January 2024 update - full update and Media release (prepared by Mayor George Comrie)
In 2021, the Ontario Government initiated a series of initiatives with the goal of bringing reliable, affordable, high-speed internet access to communities throughout the Province by the end of 2025, using a variety of technologies including fibre-to-the-premise, wireless, and low-earth-orbit satellite.
Two of these projects will benefit Whitestone:
- Cogeco Connexion will be providing fibre-to-the-premise for subscribers along the Hwy 124 corridor through McKellar and Dunchurch, including those on Manitouwabing and Whitestone Lakes.
- Bell Canada will be providing fibre-to-the premise for subscribers along Hwy 520 from Dunchurch to Ardbeg, including the south shores of Gooseneck and WahWashKesh Lakes.
August 31, 2021
High speed fibre-to-the-home Internet is coming to an estimated 2,130 homes and businesses in the communities of Waubamik, Lake Manitouwabing, McKellar, Hurdville, Fairholme, Dunchurch and Whitestone Lake.
In collaboration with the Federal, Provincial, and local governments, we are thrilled to deliver our high-speed Internet services to homes and businesses within the Municipality of Whitestone and Township of McKellar. This project is using a Fibre-to-the-Home solution capable of delivering speeds of up to 1 Gbps, enabling services comparable to major urban centres. This investment will concretely contribute to reducing the digital divide between urban and rural areas in Ontario, which is essential for driving economic growth” says Matt Wickham, Vice-President and General Manager, Ontario, Cogeco Connexion.
Link to August 31, 2021 Media Release
Areas in green are intended to be served by fiber to the home internet.
Many Whitestone ratepayers have expressed concern about the unavailability of affordable internet service with adequate performance in our area.
To assist our efforts to advocate on your behalf for improvements to broadband internet service, we are asking you to complete an internet performance test on your local internet service using the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) speed test. This test will provide useful data on the typical upload and download speeds and latency you are experiencing, that will be compiled (anonymously) by CIRA and used by our provincial and federal governments to determine which areas are most underserviced and deserving of support.
It is important that you use the CIRA speed test at https://performance.cira.ca and not some other (vendor-supplied) speed test. The results of other speed tests will not be made available for planning purposes.
Please be sure to do the test at your residence in Whitestone.
Thank you in advance for helping us to address this critical infrastructure deficiency.