Feature Article October 7, 2004
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Addington Highlands Council, Oct. 4, 2004High Speed proposal comes to Addington Highlands Councilby Jeff Green
Karen Fischer, the Economic Development Manager for Frontenac County, crossed a geographic boundary this week, joining Ralph Misener of RAMTelecom in a presentation before Addington Highlands Council.
A task force devoted to bringing on high speed internet to North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, working with RAMTelecom, a provider of the satellite backbone for service throughout the Canadian north, has identified Northbrook as a potential host for a pilot project for the service.
The innovation that might make this satellite-based service more attractive to consumers than the systems that have been around for a few years, is the ability to share a single connection among a group of users. The consumers can be spread out over up to a 10 km radius depending on the topographical conditions, bringing the cost to the consumer down significantly.
The geographical challenges here are probably even greater than in Northern Canada, Ralph Misener told Council, and I know that a fiber optic system [which is available in urban, and some rural areas] is not an option for this area. Weve come up with something that shouldnt be a drain on taxpayers.
RAMTelecom has partnered with Internet Horizons, an Internet service provider based in Napanee and Kingston, for this project. Tom Eldridge, the President of Internet Horizons, arrived at the meeting about 15 minutes into the presentation. He presented pricing information for residential and business use of the service.
He said residential service will involve an up front cost of $595, which covers the cost of a satellite receiver and three months of free access, followed by a monthly fee for service that ranges between $40 and $100, depending on what level of service is required.
In a subsequent interview, Eldridge said that for the base price of $39.95 per month customers would receive a connection speed of 256 kilobytes per second (kbs) with a maximum monthly flowthrough (a combination of downloads and uploads) of 250 megabytes. For $59.95, the speed will be 512 kbs with a maximum flowthrough of 500 megabytes per month. For most high speed users, who surf and do downloads an uploads on occasion, Eldridge said the $59.95 package would be suitable.
The cost for businesses is $795 up front, which also includes three months free service, and then a monthly cost of $60 to $130 depending on how much access the business needs.
In order for Interent Horizons to enter into a given market, they require between 5 and 30 subscribers to buy into the service, according to their website.
Are you going to go out and sell this? Reeve Hook asked of Fischer, Misener and Eldridge.
Ralph Misener responded by saying that once the councils have been approached, We will be setting up public meetings to promote the service.
There is another proposal that would bring the service online more quickly. As Ralph Misener explained, If a township or a business wanted to bring this service about, they could enter into a lease-to-own arrangement to purchase the equipment needed to start up the service. This would cost $500 per month for 36 months, and would come with three free connections.
This proposal led to some confusion. Reeve Hook asked if that meant a commitment of $500 per month plus all the other costs previously mentioned.
No, Ralph Misener said, it would be the entire cost. The lease-to-own proposal on the equipment is a way to set up the system quickly, without having to wait until enough people are signed up. The guarantee of $500 a month is enough for us to set up the service. To make a profit, we would then have to sign up enough people to make a business case for ourselves.
The range of the system is also a question mark. Whether a signal can be sent from the location of the satellite receiver to a given location will determine whether that location will be a target market for the service.
That determination will have to be made by Internet Horizons, Ralph Misener said. It might be possible to reach the township office in Flinton from a pod in Northbrook, but Internet Horizons will have to make that determination, Misener concluded.
Internet Horizons will be doing radio mapping in both the Northbrook and Plevna areas soon to determine what the range of the system can be.
Karen Fischer, who was joined at the meeting by the new Economic Development Manager for Lennox and Addington, Holly Kew, said that her office was trying to find funding support for a project in the Plevna area. She said she may also be working with Holly Kew to seek funding support for a joint project for Lennox and Addington and Frontenac Counties.
Confirmation of the Eastern Ontario Economic Renewal Fund, an Industry Canada program that will create a $600,000 pool of money to be spent in each County, which Fischer sees as a possible source for support for these kinds of projects, is expected later this month.
Reeve Hook thanked Karen Fischer, Ralph Misener, and Tom Eldridge for attending.
Other council items: Official Plan Approved
Three years after starting to work on it, the Addington Highlands Official Plan was presented to Council as a completed document. It was accepted unanimously and will now be forwarded to the Provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs for final approval. This process is supposed to take weeks but will probably take six months, Reeve Hook said, but in the meantime I suggest we maintain the momentum and keep the Official Plan committee together, and begin work on a comprehensive zoning bylaw, without which the Official Plan has no teeth. It will take about two years to complete a comprehensive zoning bylaw. The committee has indicated it will stay on and will begin working on the zoning bylaw.
Hall rental
The North Addington Spiritual Outreach sponsored an event at the Flinton Hall on September 24. They were billed $100. Last year they held a similar event and were billed only $50, and they requested a fee reduction, Deputy Reeve Lorraine Berger told Council were going to need some sort of policy on this.
I think we are going to run into a problem if we dont have a written policy. The Recreation Committee should look at this ASAP, said Reeve Hook. The mater was deferred to the Rec. Committee.
EOTA agreement not in place Andy Anderson was expected at Council to discuss a proposed agreement between AH and the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance about the use of some unmaintained township roads as connecting routes for ATV trails, but he did not attend the meeting. Councillor Bill Cox, who attended an EOTA meeting with Anderson recently, said Its not as simple as allowing them to use our roads. They want payment as well. They want $1500. We need answers to two questions What roads do they want to use? And what insurance is in place? Reeve Hook pointed out that the roads EOTA was looking at using are off limits for ATVs because they are not maintained township roads.
I dont think at this point we are even close to entering an agreement with the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance, Bill Cox concluded. Cindy Cassidy of the Trails Alliance will be attending an upcoming meeting of the Economic Development Committee.
Doctor tour yields possible results
An initiative of AH and North Frontenac, in conjunction with Dr. Tobia of the Northbrook Medical Centre, which saw representatives of the two townships attend five doctor search events, in Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Guelph and London has been very positive, Reeve Hook said. Several summer intern enquiries came out of it, and there were two solid leads for a permanent doctor. One of the doctors will be touring the Northbrook Centre. The total cost of the tour was $2197. Addington Highlands committed $1,000 towards it, North Frontenac $500, Central Frontenac $250, and the township will approach Dr. Tobia, who said he was willing to contribute financially, to fund the balance.
To do a show like this in five different cities, I think it was money very well spent, Reeve Hook said.
