Assignment #1: Fast Internet Speeds in Small Towns

1. Some of the internet connections in rural communities mentioned in the article are ten times quicker, like in Olds, Alta; the fastest internet in the country.

2. These communities are getting faster internet speeds than what is even being offered by many Canadian Telecom companies by putting high-throughput fibre-optic cables directly into homes and businesses. They are installing their own high-speed fibre-optic cables,

3. The community of Harriston is considered "fortunate" according to Hope Reidt because their owners are very forward-thinking. They're "way ahead of the curve in terms of wanting to provide the best technology available" as he states, because homes started getting fibre-optic cables installed in 2008.

4. Olds community decided to build their own fibre network because businesses were becoming frustrated with the "sluggish internet" and had threatened to leave town. They paid for this service by using government grants and loans connecting every home along the way.

5. Once the community of Stratford installed it's own fibre optic network, it attracted more attention from investors like The University of Waterloo and the Royal Bank opened up a $400-million data centre there.

6. Bell installed fibre optics in more than a million premises in Atlantic Canada, and also to Northern Ontario.

7. Small towns and communities need high speed internet more than ever now in order to keep employers and residents from leaving to move to better connected cities, abandoning them in the dust.

8. The Federal government supplied around $305-million to increase internet access in Canada.