The investigation into solving Stettler’s Internet shortage continues, with town meetings with Telus and Shaw set for early April.
“I would like to take the gloves off and be very critical,” said Darrin Bosomworth of Artemis Computers.
Representatives from Telus don’t want anyone other than the town officials at that meeting.
Bosomworth, who has been dealing with the Internet problem for the past year, would prefer to have someone better-versed in the technical side at the meeting, but he believes the town is prepared.
“We’ve told them as much as I feel they need to know,” Bosomworth said. “I think, basically, the best information we can get will be what happens in these conversations with Shaw and Telus.”
Affected businesses are growing increasingly irritated with the Internet shortage.
“The Internet is definitely slower than it is in town,” said Jen Henderson, who works in administration for Brennan Auto Body Repair Ltd.
The biggest issue for her is that if the Internet cuts out, the debit machine defaults to the phone line, which is much slower.
Brad Wohlgemuth of Auto Trust said that the business has experienced Internet problems since it opened six years ago, but that it’s become worse in the past three years.
The software that the business uses requires a continuous Internet connection, which isn’t possible in that location. Within that software, users sometime have to wait 15 to 30 seconds between clicks, which Wohlgemuth said is “very time-consuming.”
Henderson isn’t satisfied with how the town is handling the problem. “It almost seems like it’s swept under the rug,” she said. “Until somebody complains about it, they’re willing to do nothing.
“Earlier, they (the town) didn’t seem to realize the scope of the problem and so not much happened.”
Henderson added that the town seems to understand the issue and how much it affects people.
There are at least two problems to solve: geographic and capacity issues. The fastest expanding parts of town — in particular, the east-industrial area — don’t have the infrastructure for reliable Internet service. As well, Stettler’s Internet providers — Shaw, Telus, and Xplornet — have more customers than their systems can sustain.
The capacity issue is relatively easy to resolve, and both Telus and Shaw have committed to working on that prong of the problem.
“Since the town and county have been involved, Telus and Shaw have been very open and forthcoming,” said Andrew Brysiuk, the director of technology with the County of Stettler.
Based on Telus and Shaw’s estimates, Brysiuk expects to see the capacity issue resolved within three to six months.
Aubrey Brown, the executive director of the Stettler Regional Board of Trade and Community Development, said that Shaw has decided to start a process called “node-splitting.”
When a system is over capacity, the Internet provider can split the node and put some of customers on a second node. That is designed to improve congestion and is supposed to speed up the Internet service.
Bosomworth said that Shaw has been promising the node-split “for some time,” but failing to deliver.
Brown didn’t have a definite timeline for when the split might be completed.
The geographical issue is more difficult, because there’s a higher cost involved in improving the infrastructure.
Neither Telus nor Shaw has committed anything firm to resolving the problems, town advocates say.
Representatives from the town and county, among others, met with representatives from Axia to discuss bringing fiber to the premises (FTTP).
FTTP is a system of fiber-optic cables that extend right to homes and businesses, and the main advantage is that FTTP is a lot faster than what Stettler has now.
“We’re really excited for the possibility,” Brysiuk said. “It would bring an incredible level of service to the town of Stettler.”
But it’s not cost-effective to bring FTTP to lower-density areas, such as the east-industrial area that needs it the most from Stettler.
Brysiuk added that if Telus and Shaw can’t find a solution to the geographic problem, the town and county are committed to resolving the problem in another way.
“It’s too big of a problem not to commit to,” he said.
And while Brysiuk and Brown are confident that the issue will get resolved in a timely manner, Bosomworth is more reserved.
“My fear is that the problem will not be resolved for quite some time,” Bosomworth said.
“In my gut, it’s telling me six months to a year before we see any kind of improvement.”