A NEW broadband service brings a different way to get internet to northern and rural homes.
Galaxy Broadband can provide internet to individual residences by satellite, says Broadband Canada project manager Perry Cook, who’s based in Prince George and looks after northern B.C. from 70 Mile House north.
The new service kicked off May 1.
Galaxy received a federal government contract with Industry Canada to provide high speed internet to under-serviced or unserviced homes in northern B.C., he said.
With that money, the company can offer a 50 per cent subsidy to residents, which helps lower their monthly cost for the system. The cost of installation is also subsidized.
The government pays the subsidies for the subscribers and it doesn’t go to Galaxy, Cook said.
Local installers will be hired rather than someone from down east, he added.
The company is starting to work with mining companies and run-of-river projects, both of which tend to be in the middle of nowhere but can still have satellite internet service.
The satellite internet dishes are about the same size as a TV satellite dish, he said.
The Galaxy satellite is focused on northern BC so the reception should be better than TV satellites based around the equator.
The satellite dish has been tested and worked in Stewart and McBride, both places with heavy cloud cover, he said.
“There was two years of testing before we got it (the government contract) and the first place I sent the road crew to [was] Stewart and McBride,” said Cook.
“It works in Stewart and McBride, [so] it’ll work anywhere.”
Since the dish is for each individual house, it’s not on the same line as many other residences as with cable internet and doesn’t need to have a line of sight, which wireless systems can’t work without, he said.
“The nice thing is our system is owned and operated on our own network,” he said.
The call centre is also the technical centre so if someone has a sales or technical problem, it’s possible to speak to one person rather than more than one person, he added.
Galaxy has been in business since 2002 and has always done broadband satellite internet, said Cook.