Cottagers in Manitoulin Island, Ont., will soon have the chance to upgrade their internet as construction on a new high-speed network for the region is now underway.
ROCK Networks started construction on the fibre optic network in mid-October, and the first group of customers can expect to gain access by early 2025, says Joe Hickey, the president of PomeGran, the company that owns ROCK Networks.
“When you go to your cottage, partly you’re trying to get away from things, but with life today, you still need to be connected,” says Hickey.
Cottagers can expect a significant improvement to their internet speeds, which Hickey says are currently limited to roughly 5- to 10-megabits per second. With the new network in place, people in the area will have access to packages offering 150 megabits, 500 megabits, and 1.5 gigabits per second.
The network can currently support a maximum of 25 gigibits per second, but Hickey estimates that the infrastructure could theoretically support up to 400 gigabits per second in the future. “What we are putting in will last for generations.”
The ROCK Network founder estimates that roughly 40 per cent of the properties in the area are cottages.
The fibre optic network will make internet service more reliable and better able to support larger groups of users, which Hickey says will be especially welcome for those who want to work remotely from their cottages.
Hickey says cottaging habits have changed since the pandemic, making high-speed internet more important than ever. “The cottage is no longer a weekend destination—a lot of people moved to their cottage,” he says.
Hickey says access to high-speed internet could also be an extra incentive for younger generations to get outside the city. “You want to make sure your kids come and enjoy the cottage, if they don’t have Wi-Fi, it’s like they’re on a starvation diet,” he says.
The new network will be open-access, meaning other service providers will also be able to use the network to provide internet to customers. Indigenous-owned service provider FirstTel has expressed interest in using the infrastructure, says Hickey.
While costs will vary by service provider and package, Hickey expects prices will start at less $100 per month—lower than current high-speed options, such as satellite-based Starlink, which costs approximately $150 a month.
The project has been in the works since 2019 and is being supported by the federal and provincial governments who provided $97 million dollars in funding. The project is being steered with local development in mind. Hickey notes that high-speed internet will also now be available to small- and medium- businesses in the area.
The provincial government has pledged to connect everyone in the province to high-speed internet by the end of 2025, while the federal government is aiming to have everyone in the country on high-speed internet by 2030.
This story has been updated to clarify that the project is run by PomeGran through its subsidiary ROCK Networks.
Related Story Why is this robot boat mapping the Great Lakes?
Related Story New study reveals potential pitfalls of going off-grid
Related Story New study finds owning an EV in Ontario will cost you more than in other provinces