01 - January 14, 2021 Connectivity Committee Agenda Package
CONNECTIVITY COMMITTEE
MEETING
Thursday,January 14, 2021
2:00 p.m.
Meeting to be held electronically.
Agenda
1.Approval of Agenda
2.Adoption of December 17, 2020 Minutes
3.Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof
4.Planning Session #1:Made In Elgin Solution to Elgin's Connectivity Challenges,
Chief Administrative Officer
5.Correspondence – Kristi Rockley’s Answers to the Internet Connectivity Survey
6.Date of Next Meeting
7.Adjournment
Meeting:Connectivity Committee
Date: December 17, 2020
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Webex
Attendees: Tom Marks, WardenandCommitteeChair
Dominique Giguère, Councillor and Committee Vice Chair
Justin Pennings, Community Member
Mike Andrews, Community Member
Regrets: Joshua Kiirya, Community Member
Shawn Southern, Community Member
Staff:Julie Gonyou, Chief Administrative Officer
Jim Bundschuh, Director of Financial Services
Cecil Coxen, IT Manager – Township of Malahide
Katherine Thompson, Supervisor of Legislative Services
Carolyn Krahn, Legislative Services Coordinator
DRAFT MINUTES
1.Call to Order
th
The Connectivity Committee met this 17day of December, 2020. The meeting
was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
2.Approval of Agenda
Moved by: Justin Pennings
Seconded by:Mike Andrews
RESOLVED THAT the agenda beapproved as presented.
Recorded Vote
YesNo
CouncillorYes
MikeAndrewsYes
JustinPenningsYes
WardenMarksYes
40
-Motion Carried.
3.Adoption of November 19, 2020 Minutes
Moved by:Mike Andrews
Seconded by:Councillor Giguère
Resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting be adopted.
Recorded Vote
YesNo
CouncillorYes
WardenMennillYes
JustinPenningsYes
CouncillorMarksYes
40
-Motion Carried.
4.Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof
None.
5.Summary and Highlights: Canada’s Rural and Remote Broadband
Conference Fall 2020 – Councillor Giguère, Vice Chair
Councillor presented a summary of Canada’s Rural and Remote
Broadband Conference Fall 2020. The Conference was divided into two (2)
streams, policy and technical, and Councillor and the Manager of IT
attended the following sessions:
The New COVID Reality Technical and Policy Impacts on Rural Canada
Connectivity doesn’t have to be a contest: Alternative Funding Models
The Good,The Bad and The Ugly Part 2 Becoming a Community ISP
International Community Models, Lessons for Canada
Fibre to the Home 101 – Network Overview
Broadband Gap Analysis Identifying the Size of the Problem
Innovative Micro-Projects for Sustainable Broadband
Beyond Connectivity Bridging the Digital Divide
6.Summary #2 of Mountain Connect Virtual Conference, Legislative Services
Coordinator
The Legislative Services Coordinator provided a summary of the Mountain
Connect Conference, which included sessions focusing on three distinct tracks:
Community Development, Emerging Technologies, and Wireless.The second
report on the Conference provided a summary of the following two (2) sessions:
Digital Government Strategy in the Age of COVID and San Mateo County’s
Approach to Digital Equity and E-Learning.
7.Discussion Question Feedback – Internet Forum – Supervisor of
Legislative Services
The Supervisor of Legislative Services presented the feedback gathered from
participants during the breakout sessions of the Elgin County Internet Forum,
hosted by the Connectivity Committee on December 3, 2020.
8.Correspondence – A Path to Better Connectivity – ROMA Launches
Municipal Broadband Resources
The Committee received the correspondencefrom the Rural Ontario Municipal
Association.
9.Date of Next Meeting
TheCommittee will meet again on January 14, 2020at 2:00 p.m. for a working
session to develop an inventory of what has been done and compare it to the
roadmap in the ROMA Broadband Resource Package.
10.Adjournment
Moved by: Justin Pennings
Seconded by: Mike Andrews
RESOLVED THAT the meetingbeadjourned at 2:31p.m.
Recorded Vote
YesNo
CouncillorYes
WardenMennillYes
JustinPenningsYes
CouncillorMarksYes
40
-Motion Carried.
