Gros Cap Area Added to Vianet Wireless Coverage Map

Update on 06 Jun  11. The wireless expansion is now complete and operational. My thanks to "Anonymous" for keeping me up-to-date on this expansion.

The Vianet website map is now showing the future coverage arc for the Gros Cap area.  No operational date is indicated. 

Additional details of the service can be found in this blog entry.

The Importance of a Safe Tower

I appreciate that there is frustration concerning the delays in the activation of the fixed wireless service in the North Sault area due to the time it is taking to retrofit the Bellevue tower to accept the additional antenna load.

However, the importance of ensuring that the tower is sturdy enough to support the load was recently presented on Manitoulin Island.

An account in the Manitoulin Expositor on March 09, 2011 by Michael Erskine reported the following:

“Violent winds toppled a key tower providing wireless Internet services to Wikwemikong and Sheguiandah recently resulting in a weeklong interruption in what has become a vital communication service. But the toppled tower quickly revealed that mechanical failure was just the beginning of the problems of web surfers in the affected regions.

“Manitoulin ISP operator Craig Timmermans provided the tower's services to the Internet provider OmniGlobe Networks and spent a frustrating week trying to determine how the damaged tower and equipment would be repaired.

"They really had too much gear on my tower," noted Mr. Timmermans, who said that he felt the loading of the tower played a role in its demise in the high winds.”

As understand it, in the Manitoulin case only Internet traffic was affected. If the Bellevue tower suffered the same fate, both cell and broadband service at the Goulais (Buttermilk), Heyden and Searchmont sites would also be loss.

I think we can all agree it is better to be safe than sorry.

North Sault Update 07 Mar 11

I debated long and hard about this posting due to the many previous disappointments. In spite of what Einstein said, I believe I still have my sanity so, as the messenger, I will give it a go.

My Tbaytel contact provided me with a detailed scheduled indicating the work that still needed to be done. This plan calls for system operational testing to be completed around the 08 Apr 10.

There are two critical path items in the plan:

1. The professional engineer approves and signs the engineering drawing so the reinforcing steel and mounting structure s for the Bellevue tower can be fabricated. This is scheduled for 08 Mar 11.
   
2. Weather does not cause a delay. Personnel have to actually climb and work on the three towers concerned - Bellevue, Goulais (Buttermilk) and Heyden – and personal safety will always be a factor.

It then becomes a matter of scheduling a user site visit by the Canopy equipment installer. This can be arranged by contacting Tbaytel Customer Service Customer Service at 807- 623-4400 or 1-800-264-9501 or Email: customercare@tbaytel.net

Cell phone users can enjoy the improved coverage immediately. 

New Cell Site in Wawa Area

A new Tbaytel cell site serving the area south from Wawa along Hwy 17 is now operational. The tower is located at the Toke Mountain Ski Area.

Initial reports indicate that there is service improvement in the area. There is a good cell signal at the landfill site, all of Mission now has service, and there is a signal along Harbour Road up to Tremblay Flats Road.

The Latest on 3G and 4G Terminology

This entry updates my previous entry concerning the impact of HSPA only sites. It addresses recent changes in the generation or G nomenclature, in particular the use of 4G, LTE and WiMAX.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations sponsored regulatory body for such things, held the World Radiocommunication Seminar 2010 (WRS-10) in Geneva, Switzerland the week of December 06, 2010.

One of the decisions was that the collective name for the next generation of wireless services will be called International Mobile Telecommunications - Advanced (IMT-Advanced) and have the two components “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced”

In a related announcement, it approved the use of the term 4G for LTE or WiMAX technologies and “other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation.”

This legitimized a practice the major US vendors started using a year ago as they increased their data speeds with HSPA and HSPA+ (LTE) or EV-DO Rec C (WiMAX) technology and started to identify the service as 4G in the their major advertising campaigns with a note in the fine print that it was using enhanced 3G equipment.

Canadian carriers continued to use the more traditional terms. This led to some amusing entries in technical forums and newspaper comment sections by officious sounding experts bemoaning the fact that Canada was stuck in 3G while the US was already using 4G. In reality, Canada was ahead on the US in deploying the advanced technology but adhering to the internationally approve terminology.

Once the ITU announced the new guidelines, the Canadian carriers jumped quickly onto the bandwagon. These two press releases by Telus, one in 2010 and one in 2011 illustrate the point. In 2010, the 42 Mbps download was called Dual carrier HSPA+. In 2011 Telus touted the same system as 4G. I would expect the other major cell vendors will be close behind. Barrett Xplornet is currently proclaiming their new wireless and satellite services as 4G.

Maybe the meant to be humourous Best Buy Super Bowl with Bieber and Osborne about a 6G phone may not be that far off after all.

North Sault Broadband and Cellular News 12 Feb 2011

Followers of the blog with an interest in the status of the North Sault broadband (high-speed Internet) and cellular service will by now be aware that the services are still not available.
The best I can report is I am receiving updates to the effect that the remedial work required by MTS Allstream on their Bellevue tower before they will approve Tbaytel mounting their equipment is taking longer than planned. The delays are attributed to engineering design work, engineering coordination and the weather. Much of this work is being done by third party contractors.
The Heyden and Goulais (Buttermilk) sites are ready. Once the tower reinforcement and the antenna mounting hardware work is completed at Bellevue, the necessary broadband and microwave antennas will be installed. The system can then become operational
The Bellevue tower is critical to providing service as it acts as the hub and spoke with links to the Goulais (Buttermilk), Heyden and Searchmont sites.
As Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Wishing to avoid insanity, I am not going to predict a new projected in-service date.
I am in regular contact with Tbaytel staff and will post any credible date they provide. In fairness, Tbaytel is somewhat at the mercy of the Bellevue tower owner, and their third party engineers, who has the final say on what can be mounted on their tower.
On a positive note, I received confirmation from Tbaytel that the 3G HSPA Rogers overlay project will be implemented in the Algoma District, including the North Sault area, this year. I will post additional information as it becomes available to me. See my blog for how it is working in other areas.

3G HSPA Broadband in South Algoma and West Sault

I have received reports that the Northland Consultant team has been extremely busy installing external Yagi style antennas and connecting them to customer provided Bell or Rogers data hubs. My understanding is they have done installations on St. Joseph Island, on the mainland along the St Joseph North Channel, the area north of Bruce Mines towards Rydal Bank, Echo Lake Road area and the area south of the SSM airport.

Once set-up, speed tests show a 3-5 Mbps download and 2-4 Mbps upload. I guess I had better be like the ISPs and state that these are samples only and your actual statistics may vary due to terrain, weather, local situation and other acts of the technology gods.

If you are near any Bell or Rogers cell site and want broadband (high speed Internet), you may want to give this a try.

For more information about HSPA broadband, see my blog entry.