On 2021-03-15 1:55 p.m., Chris Audet wrote:
I'm not a telecom guy, but is this really a concern?
Neither am I, but I would say that yes, it is.
In 2019 the CRTC forced the big ISPs to allow smaller ISPs to resell their networks.
That's only part of the equation.
It's not only about what you pay - or the speeds you get - but increasingly about the underlying infrastructure and its upkeep. You need to look forward before it comes back to bite you.
A million players renting infrastructure from companies that don't give a flying expletive about that won't make it any better, quite the opposite, actually.
I was not getting more bandwidth back in Saskatchewan, but I did have fibre to the home. That means I could, and probably would - eventually - get more. I assume SaskTel did not have a big pipe going to a city with 10k people back then, but the infrastructure is already there for when they want to do so.
Here, I am on Coax. Which limits my upload considerably, although my download is great. I don't have the knowledge to say how far Coax can possibly go, but there must be a reason why new deployments are all fiber.
Infrastructure is hard, expensive, and does not conduct to great shareholder value, our quintessential 21st century religion. So companies tend to avoid doing it unless they must.
That's why Bell MTS relied on copper, and Shaw on Coax. Still, because Shaw is not a big player nationwide, it did have the incentive to grow on markets where it is established. Bell, not so much, especially in Western Canada (a blip in the radar, population-wise).
Now, imagine what will happen when you bring another Eastern fat telecom cat to play around these parts... hell, even small-ish town Ontario was neglected by all of them infrastructure-wise. I shudder to think about what what they'll do to Manitoba.
I hope I am wrong, though. Still, 4th place *has* to care, 2nd place? Nah, just join the table, let's have some drinks.
Kind regards, Alberto Abrao