DONATE YOUR COWS TO THE HAVE-NOTS

Canadians are being asked to “flatten the curve” to fight the impact of COVID-19.  This translates to an unprecedented reliance on the internet. Working from home, accessing healthcare services, communications, public safety, reliance on-line education, and social connections to name a few. For most rural Canadians, their internet service is inadequate at the best of times but in a case such as the pandemic it is unreasonably inadequate. The current COVID-19 pandemic has made it evident that rural Canada is a HAVE-NOT of high-speed internet.

‘Cells on Wheels’ (COWs) are pieces of passive infrastructure on which base stations and antennae can be mounted and quickly wheeled for beefing up capacity and coverage in a locality facing network congestion. Telcos can seek approvals from local municipalities to press COWs into action to address data consumption surge to ease network congestion amid an upsurge in home internet and video services consumption because of lockdowns.
In Ontario our Internet providers (Telcos) have access to COWS and use them to bolster signals at large events.  Those large events have been shut down by COVID-19 containment restrictions so we are requesting a strategic re-deployment of those resources.

West Parry Sound Smart Community Network Inc.
 ... for a comprehensive report of the problems and further details please click here