Sunday 21 November 2010

Goulais (Buttermilk) Cell and Broadband Site

The Goulais (Buttermilk) site is now physically in location on the ski hill. Viewed from the parking lot, the tower is just to the left of the chairlift. I notice the cell and broadband antennae are in place but I could not detect any microwave antennae or see an equipment shelter. (The base of the tower was out of my line of vision.)

There was no cell signal coming from the tower on Sunday, 21 Nov 10 but I am hoping it will be activated as part of the Bellevue/Heyden project, if not before.

Once activated, the cellular and broadband coverage in the Goulais area will be improved markedly.

Residents in the Goulais area  may wish to contact the Tbaytel service desk at 1-800-264-9501 to register for the service or see http://www.tbaytel.net/residential/internet/connections/highspeed/regional_wireless.shtml for more details.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Bellevue and Heyden Sites Update 18 Nov 10

The Bellevue and Heyden broadband (high-speed Internet) sites  and the Heyden cellular site have been delayed once again. The unofficial new date is early December 2010.

In response to my queries, Tbaytel advised me on 18 Nov 10 that they are experiencing delays on the retrofit reinforcement work for the MTS Allstream owned Bellevue tower. The retrofit is necessary to allow the mounting of the microwave dishes needed to interconnect the Heyden tower into the Tbaytel backbone network proving access to the cellular mobile switching centre (MSC) and the broadband (high-speed Internet) point-of-presence (PoP).

The reinforcement project has two consecutive phases:

a. Work to meet the MTS Allstream requirements; and

b. Work to meet the Tbaytel requirements

The MTS Allstream work is scheduled for completion on 26 Nov 10 at which time the Tbaytel work will commence. Tbaytel did not provide an estimated completion date but I estimate the work may take up to two weeks.

Once the Bellevue tower is reinforced, microwave dishes will be mounted on the both the Bellevue and Heyden towers, tests conducted and the locations put into service.

Once one sees microwave dishes on the Heyden tower or receives strong cell phones signals from the tower, the work will be completed. While the work is being carried out, there may be disruptions with the cell signal from the Bellevue tower.

Monday 15 November 2010

Tbaytel Website Layout Changes

Tbaytel has changed their website layout and modified their logo and name style to Tbaytel by dropping a couple of capital letters.

The revised site also provides details about the relationship with Rogers and the provisioning of 3G HSPA service in the Tbaytel service area.