CRTC Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report Covering 2010

The CRTC issued their annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report for 2010 in July 2011. The following extract from the executive summary is published without comment. The full summary is available at this link and the download of the whole report is available at this link.

Telecommunications

Growth in the telecommunications industry was driven by newer services, including broadband Internet services and wireless services.

Broadband Internet

The CRTC’s report found that 77% of the 13.4 million households in Canada had an Internet subscription, with many subscribers preferring higher download speeds. The percentage of households with an Internet connection featuring download speeds of at least 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) jumped from 62% to 70% in one year. Additionally, subscriptions to Internet download speeds of at least 5 Mbps rose from 44% to 52%.

A broadband Internet connection allows users to stream and download high-quality audiovisual content, and access online government, health and educational services. With an average of 5.5 Mbps, Canada ranked second only to Japan in an international comparison of Internet download speeds.

During 2010, the average residential broadband user downloaded 14.8 gigabytes per month, which is the equivalent of viewing more than 20 movies.

Wireless services

In 2010, advanced wireless networks that support smartphones and other devices that connect to the Internet extended to 97% of the Canadian population. Adoption of wireless services continued to grow as the number of subscribers increased by 8.5% to 25.8 million. This contrasts with the number of subscribers to home telephone services, which decreased by 0.9% to 12.6 million.

New competitors began making inroads in the major Canadian markets, capturing 25% of new subscribers. Although they offered mostly prepaid subscriptions, their competitive presence contributed to a reduction in the average revenue per user from $58.81 to $57.86 per month.

Local North Sault Tbaytel Agency Placed on Hold – 02 Aug 11

Due to unforeseen circumstances, it became necessary to remove the information about The Brick outlet in Sault Ste. Marie selling the Tbaytel Rocket Hub immediately and handsets in September.

We are hopeful there will be a quick and favourable resolution to the problem.

In the meantime, The Brick outlet in Wawa remains a Tbaytel hardware outlet for both the Rocket Hubs and handsets.

Wawa
41 BROADWAY AVENUE
WAWA, Ontario P0S1K0
(705) 856-4252

Echo Bay/Hwy 638 Cell Site Active 26 Jul 11

The new Bell 3G/4G  HSPA became active on the afternoon of 26 Jul 11.
Details about what equipment will work with the site is at the previous blog about the tower.

Goulais (Buttermilk) Canopy Service–22 Jul 11

See this entry for updated information.

Tbaytel continues to experience problems with the Goulais (Buttermilk) Canopy fixed wireless site. At the moment an antenna problem is not allowing the site to transmit or receive the wireless signal at the necessary strength. This problem does not affect the either of the cellular sites – the CDMA (Tbaytel/Bell) or the HSPA (Tbaytel/Rogers). They continue to operate normally.
Unfortunately, due to a clerical error the local Canopy installer was informed the site was operational. On a few occasions, including at my residence, he was unable to receive a strong enough signal and thus could not install the service. I am working with Tbaytel to determine if some user sites require a re-rest. 
For the technically inclined, the receive signal has to be stronger than -80 dBm and preferably in the -75 dBm range.
Tbaytel anticipates it will be 2-3 weeks before they resolve the problem.

Lack of Bell HSPA Coverage in North Algoma

As most readers are aware, the technology used to provide cellular telephone and cellular based broadband (high speed) Internet in the North Sault/North Algoma  area and the whole SSM to TB highway corridor in general is a bit of a mess to say the least with Rogers HSPA only (No GSM) available and Bell CDMA only (no HSPA) available.

I recently wrote to my mid-level management contacts at Bell Canada expressing on behalf of the people of the North Sault area our grave concern with the lack of Bell HSPA coverage in the North Algoma District. [Editorial Comment: Experience has taught me it is often better to discuss problems with middle management personnel who can actually do something than to try and get through the firewall of assistants that usually surround the CEO.]

While Bell acts to improve the coverage in the East Algoma and West Sault areas, as explained in the linked blogs, the north seems to be a bit of a forgotten area in terms of overt activity to improve the service with the sole exception of the Deferral Account roll-out in Goulais River scheduled for 2013.

From other sources, I do know Bell management is looking at the situation in considerable detail and I am optimistic that some form of corrective activity may be in place before the aforementioned Deferral Account program.

Goulais (Buttermilk) Canopy Update 15 Jul 11

According to a report from Tbaytel today, they have not yet activated the Canopy fixed wireless site at Goulais (Buttermilk) and it is not available for customer service. There are unspecified "technical issues" involved with the site. Tbaytel did not provide a date as to when the site would go operational.

There has been a little confusion over the site as some of the local installers may have received misinformation about the site being available. In addition, the site is emanating a very weak signal that can give the false impression the site is working.

I will provide more information as it becomes available.

Only Batchawana and Searchmont Left for HSPA

With the activation and launch of the Ryan site this month, only the sites at Batchawana and Searchmont are left to receive the HSPA overlay. I have no dates at this time for when this will occur.
This map extract from the Rogers Coverage map shows the approximate coverage area (without Ryan) in red that has 3G/4G HSPA coverage. The major 3G/4G HSPA coverage gap between SSM and Sudbury will be filled by the project previously announced in this East Algoma new site blog.