Many people love the idea of rural living in Dufferin and area especially since the beginning of the pandemic, are yearning for more room to roam.   Rural living offers so much like privacy, peace and quiet, maybe some room for animals but with every advantage there sometimes is a trade-off.  There is definitely increase in work load.  Remember the bigger the property, the bigger the investment in time to maintain.  However something that urban livers may not consider is internet.  Internet has become a basic necessity, especially over the past year as people have been trying to work from home and have children streaming classes.  Internet is no longer just for playing video games and watching Netflix.  Government has been talking for years about making reliable, affordable high speed internet available all across Canada but we are not there quite yet.

Mono Wireless

The saying ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ definitely holds true in this case.  Locally here in Mono, we have seen a private citizen figure out how to get high speed internet to him and other residents in the Mono area.  His company is called Mono Wireless and currently has three towers serving areas around the Mono water tower, Camilla and a portion of Blind Line.

Vianet

We recently had a listing in Adjala and the road was being dug up.  The homeowners explained that Vianet was expanding in the area.  After looking at the coverage map, a large portion of Simcoe now will have reliable high speed internet.  They also serve a large area of Caledon.

We have clients that fall in love with homes for sale, but due to the lack of affordable internet, they just cannot purchase the home.  This impacts a homeowner’s value.  High speed internet is a must for many for work purposes.  We have seen where people have paid for high speed internet through Bell but are very limited to its use due to the cost of data.  Here is a list of internet providers currently available in the Dufferin Area provided by Dufferin County.

Starlink

Another exciting development is brought to us by Elon Musk and his satellites in space. Starklink will be able to provide high speed internet to remote areas in Canada and USA. Currently they have pilot projects going on in remote north Ontario regions but later this month Starlink is to launch 60 more satellites into space.  These satellites will be closer to earth than any other giving greater strength and reliability.  Keeping with Elon Musk’s progressive thinking, Starlink has been working with astronomers with regards to the placement of the satellites to avoid satellite brightness and preserve the night sky. The set up looks very simple with purchasing the equipment and then subscribing to a monthly charge for internet.

Wightman’s

We have been talking only of rural areas but as an aside, you might not realize that all of Orangeville does not necessarily have high speed internet available either.  We moved our office to 685 Riddell Rd., Orangeville a few years ago.  The building is relatively new and did not even look into internet as being a limiting factor. Much to our surprise there was not sufficient internet to run our VOIP phones.  The cost to have Rogers run the line just a little further down the road was unrealistic.  It is nice to see that Wightman’s is currently installing fibre optic broadband here in some of the areas of Orangeville.  Looking at their pricing, they seem to be the most affordable and on a positive note, they are local so when you call for any service inquiries, you actually speak to someone local.

Times certainly have changed. I remember living in Amaranth when we first got married and we had dial up internet.  I could try to access the web and it would take so long that I could wash a sink of dirty dishes while the computer logged on! Now we expect (and NEED) internet NOW!  So maybe one positive from this Covid pandemic is the need for reliable, affordable high speed internet, will be available to all in the very near future.