Last week I called Aliant to inquire about the cost to extend fibre internet from the driveway 300 metres down the road to our driveway, so that we could apply for the up-to-$5,000 payment the provincial government recently announced to help rural customers get decent internet service. Although we are in a neighbourhood where Xplornet supposedly has coverage, they can’t get a signal at our location. Eastlink is not available here either, so Aliant is our only option.
The agent I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about; she had never heard of this announcement. She had no information in her “corporate” messages, and she wouldn’t let me talk to a supervisor, telling me that her supervisor would have no more information than she had. She suggested I call back in a couple of weeks and perhaps there would be some information from “corporate” telling them what to do with this inquiry.
Although it’s lovely to see the government throwing more and more money at the “rural internet problem,” it doesn’t seem that it will accomplish much if the internet service providers can’t or won’t even react to the new programs. We are only 11 kilometres outside of the capital city and still can’t get decent internet speed.
Wendy MacKinnon,
Oyster Bed Bridge
