The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My Public Portal About2017-01-12_Council_Public_Info received at Meeting_Email_Armsrong, G (2)Pam_ Myra From: Sharon Church Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2017 10:30 AM To: Pam Myra Subject: Fwd: another year, And still no highspeed for Rural N.S Pam: Please pass on the letter below to council and if you want to include it in the package for the internet issue. Sharon SHARON CHURCH District T: 02.275-2281 M: 02-277-1301 Begin forwarded message: From: Greg Armstrong Date: January 6, 2017 at 7:10:07 PM AST To: Sharon Church <schurchnchester.ca> Subject: Re: another year, And still no highspeed for Rural N.S Hi Sharon , thank you for taking the time to read and also reply, feel free to share my email with council , I also sent a copy to Denise Rafuse as well , I am currently in talks with Bell Aliant and awaiting a return phone call from a senior rep regarding the community of Windsor Road and high speed internet . I am also preparing a social media petition for all rural residents effected by the lack of high speed internet in our respected communities, and for seniors without a pc and would just like to have cable T.V hence freeing them from a satellite dish and ridiculously high subscription fees per month , there will also be a model petition form to print out and distribute so there voices can be heard as well . Alas, with my connection speed being so slow and poor preparing these things takes a incredible amount of time and patience . Sincerely : Greg Armstrong From: Sharon Church <schurch@chester.ca> Sent: January 5, 2017 7:39:37 PM To: Greg Armstrong Subject: Re: another year, And still no highspeed for Rural N.S 4 Consider the environment. Do you really need to print this email? On Dee 16, 2016, at 1:42 PM, Greg Armstrong Dear Sharon In an ever expanding tele communication infrastructure in Nova Scotia, one thing stays the same in rural communities... NO high speed internet or fibre op. Why? The demand is there, people need and want it, so why are municipalities, governing bodies, and representatives doing nothing to alleviate rural communities in Nova Scotia, considering the ever growing need for high speed internet in todays society? The excuses range from geological locations and limitations, not enough population to make it economically viable, or the simple scape goat of "It's not our problem, it's John Doe's." or what I like to call blame tag. In the end the fore mentioned are just that, excuses. With todays technology there is no reason why cable, high speed internet, or fibre op could not reach rural Nova Scotians. It all comes down to money, it always does. Rural communities are not asking for much, simply asking for equality of services. As technology and high speed internet grows, rural communities are left years, if not decades in the past while being gouged outrageous prices for a symbolince of high speed internet... which could not be further from what the Sharon Church District #7 Council r Municipality of Chester THE ,MUNICINALITY 01 PO Box 369 CHESTERTel: 151 King Street, Chester, NS, B01 110 902-275-2281 Cell: 902-277-1301 Web: www.chester.ca 4 Consider the environment. Do you really need to print this email? On Dee 16, 2016, at 1:42 PM, Greg Armstrong Dear Sharon In an ever expanding tele communication infrastructure in Nova Scotia, one thing stays the same in rural communities... NO high speed internet or fibre op. Why? The demand is there, people need and want it, so why are municipalities, governing bodies, and representatives doing nothing to alleviate rural communities in Nova Scotia, considering the ever growing need for high speed internet in todays society? The excuses range from geological locations and limitations, not enough population to make it economically viable, or the simple scape goat of "It's not our problem, it's John Doe's." or what I like to call blame tag. In the end the fore mentioned are just that, excuses. With todays technology there is no reason why cable, high speed internet, or fibre op could not reach rural Nova Scotians. It all comes down to money, it always does. Rural communities are not asking for much, simply asking for equality of services. As technology and high speed internet grows, rural communities are left years, if not decades in the past while being gouged outrageous prices for a symbolince of high speed internet... which could not be further from what the conservative government promised in 2007, it has been 10 years and rural areas are no further ahead. As an example, I will use my own personal information. I personally need 3 seperate providers: Phone(Aliant) caller ID/long distance - $100.00/month Internet(Eastlink)(0.5-0.1mbs) - $70/month TV(Shaw) bare minimum channels - $55/month That is a total of $225/month VS one provider (not available to rural areas) Eastlink's (Phone/Internet/TV) Phone - Caller ID/Long Distance Fibre OP - 100mbs TV - 30 channels plus HD channels for $140/month A better example: Eastlink's Rural Broadband Internet - $70/month 0.5-0.1 mbs) VS Eastlink's Fibre Op -$85/month 100 mbs) Areas with fibre op are paying $15 more for a service that is 200x better than what we are receiving in rural areas. Explain to me how this is remotely conducive to equality. Education for children in our smaller communities is also being hampered by this blatant disregard of necessity, that some take for granted. LE, high speed internet. Homework, research, and projects are being done via the internet. That being said, how can a child or an adult for that matter do any homework, projects, or research without a reliable, fast, internet source? ... the simple answer is, they cannot. While other children living in surrounding areas such as Chester can and will excel due to the fact that they live in an area with the fundamental necessities to do so. Property values and resale opportunities for home owners in small communities, such as Windsor Road and MANY others are being affected as well. Not to mention the success rate of starting up a small business without internet support, making it virtually impossible to succeed. Rural areas are losing it's popular due to this fact, that we do not have equality... the same opportunities are not provided to us, we are treated as second rate citizens .. why ? Eastlinks CEO Lee Brag stated that it is not economically viable to run cable/high speed internet in rural communities with a set parameter of people. Therefore lowering the chances of population in these said areas, hindering the chances of growth, making it a vicious circle. If high speed was available to rural areas it would help them grow and become stronger communities. Touching back on the excuse of geological location, Kaizer Meadow Landfill located on Highway 14, Windsor Road has fibre op. Bypassing a significant amount of homeowners that have next to no internet... why? That has to be the biggest insult and total disregard to those people living in the community of Windsor Road. We want action, we want equality. We are sick of false prophets and PR nonsense. Communities have waited more than 10 years ... We need our elected officials to fight, We NEED RESULTS or a new governing body needs to be established. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/high-speed-intenet-rural-eastlinl<- 1.3735352 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/rural-high-speed-internet-nova- scotia-consu Itant-s-report-1.3645982 Sincerely: Greg Armstrong