I'm sure they will find a way to cut the usual suspects in so they can make their money without lifting a finger.<p>I spent a lot of time and money on a rural internet project in Canada. Every time we entered a community suddenly there would be a project from the local telcos and cable companies to wire up that one community. They would never do this proactive, just reactive and unless we threatened to move in they would never lift a finger and continue to charge an arm and a leg for some ridiculously slow service.<p>These government sanctioned monopolies are terrible for Canada.
Plugging the site I just created that shows current (live) starlink coverage: <a href="https://droid.cafe/starlink" rel="nofollow">https://droid.cafe/starlink</a><p>As a Canadian I'm pretty excited about the potential for good internet outside of the cities and well beaten paths.
I have ranted about the terrible quality of consumer telecommunications in Canada for years - I am terribly excited. I have lived in both the US and Canada, moving between both for the past 6 years, and I am always thrilled to use American providers.<p>Anecdotal data point: For a while, AT&T had an North-America wide plan for $~40/45 for month with 10G LTE with the rest being 3G. I kept this in Canada because there would be nothing close to this there - it was cheaper to use the American service.<p>I've always used my own phone with prepaid plans and the cheapest plans in Canada are awful compared to the cheapest plans in the USA. I also lived in the GTA, not some remote village.
>"I live in rural Ontario where there are no providers that can provide internet at a fast and affordable price," said Mahdi Hossinzehi, a resident of Cedar Valley, Ont., about 30 kilometres north of Toronto. "With fast, reliable and affordable internet, rural areas will benefit immensely economically, and a lot of younger people won't end up leaving for the city."<p>>Carol Jobity of Adjala-Tosorontio, just west of Barrie, Ont., is similarly supportive.<p>>"Please approve this," Jobity wrote to the regulator. "We're in support 100 per cent."<p>>Iqaluit resident Brandt Chu said he's in favour of the proposal because of how remote life can be in Nunavut.<p>I find it a bit amusing that 2/3 of the people complaining live in municipalities within commuting distance of Toronto. Surely CBC could have found comments from more than one Canadian who actually lives in a remote rural area, Barrie and Cedar Valley do not count. Those two areas would be better served by a wireless ISP, unlike truly remote areas which make up large swaths of the province.
I yearn for the day when our god-awful telecommunications industry finely catches up to the rest of the world. I just moved back from France, and its better keeping my French number’s international plan (18 euros a month for 30 gigs of data) then any competing canadian offer. Since I have a phone supporting dual sim, ill probably get the cheapest canadian plan I can just so that I have a canadian number.<p>If spacex wants to do this, I’m all for it<p>Edit: I know the article isnt targeting this, I just cant help but rant
The application was made in May: (look for "Space Exploration Technologies Corp.")<p><a href="https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/instances-proceedings/Default-Defaut.aspx?S=O&PA=T&PT=BITS&PST=A&Lang=eng" rel="nofollow">https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/instances-proceedings/Defaul...</a><p>Western Canada only has one rural ISP of note: Xplorenet. Competition would be a welcome change here.
That would be so wonderful, it is stupid how things are run currently and it so expensive for no good reason. I wish we had nationalized the internet providers a while ago. That would have allowed us to just write in the law that everybody should have access to the internet. Pretty much like electricity is run in Quebec. It works great, it's cheap and the government even makes money.
In my little province I recall fiber being run one summer in the early 1990s. I assumed it was future proofing for the Internet which most local people hadn't heard of yet.<p>But 25 years later there are constant political squabbles over why no ISP has followed through. Many plans and lots of money has been spent planning but then an election occurs.<p>The newly elected party exclaims the other guys had it all wrong and we need to start over.
I'll be interested to see how SpaceX tries to get the word out to rural Canadians once it launches. None of Elon's current companies have had to do any traditional marketing yet, but I suspect that they'll have to for this.
If they've started with orbits over Canada, what other countries can they serve with the same satellites?<p>My great circle skills are lacking, and looking at a globe it seems like a lot of water for the rest of the orbit.
Only <i>remote</i> Canadians, for now I think, in case some Canadians get excited (and didn't read past the headline). Not yet.<p>> Elon Musk's SpaceX has applied to offer high-speed internet to Canadians living in remote areas by beaming it to them via satellites.