It’s so disappointing when you live in a region that has had multiple providers with even some that are offering decent services and competition to the monopolies, only to be bought by the monopolies a few years later.
For a while, I lived in a rural region in Quebec with a “big” town of 5000 people surrounded by small villages. Because the big telcos were considering the villages too small and were always late to offer any service in the region, multiple small providers (and even a cooperative) started offering phone (and later internet) service in their own village. So around 2010, when FTTH was not even offered in big cities, the small municipality of Béthanie, with 300 people and no village, had FTTH from its local cooperative.
Unfortunately, from the 4 local ISPs I knew growing up there, they have all been bought by Bell, except the cooperative. And villages that had plans to get FTTH now get nothing because they’re not important enough anymore.
My parents still live on a rural road in that region and surprise, the monopolies are not offering broadband, but the local cooperative is offering them FTTH. It’s always been a bit surreal that my parents living in the middle of nowhere have FTTH before me in Montreal. The power of cooperatives!
It’s so disappointing when you live in a region that has had multiple providers with even some that are offering decent services and competition to the monopolies, only to be bought by the monopolies a few years later.
For a while, I lived in a rural region in Quebec with a “big” town of 5000 people surrounded by small villages. Because the big telcos were considering the villages too small and were always late to offer any service in the region, multiple small providers (and even a cooperative) started offering phone (and later internet) service in their own village. So around 2010, when FTTH was not even offered in big cities, the small municipality of Béthanie, with 300 people and no village, had FTTH from its local cooperative.
Unfortunately, from the 4 local ISPs I knew growing up there, they have all been bought by Bell, except the cooperative. And villages that had plans to get FTTH now get nothing because they’re not important enough anymore.
My parents still live on a rural road in that region and surprise, the monopolies are not offering broadband, but the local cooperative is offering them FTTH. It’s always been a bit surreal that my parents living in the middle of nowhere have FTTH before me in Montreal. The power of cooperatives!