The Ontario government has a program designed to provide funding for the purposes of building broadband internet infrastructure in rural communities. The Rural Connections Broadband Program has earmarked millions of dollars to build new infrastructure, which will bring high-speed Internet to communities where low population densities preclude the construction of more traditional networks (such as cable).
This is great for users who, until now, have only been able to dream about leaving dial-up behind and joining the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the solution to rural internet involves either unreliable satellite installations, or line-of-site cellular towers.
I can say from experience that the line-of-site towers work great but they are only able to service a limited number of users. Service providers don’t want to admit they are over-selling their towers resulting in dropped connections and complete outages for their subscribers. Trees are another problem; much of rural Ontario exists within bushland, so unless homeowners are willing to shell out for 90-foot towers on their home, they still may not get to count on their Internet.
Although, I will admit, the cost of a tower would be far less than the cost of laying underground cable.
