed internet service. To some degree, it is less expensive to provide wireless service to rural areas with standard customer installations costing a couple of hundred of dollars, but of course wireless service cannot provide as fast a service as fibre can. That is not to say that providing wireless service is inexpensive. It takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase and distribute the wholesale internet service; purchase and install the equipment required to create and feed the network; and of course staff the necessary personnel to administer, install and maintain it.

Which brings us to fibre optic cable internet which can provide 5 to 10 times the speed...at the same cost as wireless plans! Bruce Street has been successfully providing high speed wireless internet service to this area for over 16 years, but is always looking to the future to determine ways to improve our technology and reach. It is obvious that fibre optic technology is vastly superior to wireless solutions. However, the affiliated costs are exponentially higher as well. The main reason that the national service providers do not already provide a rural fibre service is because they do not deem it financially feasible. Bruce Street has a different view!

So how can Bruce Street consider fibre a viable option when its major competitors do not? Scale and economics. Major companies have massive overhead costs with capital expenses like extensive real estate holdings, huge advertising campaigns, diversified portfolios, and a large workforce, including high paid management and executives. They look at rural projects strictly on a return on investment basis and find that there is not enough population density to validate the infrastructure installation costs. Accordingly, there are many smaller companies across the country, like Bruce Street, that "infill" the rural spaces in between the larger urban centers.

Conversely, Bruce Street not only sees the rural customer as an opportunity, but providing service to this underserviced sector as the right thing to do! Smaller companies can be nimble as they have less overhead but more importantly, as locals ourselves, we are familiar with the region and understand its unique requirements. That is not to say that it is any less expensive for us to build a fibre network. The reality is, depending on the geography, it can cost between $25,000 to $75,000 per kilometer to install the trunk lines necessary to supply the fibre to rural residents! However, we are in this for the long run and the payback comes from providing a reliable service to our rural neighbours. As a comparison, Bruce Street is currently proposing to install fibre to various areas throughout our coverage area. We are currently targeting roads in our region that will front approximately 1,425 rural properties, of which only approximately 70% have serviceable residences. Essentially, Bruce Street is proposing to build a very expensive fibre network that will potentially service about 1,200 properties. Comparably, urban centers have hundreds or thousands of residences within a few square kilometers which is why the major providers only target high density regions.

The unfortunate biproduct of this urban centric mindset is the continued lack of support for the truly rural, or as they are known, the "last mile" residents. Bruce Street's wireless services service many, but certainly cannot reach all, of these isolated locations. The long term plan is to start installing fibre in the more densely populated rural centres such as Summit View, Rocklyn, Castle Glen or Swiss Meadows, and then spider out from there to service the properties in between. This will also enable us to provide wireless links to some of the true last mile residents that would be unable to be serviced by fibre due to geography and economics.

Finally, it is important to point out that Bruce Street receives no government funding or support. Yet we are able to compete with larger companies that have deep pockets, and initiatives such as SWIFT which has sucked up all of the grant monies that were available throughout Ontario. The sad part is that, for all of their posturing regarding supporting rural customers, neither of these groups are targeting the truly rural. As a matter of fact, it they succeed in securing all of the densely populated pockets, they will put many of the smaller companies out of business which will truly strand the last mile residents as neither have plans to wirelessly extend their networks.

Covid has highlighted the great divide between rural and urban connectivity as many residents have been forced to work, learn or entertain at home. Bruce Street is working on closing that gap. Furthermore, we take pride in supporting local community groups and functions, and provide local customer service. Shop local is more than a trendy slogan, it is also a valuable commodity when it comes to properly servicing our community. Bringing fibre to our entire coverage area is an ambitious endeavor but with continued local cooperation and support, we are confident that we can eventually service many areas that have been woefully underserviced for years.

New Ontario Electrical and Electronic Equipment Program!

The Government of Ontario has released a new regulation for Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016. The program started on January 1, 2021, under the oversight of the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (“RPRA”). This new Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) model, means producers of electronics and electrical equipment will be responsible for both collecting and managing their packaging and products once consumers are finished with them. This replaces the Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) program.

