My Broadband

Update: I have real broadband!. Read on for details.

Getting broadband connections to folks "out in the woods" is not an easy thing. Certainly neither governments or telcos have much interest in committing their resources to us. Sure, they say they really, really care. But, the bottom line is that unless they have political or profit motive, they are more concerned with the folks in the major urban centers. I don't mind this and I understand it. I just hate the BS they spout about being concerned with rural citiziens. Oh well, that's not going to change. Ever.

I live in the wonderful, rural community of Wynndel, BC, Canada. We're about 12 miles north of the US/Canada border; a few miles south of beautiful Kootenay Lake. If you are into precision: Latitude 49.181614N, Longitude 116.5406W. Both cable and ADSL internet connections are available in the nearby community of Creston ... but not here.

I struggled for many years with a dialup connection. And even went so far as to subscribe to a second telephone line. As you know, all this was less than ideal.

I started a bit of movement here to get someone, anyone to get us high speed. And I totally failed. First of all I pressed our governments and existing ISPs. And we did get a of of promises ... but, no beef.

Next, I got a satellite connection. Not the greatest option, but it worked.

On October 11, 2007 the Wynndel Internet guru, Roger Bennett, came by and installed the wireless system. I take back all my nasty comments ... this sucker rocks!

Before all this ended up on such a nice note, I published a rant detailing why I didn't think the local society would work and my reasons for bowing out. A lot of this is still valid. And if you're in another rural community without broadband ... all I can say is that I wish you luck. You'll need it!

Some Historical Pages

A Short history of how all this came about.

A list of current ISPs who can't or won't give us service.

A number of people and companies I've talked to over the past year. Mostly "good guys".

A list of the various government and quasi-government agencies that I have learned to have no respect for. Caution: a bit of a rant.

Some miscellaneous links which may be useful.

History of these pages.

Check back here often. I'll do my best to keep the information current for so long as there is activity. Mail me if you want tell me how intelligent or stupid I am.