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North Sault Broadband and Cellular Schedule

Updated 20 Jun 11

Important updates.

The most current information is available at the blog site or the status page.

Update 18 Apr 11

It looks like there is progress on the North Sault broadband front. Technicians and riggers have been seen working on the towers at Bellevue and Heyden. Work on the Goulais (Buttermilk) tower is expected to follow suit.

Read the blogs entries entitled:

Signs of work at Bellevue and  Goulais River Broadband to find out more.

Update 15 Feb 11

The best I can report is I am receiving updates to the effect that the remedial work required by MTS Allstream on their Bellevue tower before they will approve Tbaytel mounting their equipment is taking longer than planned. The delays are attributed to engineering design work, engineering coordination and the weather. Much of this work is being done by third party contractors.

The Heyden and Goulais (Buttermilk) sites are ready. Once the tower reinforcement and the antenna mounting hardware work is completed at Bellevue, the necessary broadband and microwave antennas will be installed. The system can then become operational

The Bellevue tower is critical to providing service as it acts as the hub and spoke with links to the Goulais (Buttermilk), Heyden and Searchmont sites.

As Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Wishing to avoid insanity, I am not going to predict a new projected in-service date.

I am in regular contact with Tbaytel staff and will post any credible date they provide. In fairness, Tbaytel is somewhat at the mercy of Bellevue tower owner (and their third party engineers) who has the final say on what can be mounted on their tower.

On a positive note, I received confirmation from Tbaytel that the 3G HSPA Rogers overlay project will be implemented in the Algoma District, including the North Sault area, this year. I will post additional information as it becomes available to me.

Update 22 Dec 10

Tbaytel has once again announced a delay for the activation of the Bellevue and Heyden sites. They are now projecting a date of sometime in January 2011.

This means a delay in wireless broadband (high-speed Internet) service from the Bellevue and Heyden tower sites as well as cell service from the Heyden site. They are citing construction delays on the Bellevue tower upgrade caused by weather coupled with, in their terms, a “brown out” period during the Christmas break.

The present plans call for the all three sites - Bellevue, Goulais (Buttermilk) and Heyden - to be activated concurrently.

Update 18 Nov 10

The Bellevue and Heyden broadband (high-speed Internet) sites  and the Heyden cellular site have been delayed once again. The unofficial new date is early December 2010.

In response to queries, Tbaytel advised on 18 Nov 10 that they are experiencing delays on the retrofit reinforcement work for the MTS Allstream owned Bellevue tower. The retrofit is necessary to allow the mounting of the microwave dishes needed to interconnect the Heyden tower into the Tbaytel backbone network proving access to the cellular mobile switching centre (MSC) and the broadband (high-speed Internet) point-of-presence (PoP).

The reinforcement project has two consecutive phases:
a. Work to meet the MTS Allstream requirements; and
b. Work to meet the Tbaytel requirements

The MTS Allstream work is scheduled for completion on 26 Nov 10 at which time the Tbaytel work will commence. Tbaytel did not provide an estimated completion date but I estimate the work may take up to two weeks.

Once the Bellevue tower is reinforced, microwave dishes will be mounted on the both the Bellevue and Heyden towers, tests conducted and the locations put into service.

Once microwave dishes are visible on the Heyden tower or strong cell phones signals emanate from the tower, the work will be completed.

While the work is being carried out, there may be disruptions with the cell signal from the Bellevue tower.

Update on 14 Sep 10

It is reported the Bellevue tower dispute identified earlier has now been resolved.
Tbaytel and the tower owner have reached an agreement on the work necessary
 to make the tower safe for additional antennas. Once all the work is done, the
 necessary antennas will be mounted on the Heyden and Bellevue sites which
 will then be activated. It is anticipated the work could take several months and
 no dates for activation are available at this time.

The Batchawana Site became operational on 20 May 10.

Batchawana now has customers connected. As an unofficial guide the fixed wireless broadband signal coverage is in the areas of Sand Point, Jones Landing, Old Mill Bay, Havilland Bay, Grassy Bay, Marlette's Bay, and Grindstone Point. Other areas are also in the footprint  so check with Tbaytel. Terrain features affect the fixed wireless signal so there are holes in the coverage, most noticeably Horseshoe Bay.

Potential Customers can contact Tbaytel at 1-800-264-9501 to get additional information.

The commissioning of the Heyden cellular and broadband site and the Bellevue broadband  site continues to be delayed. Technical issues between TBayTel, the network operator and owner of the Heyden tower, and MTS Allstream, the owner of the Bellevue tower, need to be resolved. TBayTel has not provided a  date when they expect to have the problem resolved.   

TBayTel has selected the Buttermilk Resort area as the location  of the Goulais River cellular and broadband site and is going through the regulatory approval process. The site is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2010.

Toke Mountain Ski Hill outside Wawa has been selected as the new Hwy 17 cell site identified as Michipicoten.

As of 14 Jan 10 Tbaytel is listing Searchmont as one of their wireless broadband service areas 

The broadband (high-speed Internet will be provided using wireless technology. The service provider will be Tbaytel. Contact Tbaytel for additional details.

Tbaytel is working hard to implement the project as quickly as possible.
This is the proposed schedule and is subject to change as the project progresses.

The Heyden site will be located on Hwy 17 due east of the MTO Weigh Station. The actual tower was put in place during the second week of December 2009 and can be seen from Hwy 17

This version changes the 2009 dates and moves Searchmont to 2009 from 2010

An ADnet initiative resulted in all parties involved to agree in principle that a broadband capability be added to the existing Bellevue site. A schedule will not be available until all the necessary contractual paperwork is completed.