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Internet sevice needs update

Sointula resident unhappy with the level of service available.

Dear editor,

When I first signed up to the internet in 1999 the choices locally were either Island Internet or Cape Scott Internet. They were only dial-up providers; that was all that was available back then.

In 2004 Telus offered a little better service with fewer restrictions on it; still, dial-up was the only form available at that time at Sointula. A short few years later high-speed Internet became available, first by Ragged Edge and then by Keta Cable.

The early fall of 2009 I was able to get hooked up to Keta Cable which I gladly accepted as it meant getting much faster than dial-up service. I have been with them ever since.

In recent months I and others I know have noticed a fair bit of inconsistency in the service. By June or thereabouts they were supposed to have dealt with these issues and the service was supposed to be running much better and smoother.

The past couple of months, at more than a few times during the day, service has been very slow and many times you either lose your connection or it stalls out on you. From what I have researched there seems to be an issue with the wireless part of the service bringing the signals to and from the community of Sointula.

Some people have mentioned that the equipment is fairly dated. I'm not sure about that, but it seems very possible. Since we do pay a decent amount each month one would expect a reasonable quality of service for your money. Talking to Keta from time to time, they seem to indicate they are financially strapped to offer the service properly. I believe there is a solution available to them if they wish to pursue it. I believe that both the Provincial and Federal Governments have some funding available to providers who are providing Internet services to remote areas.

Keta Cable should be able to approach both levels of Government and maybe some service clubs, too, to secure funding if they actually need it to upgrade this antiquated equipment that seems to fail when local people use the net more.

They may at least be entitled to some tax breaks as long as they honestly present their case so it has no signs of abusing the system or milking the Government funding that is available out there.

I believe Keta Cable is a decent outfit trying to provide the community of Sointula with decent internet service, but is maybe afraid to have to ask for help. Sometimes we all have to humble ourselves and do this; we all need to work together to solve this issue.

It is important that they get on this as soon as possible as they risk losing lots of customers or potential ones as well.

I am not out to paint a black picture of Keta Cable. I just think they need to get to the bottom of this issue before it ends up costing them all their local Sointula customers. People would like to see this service work as it should when they go to use their computers or equipment.

Yours Truly,

David Lyon