Internet in (Canada's) North is broken

Internet in the North is broken: Geek Life By Andrew Robulack

RT @northern_clips: @pmharper @leonaaglukkaq NOTE: #Internet in Canada's
#North is broken http://ow.ly/h6JfM @yukon_news http://ow.ly/h6Jqc
#CDNpoli

[excerpt]

"...The "cloud" has become central to the way we use the Internet.

We now put as much information online as we draw down, if not more.

Whether it's sharing photos on Facebook or storing files on Dropbox, the
contemporary Internet is a two-way street.

But the infrastructure in the North doesn't support this behaviour. We are
very limited in terms of being able to upload information.

And if we push those limits, the whole thing goes to pot. Simply put, the
Internet in the North is broken.

Unfortunately, our incumbent monopoly service provider, NorthwesTel, seems
to have no interest in fixing it. I'll give you a real world example of
what I mean.

The other night, my son and I were watching Puss in Boots on Netflix.

We'd been out that day and had taken a lot of good photos that we wanted
to share with our family and friends around the world. So I pulled out my
MacBook and started uploading the photos to Flickr.

Abruptly, the movie stopped playing. And it would not start again until
the photos had finished uploading.

In fact, I had to reset NorthwesTel's modem before we could get back into
the groove with Banderas's suave feline character.

This sort of thing happens regularly, which is especially frustrating
because I pay through the nose for Internet service..
[...]
So what's the fix? Simple. NorthwesTel should remove or significantly
increase upload restrictions on all Internet accounts.

At the very least, the company needs to adjust their services to allow for
simultaneous high speed uploads and downloads.

After all, when we pay the exorbitant rates we do for internet access and
a small ration of data, there really shouldn't be any restriction on how
we choose to use it.

As long as NorthwesTel is handicapping us arbitrarily, however, the
internet in the North should be considered broken...."

Andrew Robulack is a writer and consultant specializing in using
technology and the Internet to communicate. Read his blog at
http://www.geeklife.ca