The Huron Expositor, 1996-04-10, Page 66 -THE HURON EXPOSIITOR, Api1 10, fell
Close-up
Towns like Seaforth left behind
CONTINUED from page 1
"We felt we needed to
spend the money in order to
give our customers what they
require," she adds.
This digital switch can han-
dle the technology needed to
access the Internet, whereas
Seaforth's switch can't.
Bell knows it can't get its
money back out of Seaforth,
"which is true," the general
manager of Tuckersmith's
telephone system observes,
but it is not so simple as it
might first appear.
BIG, BAD BELL?
Bell is still Tuckersmith's
long-distance provider.
"All we do is bill their toll
'and they don't make money
on our customers, there is no
question about that," Chuter
says. "But they keep us living
because it is our territory and
it is all rural and the CRTC
(Canadian Radio, Television -
telecommunications
Commission, the federal reg-
ulatory agency) says we have
to be viable and we have to
be able to survive.
"It`s getting more all the
time, that we will have to
increase our rates because we
are lower than Bell and they
are not going to keep sup-
porting us if we don't have
the same rates they do."
"Even so we can still man-
age," she says. "We can make
it all work. I guess one of the
big things too is we don't
have the staff they have and
we don't have to absorb some
of the high costs Bell needs
to survive."
"They have to really con-
centrate on the city, where
they know they are going to
have competition."
LEFT BEHIND
The sad part is small rural
towns like Seaforth can get
left behind, Tuckersmith's
general manager observes.
She says the township has
joined forces with Hay's tele-
phone company to provide
Library elevator phone not working
Seaforth "deserves digital technology now" says town coun-
cil'in its recent letter to Bell Canada.
The old switching system causes all kinds of problems these
days, for instance in the new elevator at the recently renovated
Seaforth library. That elevator isn't operative yet. One reason
is the law requires all public elevators to have phones for
emergencies these days. There is a phone in the new elevator,
but because of our switching system you can call the elevator
but it can't call you, because the system isn't quick enough.
Which kind of defeats the purpose in an emergency.
"We will have
to increase our
rates because
we are lower
than Bell."
Internet access for customers,
And only such rural alliances •
between small independent's
makes such services afford-
able.
Ripley ( many customers in
Goderich), Kirkton Milverton
and Mornington township
telephone systems are all rel-
atively new players to the
Internet access game, all just
up and running.
"It's very costly to get into
all these different things and
we're finding we are sticking
together and doing things
together, and that helps a
lot," Chuter says. "We know
our customers and want to
keep them happy."
No competition has flip-
side advantages •in rural
areas.
"Nobody is going to start
running lines over our lines
in the country," Chuter says.
"It's just not feasible. But
they will in the city against
Bell."
Tuckersmith telephone's
general manager says they
can offer Internet service to
anybody in the local dialing
area, t'.nd wilt be doing that in
Seaforth.
She says they won't have
all the answers to the prob-
lems Internet subscribers.
want answered immediately,
but telephone companies- are •
in the "service" business and
Tuckersmith will work hard
solving them.
• FAST LINES
"We provide top-notch tele-
phone lines and will have
top-quality speed," she says..
According to the first
report of -the Tuckersmith
Communications Co -opera
tive Ltd, presented at its
annual meeting late last
month: -
" T u c k e r s m i t h
Communications provides
telephone service to cus-
tomers in an approximate
area of 140 square miles. As
of December 31, 1995 there
were 2,795 'access lines in
service. From that number
over 90 per cent were private
lines, two per -cent were two-
party lines and eight per -cent
were four -party. lines... 98 per
cent of our customers have .
become members of this co-
operative...This year we will
begin phase one of our fibre
optic loop...By having a fibre
optic loop in place, it will
provide us with higher -relia-
bility, easier network expan-
sion and excellent failure
protection."
HOMEtown getting help from Huron board
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
r files from JOHN GREIG
SSP Staff
HOMEtown Community
Network Inc. continues to
scramble since going live at
the start of last September.
The fledgling community
computer network has had to
be light on its feet and
resilient to survive its first
few months.
Big changes are afoot at the
network, a little more glitz
and Internet access, stem-
ming from a recent marriage
that just might turn out to,
.have been "made in heaven".
HOMEtown and the Huron
County Board of Education
formed a partnership agree-
ment in the middle of March.
II is "to provide affordable,
universal and equitable
access to the Internet as a
learning and information
resource" within the public
school system and HOME -
town's wider clientele.
The idea for HOMEtown
sprung from librarians in the
region, and the community
computer network has its first
annual general meeting
tomorrow (Thursday) in
Kirkton. The network now
claims to have about 800
members but according to
executive director Larry
Dillon of Harpurhey it needs
more than 3,000 "real quick"
to make up for recent
heavy-duty setbacks.
Right off the bat, just
before it went live seven
months ago, Ontario's gov-
ernment changed and
HOMEtown's promised
infrastructure grant of
$492,140 was frozen. The
network had been depending
on it to become self-sup-
porting.
But Dillon remains a "true
believer" in new technologies
changing thc shape of our
generation, the Internet and
so called "information high-
way" and all they entail, such
as E-mail and the World
Wide Web.
HOMEtown, in its own
words, is a local non-profit
corporation "dcdicztcd to
developing and providing
universal and affordable
access to a comprehensive
communications and infor-
mation service across thc
counties of Huron, Oxford,
Middlesex, Elgin and Perth."
" UNIQUE FIT'
Dillon calls the new part-
nership between HOMEtown
and the Huron board of edu-
cation a "unique fit".
Rick Van Der Ley, in
charge of purchasing for the
hoard, describes it likewise.
"A perfect fit," he says.
The local public school
board is "progressive" in the
new technologies, Dillon
says, and can use the rev-
enues from memberships a
healthy partnership would to
genbrate.
The board's biggest load on
this equipment naturally
enough is during the school
day, from 9 a.m. to about
3:30 p.m.
HOMEtown, on the' othbr'
hand, needs cheaper Internet
access right now in a big
way, because that's where the
action is needed to attract
more members.The area
community network will use
the system the most later in
the afternoons and at night,
when the school system's
load is the least.
HQMEtown only had toll-
free Internet access that
didn't require expensive
long-distance charges for a
HOMEtown and
Huron board of
education have
"unique fit" '
short ,time before an agree-
ment with an 'Internet
provider from London,
Inter*Com Information
Services, turned into "a disas-
ter for us" around Chri§tmas,
Dillon says.
HOMlrtown was down for
a month from December to
January. Its system was
"frustratingly slow," accord-
ing to Dillon, and accessible
only by local calls for
London, Woodstock and
Stratford users. Bell Canada
long-distance chargesfor
other users made the system
prohibitively expensive.
HOMEtown has dropped a
subsequent statement of
claim for about $99,000, but
1-800-263-0626 Thedford
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Dillon says HOMEtown is
evolving away from London
towards rural areas, and even
as we speak is setting up 10
"points of presence" which
use local telePhonc numbers
in Clinton, Goderich, Exeter.
Wingham, Zurich, Stratford,
Woodstock, Tillsonhurg,
Rodney and London.
HOMEtown will be acces-
sible to Seaforth members via
the Clinton number, which is
a local call.
Huron's public hoard of
education has a frame relay
system. Electronic signals are
routed• from one local call to
another, changing direction
CONTINUED on page 7
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