Massive Internet Upgrades an Embellishment

Dear Editor [of the Haida Gwaii Observer],

Your recent lead article “Massive Internet Upgrades for Haida Gwaii” sensationalizes the work being done by GwaiiTel and I wanted to provide a few clarifications. GwaiiTel should certainly be commended for the funding that they have attracted to the island and the infrastructure that they are building. However, it should be noted that most of the funding and work is dedicated to the Haida Gwaii intRAnet, network traffic local to the island. GwaiiTel is building a fibre connection from Masset to Charlotte that will increase the intranet bandwidth by about 10,000 times. Yet, the second tower that is slated for construction to ease our IntERnet bottleneck will only increase Internet bandwidth by 2 times. This is analogous to building a superhighway along the island’s length and claiming that it will help us get goods and freight across the semi-weekly ferry sailing. The off-island link currently is and will continue to be the primary bottleneck. There are many advantages to this plan and this infrastructure funding. For example, improved intra-island network flow, equal access to the existing Internet bottleneck, and GwaiiTel has said that the Tow Hill Community will be connected with fibre under this plan. Those are all laudable, incremental improvements, however this is not the magic bullet to Haida Gwaii’s Internet access. Calling it a “Massive Internet Upgrade” is somewhere between an embellishment and outright wrong.

Sincerely,

James Hiebert

Masset