Under the new legislation, producers – including OEMs, brand owners, first importers and others – have the option of collecting and recycling end-of-life material or contracting these services to a registered PRO, like EPRA. Similar models are currently in practice in some parts of Europe and a few of the states in the US. Theoretically, the EPRA will help prevent electronics from ending up in landfills by providing Canadian businesses and citizens of Ontario access to secure and convenient electronics recycling options through over 2,500 drop-off locations.

While we at Bruce Street are proud to properly recycle, and dispose of its products, packaging and materials, we believe it is important that, you the consumer, are aware of such legislations as it may impact pricing on electronic products in the future.

Bruce Street Offers Streaming TV!

As a local Internet Service Provider, Bruce Street Technologies has proudly offered reliable high speed internet service to the Beaver Valley region of the Town of The Blue Mountains, Grey Highlands and Meaford areas for over 15 years, and is always looking for new ways to improve the rural online experience.

Bruce Street is pleased to announce we have added streaming HD television services to our offering! As technology advances, IPTV has improved drastically and is now positioned to offer a viable alternative to more expensive standard solutions like cable and satellite providers. These services often force users to bundle services to obtain “better” overall pricing, but in doing so, force feed hundreds of unwanted channels in obscure packages driving the overall pricing higher.

While streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple TV, etc. are quickly becoming the most popular entertainment viewing options, many people still want options for viewing local news, sports and community based programming. Bruce Street believes that users should be able to streamline their own viewing choices, at reasonable prices. Accordingly, we have partnered with Atop TV to offer packages that feature local stations for as low as $20, and a la carte optional channels for as low as $2 each!

And, instead of a clunky, overpriced set-top-box, Atop is an “app” that is available through the Amazon, Apple and Roku stores, and works on standard streaming equipment like the Amazon Firestick, Apple TV and Roku Android devices that can be purchased online or at regular retail outlets like Best Buy, The Source, Walmart, etc,

If you have any questions regarding the Atop TV set-up, programming or costing, please contact us at 519-599-3689 or info@brucestreet.com.

Thank you to everyone who has sacrificed by quarantining, self-isolating, physical distancing and working from home. Numbers in Grey-Bruce continue to be comparably low and that is primarily the result of the efforts made by everyone in our community to minimize the impact of the virus.

The Meaford Bruce Street office is open again from 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday. Please remember to continue to stay safe and respectful of others and we will all get through this together.

...the impact that Covid has had on internet use? Our average per user data usage has almost doubled since the pandemic affected our area last spring!
Between recommended closings and stay-at-home orders, many people and familes have been forced to work, learn and be entertained at home. Bruce Street is proud to say that our network has been able to successfully handle the increased capacity without any major issues, or price increases.

In-Town Internet
Solutions

While Bruce Street is best known for specializing in rural wireless and fibre internet solutions, we can also provide urban cable solutions.

If you live in an urban environment and are unable to get internet service, or are unhappy with your current provider, please contact Bruce Street to see if we are able to service your location.

Streaming
Television

Tired of overpaying for cable or satellite television options? Consider streaming IPTV as an affordable alternative.

Atop TV offers more flexibility in choosing channels and packages at a fraction of the price. Available as an app that can be downloaded and played on an Amazon Firestick, Roku or Apple TV device.

Bruce Street Technologies newsletter is a monthly publication that will include important information such as package introductions or changes, new access point announcements, and other topics of interest regarding our services. If you do not wish to receive this information, you can opt out by clicking on the "unsubscribe from this list" link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Copyright ©2018 Bruce Street Technologies Limited, All rights reserved.

Our contact information is:
Mail: 168 Bruce Street South, Box 1049, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
Office: 14 Trowbridge Street East, Meaford, ON N4L 1V9
519-599-3689 / info@brucestreet.com / brucestreet.com

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Bruce Street Technologies Limited · 14 Trowbridge St E · Meaford, Ontario N4L 1G1 · Canada