WELLINGTON COUNTY – With so much of everyday life now operating online, access to reliable internet has become more important than ever.
In 2016 the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission, which controls prices big telecom providers can charge smaller competitors for access to their networks, declared internet an essential Canadian service.
The federal government has also acknowledged the crucial role internet access and reliable speeds has in Canadians’ ability to communicate, buy and sell, get an education and have access to efficient medical care.
Over the past seven years, the feds have poured billions of taxpayer dollars into bridging the urban-rural divide by improving access to high-speed connectivity.
Under Canada’s Connectivity Strategy, the government aims to expand infrastructure capable of handling at least 50 Mbps of download speed and 10 Mbps of upload speed to 95 per cent of Canadians by 2026.
The pandemic has moved life even further into the digital sphere, creating a virtual line between those with and those without access to reliable internet, especially in rural areas like Wellington County.
During a June 9 meeting of the county’s social services committee, director of housing Mark Poste brought forward a plan which, if approved by council, could see WiFi hotspots installed throughout 17 affordable housing buildings in the county and nine in Guelph.
“We know that people are struggling to make some decisions about different bills that they need to pay, for rent, food and all of those things, depending on their income situation,” Poste said in an interview with the Advertiser.
Centre Street Court in Erin (Photo by Jordan Snobelen)
For those with low incomes, the cost of internet service and the trouble to get set up with a subscription can be prohibitive, if not impossible.
Poste said while some will need the service more than others, the goal is not to cater to each of the 1,009 units throughout the county’s 26 multi-residential buildings, but rather provide a baseline of service to allow everyone to participate in government services and the community.
“We’re aware people do struggle, and the need for that internet in our buildings for different services that are all going to online platforms is just becoming that much more prominent and we’re just trying to make sure that our residents have equal opportunities to participate,” Poste said, specifically mentioning the senior population.
Like a café with free WiFi access, the hotspots, or access points, would be installed in common areas within the affordable housing buildings, where residents can bring their own devices to access download speeds starting at 100 Mbps and upload speeds of 10 Mbps at no cost to the tenant.
Waterloo-based FoxNet Solutions, which already provides internet infrastructure for the county’s buildings, has been enlisted to install the 32 proposed WiFi access points at a cost of $2,880 per installation.
Some buildings in Mount Forest, Erin and Guelph are larger and have more than one common area, requiring an additional access point or two.
“We’re hoping that we would get it started over the summer, knowing that ordering supplies and stuff like that can take some time,” Poste said, with the hope of getting access points online around the fall.
The forecasted before-tax total of $93,886 to install all 32 access points would not impact the current 2021 budget with the funds coming from “existing COVID funding,” Poste noted.
Additional costs of upgrading speeds to match demand and monthly support (provided by FoxNet Solutions) would ring in at $28,500 per year — an annual expense not yet accounted for, needing to be added to the 2022 budget.
“The payback of our residents being able to communicate with friends or family or ourselves more effectively, communicate with doctors or any other service that they need is important to successful tenancy,” Poste said.
The committee approved Poste’s report as presented and the proposal is scheduled to appear before county council on June 24.
