Friday 4 May 2012

DSL Service in the SSM Airport - Pointes Area

There has been talk about DSL service being available in the SSM Airport- Pointes area. I also received a report about a resident getting a notification from Bell offering broadband (high speed) Internet service for terms that are identical to the entry level Bell DSL service.

Are the reports true – well, yes and no.

Low speed DSL service, that is 2Mbps download, is available in the Pointes aux Pins area, around the airport and some areas of Prince Township. It appears the service is not available in Pointes des ChĂȘnes and Nokomis Beach areas.

This was not a full-fledged DSL roll-out but rather a coincidental by-product of a copper wire refurbishment project in area. I remember receiving comments from residents of the area years ago about noisy phone lines and even loss of service in some cases when it rained so a refurbishment plan was definitely in order.

To see if this DSL service is available at your residence, get access to the Internet, go to the Bell website and use the software tool located just above the product descriptions to determine if it is available where you live.

As a reminder, the range of DSL over good copper lines is around 7 km cable distance from the Central Office (CO) which in this case is at the corner of Base Line Rd and Airport Rd. The use of a remote DSLAM (digital subscriber line access multiplexer) in an organized roll-out can service larger areas.

As far as can be determined, this DSL service is not part of or a replacement for the Deferral Account program in the area.

I have no new information at this time as to when the Deferral Account HSPA service will be available in the area except the previously announced 2012.