Eastlink's rural internet cap draws ire of Municipality of Shelburne

The Municipality of Shelburne is calling on Eastlink to improve its high-speed internet service in rural Nova Scotia or to get out of the business of providing the service.

On Tuesday, the municipality issued a terse letter to Eastlink.

"If Eastlink has any sense of commitment to rural communities, it must reinvest in the system to bring it to at least the levels of service seen in northern Nova Scotia. And finally, you must kill the cap," said the letter.

Eastlink has announced plans that would cap its rural Nova Scotia broadband internet packages at 15 gigabytes each month. Every GB over the cap will result in a $2 fee, up to a maximum of $20 extra each month.

The plans have upset consumers, businesses and politicians. Last Thursday, Premier Stephen McNeil blasted Eastlink about its current level of service and the proposed cap plans.

"We are running out of patience, quite frankly, as a government with what we believe is inadequate service," McNeil said.

Kirk Cox, the CAO of the Municipality of Shelburne, says that over the past few years, poor internet service and lack of access from Eastlink have been the most consistent complaints from residents.

"The status quo just cannot continue," he said.

Cox would like to see one of two things take place. One would be for Eastlink to improve the speed of its internet service to rival that of what is available from Seaside Communications in northern Nova Scotia, as well as get rid of the cap.

Assistance from government

The second option would be for the three levels of government to work together and provide some funding to get another private operator to come in and take over the service.

"There's no reason we in southern Nova Scotia should be left behind just because we have Eastlink as a service provider," said Cox.

The press release says that the 15 GB cap prevents residents from using the internet "in many normal standard circumstances," such as streaming audio and video, and working from a home office.

Cox says that unless investments are made, it'll make it harder for rural communities to compete.

"What that will lead to is just further challenges to do things like recruit health care professionals and attract investment for jobs and economic development. It'll become that much more difficult if people cannot have basic internet service," he said.

In 2007 and 2008, three companies, including Eastlink, were awarded contracts to provide broadband internet service to parts of rural Nova Scotia.

Eastlink's defence

Eastlink has defended its actions by saying the new cap is really about equal access.

"When it comes to rural internet service, our goal has been to deliver the service as it was intended to be used as designed by the government of the day," spokesperson Jill Laing told CBC News last week.

She said the service was never designed for streaming. When the service was designed, Netflix was still shipping videos by mail.

Laing said the 15 GB number was chosen because the number used per month for intended uses, like surfing the web, is around 12 GB.

She said people who are using it for what it was meant for, like email and social media, should not be affected by the change.