Internet In Alberta - Infrastructure, Politics, & The Last Mile

[thedigitaldoctor]

Discussion started in a different thread; thought I'd start a dedicated one explaining/discussing how the internet works here in Alberta.  Please let me know if anything in this post is wrong and I'll change it (please provide a source of some sort).  Feel free to copy this format to start a thread for your own province, territory, state, country, etc.

 

Backbone:

Bell owns most of the fiber connecting urban locations and rents it to the other ISPs (though they do own some of their own fiber, it's not nearly enough).  The only other major backbone provider is Axia, also known as SuperNet.

 

SuperNet:

SuperNet was/is an Alberta government project meant to connect rural communities.  Low-to-no cost fiber connections were made available to schools, hospitals, libraries, and government offices.  Axia (a European company) was hired to operate the network (they operate several other government fiber networks around the world).  They also allow local ISPs to rent connections from their communities to the nearest exchange.  Costs are usually close to what the ISP will have to pay one of the incumbents for transit on the other end.  This effectively doubles what the ISP will have to pay for it's wholesale connection.

 

Incumbents:

The major wired ISPs in Alberta are Telus (ADSL, FTTP), Shaw (coax), and Eastlink (coax, FTTP).  The major cellular internet providers are Telus, Bell, and Rogers.  The only satellite provider is Xplornet.

 

Rural WISPs (Wireless ISPs):

Most rural communities and the surrounding areas are serviced by at least one WISP.  These companies rent a connection from Axia to the nearest exchange, then rent a connection wholesale from one of the major wired ISPs.  "That's stupid; why don't they just connect directly to a wired provider in the nearest community?!?"  I'm glad you asked.  Our politicians certainly haven't.  At least not in a way that actually changed anything.  The major wired ISPs will not allow any WISPs to connect directly to their networks in these small communities, forcing them to effectively pay double for their connection.  See the "SuperNet" section above.

 

Telus:

Telus uses ADSL with some FTTP in large centers (Edmonton, Calgary).  From what I'm able to find, the fastest speed Telus currently offers via copper is 25/5.  Telus copper infrastructure mostly consists of AGT and BCTel lines.  More information on that here: http://about.telus.com/community/english/news_centre/company_overview/company_history

 

Shaw:

*under construction*

 

Eastlink:

*under construction*

[FX-9590]

Well I have to admit I had fun reading this, good work so far. 

[sgloux3470]

Tangentially related: me and my roommate pay $80/month for unlimited data + pic related.  Telus only recently started enforcing their data caps at the beginning of this year, before we were paying nothing (part of our lease deal) for roughly 50% slower.   

 

How does this stack up to other local providers?  Probably won't change it while I live here, but if I move in with my girlfriend I'm curious as to what the best options are for providers in the area.

[vanished]

I'm not paying the bills so not certain but I think it's around $60/month and it's supposed to be 30 down.  Time to have another (seemingly monthly) chat with them...

[sgloux3470]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm not paying the bills so not certain but I think it's around $60/month and it's supposed to be 30 down.  Time to have another (seemingly monthly) chat with them...

The actual speed will almost NEVER match the advertised one.  It's always sold as "Up to".  Ours is supposed to be 35 Mbps I believe. (Or maybe 40? not sure)

[vanished]

9 hours ago, sgloux3470 said:

The actual speed will almost NEVER match the advertised one.  It's always sold as "Up to".  Ours is supposed to be 35 Mbps I believe. (Or maybe 40? not sure)

Back when our plan was 10 Mbps we always got the full speed.  Lately there's been a lot less of that...

[thedigitaldoctor]

My parent's house.  Paying for 1.5/1.  Local WISP (SpeedTest isn't showing the correct name).  I should also mention that they're paying $50/month for this.

Edited March 22, 2016 by thedigitaldoctor
added cost