High-speed internet finally an option for Beaver Point residents

Letters arriving at Salt Spring homes this week will contain the welcome and long-awaited news that broadband internet service is finally available along Beaver Point Road and other small roads in the south end.

“As of today the plant is active,” said Shaw Communications’ sales manager for the Gulf Islands, Gord Snell, last Friday.

“Around 350 addresses have been identified as those we can offer access to full broadband service in the Beaver Point area.”

Snell said people living close to the road with easy access to communication lines are those who will be receiving offers of service this week. A number of other households, located further back on properties or on some of the intersecting side roads, will need further work involving hydro poles. Those residents should be able to sign up for service in two to three weeks.

“That’s probably the best news story for the south end,” said Ken Lee, a south end internet activist who moved to Brinkworthy near Ganges before his efforts paid off.

“We called it dial-up purgatory — your kid would come home from school and Google something and your phone service would be disconnected for two hours. So I’m so glad. I’m so happy for those people.”

The new service covers the area heading west from the Fulford Inn and extends all the way to Ruckle Park. Snell said Shaw is currently studying the feasibility of connecting Isabella Point, with hopes of installing the necessary infrastructure in the next year.

Roland Road residents already have access to Telus high-speed service.

The project comes as the result of a longstanding campaign Lee initiated in 2006 as president of the South Salt Spring Property Owners and Residents Association. Lee set up a petition at Patterson’s store and sent the results to both Telus and Shaw.

Shaw responded to the interest by mapping the area and calculating the cost of wires and poles, but determined at an estimated $700,000 the expansion would be too expensive to recover costs.

Lee said he had given up when he learned about Broadband Canada’s Connecting Rural Canadians Program in 2008. The $225-million program was intended to expand broadband coverage across the country within three years.

Lee and south-end neighbour Ashley Hilliard spearheaded a new petition asking then-MP Gary Lunn for help in securing the government funding. Lunn announced in 2009 that the campaign for a private/public partnership with Shaw was successful.

The completion date to qualify for funding was set at December 2011. Snell said Shaw applied for an extension to finish testing its new infrastructure.