Feds say all N.W.T. communities have high-speed internet, residents disagree

The federal government announced this week that every community in the Northwest Territories now has 4G cell service and high speed internet, but some community members aren't convinced.

"Even though they're saying it's high speed internet, it's not really high speed," said Rocky Norwegian Sr., mayor of Tulita.

The announcement was in celebration of a 5-yearproject, completedat the end of September 2017when Wekweeti received 4G cell service.

Northwestel invested about $230 million inthe project, which improved mobile, telephone, and internet services for communities in the N.W.T., Yukon, northern B.C., and Alberta.

Norwegian said theinternet speed is definitely better than it was a year ago, but he's still not fully satisfied.

He said it's not fast enough for him to use his Android TV box, which would let him watch Netflix.There's just not enough power to support that kind of streaming.

The main reason: residents in the community donot currently have access to a fibre optic line.

• Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link brings opportunities, challenges to N.W.T.

What is 'high speed'?

High speed internet is defined by the CRTC as 0.256 megabits per second (mbps). Northwestel is providing residents in communities with satellite internet access with fivembps download speed and onembps upload speed.

Those numbers get faster depending on the type of internet. For example,Deline has access to a DSL network and gets 15 mbps download speed and one mbps upload speed.

In Yellowknife, residents can get packages with download speeds up to 250 mbps because it'sconnected through a fibre optic line.

This means residents are getting high speed internet, according to the CRTC's definition.

Some residents in Deline, Colville Lake, and Gameti shared their internet speeds with CBC.

Northwestel saidif anyone is experiencing internet speeds that are slower than the package they are paying for, they should call the company and they will work to solve the problem.

A spokesperson for the company said it's committed to working with customers to get them the services they are paying for.

There are numerous factors that could influenceinternet speedincluding the number of devices using the internet, and how the device is connected to the internet.

'It would just spin and spin and spin'

Kathy Pelletier, a resident in Colville Lake, said she can manage to take online classes with her internet service. She can also use Facetime, although at times it can be quite choppy.

Pelletier pays about $65/month for an internet package that advertises a maximum download speed of 2.5 mbps. The fastest package, at 5 mpbs, costs about $230/month.

But watching TV shows online is an issue. She said she can typically watch a one-hour show every couple of days.

"Everytime I'd pick a show on Netflix it would just spin and spin and spin," said Pelletier. "It just wouldn't stream."

She said a lot of people bring big hard drives full of movies to Colville Lake to avoid having to stream them.

Pelletier said she doesn't usually bother with streaming or downloading movies anymore, and instead opts for reading, exercising, and taking online courses.

The federal government recently announced that it will be investing over $4.6 million to bring fibre optic infrastructure to Jean Marie River.

Northwestel is also working towardbringing the communities up to the CRTC's goal of 50 mbps download speed and 10 mbps upload speed.