Dec 27, 2020
Attn: Councillor Tom Marks
tmarks@elgin.ca
Dear Councillor Tom Marks and Whomever else it may concern,
My name is Kristi Rockley,and I am a resident of Bayham Township in Elgin County. I have lived
here since 2009. I did not hear about the survey that you were conducting this fall in regard to
internet connectivity, and just found it this week as I was again attempting to search for
answers to my ongoing internet issues. I would gladly answer questions and be a part of survey
and or anything else to assist in attempting to get reasonable service to this region.
Where I live , Eastlink has always had the monopoly on the
service. When Ibuilt my home and business here in 2009, I had them installed. At that time, I
was told that I had to also pay for a working landline telephone service, even though I didn’t
want it and never plugged a phone in. They told me that it was a necessity for their service. A
couple years later, after being hit by lightning, a technician came to repair my line and told me
that the only reason I was paying for a phone line was due to the fact they didn’t have a billing
process that separated phone and internet. When I confronted them with that, they said it was
true, the technician should not have said anything, they agreed to cancel the landline, but not
pay me back for the previous excess billing. Being the only ISP in the region, I could do nothing
else about it.
My internet, which is for residential and small business purposes, has always been very bad and
I have spoken to them many times. My line drops continuously, Wifi is so weak it can’t work in
the same room as the modem-router. I try to use Wifi calling on my Cell phone and can’t get
connected or drop connection routinely. I miss many calls coming in and have recently had
health & medical professionals drop me as a patient because they can’t get a hold of me. (Cell
tower connection is another issue, but this is due to WiFi connection in my home too.)
Recently, I again plugged in my computer directly to the modem to test my download-upload
speed and found I was at between 1-4 for download and 0.1-1ish for upload. I have purchased
the only package Eastlink told me was possible at my address. This most basic package costs me
$88.95/ month + $11.57 HST. When I called Eastlink in Dec to again inquire about what could be
done about this slow speed, I was told that the maximum I would be able to achieve on my line
was a download rate of 8 mbps, and there is nothing they are going to do to do about it. They
told me my 1-4 would be as good as it gets here. They would not drop the price or deal with the
old infrastructure lines and make improvements.
In looking at the survey question and results, I will respond to the questions as they pertain to
me.
Q1-Municipality: Municipality of Bayham
Q2-Address:
Q3-Service Provider: Eastlink – DSL (through phone line)
Q4-Rate service with ISP: Data Allowance-1/ Reliability-1/ Affordability-1/ Speed-1/ Overall
Experience-1
Q5-Other Connectivity Options:Where I live there were no other options. I looked recently at
Explornet and satellitebut if there is bad weather I lose all connection possibilities -so did not
see it as a viable option. I have also heard of bad experiences with the satellite. They were not
willing to have someone come out to tell me if LTE would work here, without me paying a $75
service charge. I am left without options.
Q6-Monthly Cost of Internet Service: $88.95+$11.57(HST)
Q7-Daily Activities on Internet: Downloading-Streaming Video/ E-Commerce / Education (not
daily but regularly – few times a week)/ Email / Employment / Internet Browsing / Social
Networking / Telephone / (Not the last two daily – VPN occasionally)
Q8-Average number of connected devices: 2-3 daily (must be 1 at a time or connectionfreezes-
crashes)- need to be able to do up to 20+ (if people here for business and their cell connection
fails due to lack of cell towers)
Q9-Current challenges with Internet: unreliable – not good connectivity – always disconnects;
videos won’t playsmoothly; can only use 1 device at a time or the second cuts out; speed –
always super slow 1-4mbps with max potential of 8mbps according to provider; price expensive
for what I am able to get and price increases regularly even though my service connection is
only a fraction of what I am paying formbps – wifi distance not even reliably available in the
room with the modem – no options for other providers Eastlink is the only option, and not even
willing to give price according to max available mbps on the physical line -paying same price as
those getting reliable connection at high speeds– bad customer service – dropped wifi calls –
due to lack of connection I have lost business - my health is suffering as medical professionals
are discharging me due to not being able to contact me especially through this pandemic-
weather effects
Q10-Internet Performance Test through CIRA: (hardwired in) download 1.2 (sometimes less)
upload 0.6
Q11-Additional Comments: I look forward to being able to have reliable internet
Q12-email address:
Q13-Able to Contribute to connectivity solution: not sure I have anything I am able to
contribute
If you have any further questions or need further clarification, please feel free to contact me at
.
Thank you for addressing this ongoing problem!
Kristi Rockley