Moosonee gamer supporting push for Starlink satellite in northern Ontario

Nathan Cheechoo, a professional gamer in Moosonee, says he's glad to hear there's support for satellite internet in northern Ontario.

The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities recently passed a motion to support Starlink – a company owned by Elon Musk that is developing high speed internet using low-orbiting satellites.

The federation says efforts to bring fibre optic broadband internet have been too slow.

Cheechoo, who goes by the user name TheSwampThings, says support for new technology could introduce competition that would hasten the arrival of better internet service to remote areas, and he would be able to pursue his career and be connected to the world-wide community.

"One of the biggest and the most notable disadvantages is the lack of connection," Cheechoo said. "You can't really do much with the connection speeds that are offered to the area in the digital realm."

People are able to stream Netflix and watch cable TV, but the gaming world requires higher connection speeds and more bandwidth than is currently available at a consistent pace, Cheechoo said.

"To put it in perspective, 10 megabytes download speed, one megabyte upload speed, and that's just a little above dial up," Cheechoo said. "So considering that we got Internet when I was a teenager, I'm 34 now and we got dial up up here, maybe when I was, you know, 14, 15, the rate of advancement here for the connection speed is not the same as our southern counterparts."

"It's way behind in terms of just basic digital infrastructure up here."

Check out Nathan Cheechoo's Twitch channel here

Starlink could provide more opportunity for the next generation of gamers, Cheechoo said. 

"The competitive gamers, streamers, content creators are really popping up because of the isolation that we are subjected to with no road access," Cheechoo said. 

"There are a lot of great, talented players that can rival some of the best professionals in the world," he said. "But yet the connection speeds just won't substantiate any of that because of the issues that go on with lagging during a match, or getting kicked out of a match because of the connection."

"This is a big obstacle not only for me, but for others out there in the communities here and even further up the coast."