Connection Interrupted
"The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again."
The above phrase is rapidly becoming a mantra that I could do without having to read on a daily basis. I have now acquired a modem from Tamaani, the ISP here, but I think my re-christening of the service as 'Shatner-net' was premature. At...least...Bill...finishes...his...sentences. Getting online with Tamaani, at least at a reasonable hour, is next to impossible at the moment.
The problem is that the satellite signal that provides the internet connection has to be 'split' amongst all the users in town; the more people online at the same time, the further that signal has to be split up. Consequently, at peak times when everyone is online, the system simply grinds to a halt. Now, I realise that we are fortunate to have internet at all up here and yes, I fully appreciate the irony of using a blog to complain about my connection, but you would think that if we have the capability of faking a moon landing we would be able to provide a usable internet service in the North.
We have to pay a minimum of $70 a month for a service that is slow at the best of times, but at the moment that service is not fit for purpose. The number of users has now outstripped the available bandwidth, so Tamaani either needs to lower its prices or to invest its profits into improving the service. Problem is that Tamaani hold a monopoly in the North, so one wonders whether the incentive is there.
Finally, back to the modems themselves. For those of you unfamiliar with them, they look like the black monolith from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but on a vastly smaller scale (like Spinal Tap's Stonehenge). Now, whilst I was still in Kingston I visited the Bell outlet in the mall to see if they sold such modems and whether they would be compatible with Tamaani's service. The guy I spoke to didn't really know what type of modem I meant, so I used the 2001 description.
"2001? Never heard of it," was his reply.
I gave up.
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1 comments:
Gideon,
Not that i usually look around for blogs talking about tamaani, but I was looking for Tamaani news online, and stumbled on your blog... so i'll take a few minutes to reply.
First of all, Tamaani is not a "profit making" private company. The whole process started with the KRG who was looking for ways to improve the internet connection up north. Up until November 2004, the only way to connect was via dial-up modem, on a server located in MTL. So you had to pay long-distance connection, and endure a maximal download speed of 14 kb/s.
KRG wanted to find a private "distributor" that could offer the service thorough the region for profits, but couldn't find anyone to do it, so we took the matter in our hands and are offering the service.
We are running on subventions received, among others, from "village branchés" and Ministère des affaires autochtones. Our motto is to offer an internet connection at the best available speed and cheapest price possible. The point is to get the most people connected in Nunavik.
Anyways, since day one (back in 2004), we knew we would be needing more bandwidth, so we started making applications to get the proper funding. That took 3 years to get approved (August 2007), and another year to actually get the money to move ahead.
So anyways. To make a long story short, there will be a major annoucement made tomorrow in Kuujjuaq (tune in to TNI for the details), and you will see a price reduction before year's end, a more than significant increase on the speed and liability of the services and other news.
As for the monopoly comment, there are alternate connections available, and we are forced to use all profits and re-invest them in the network to keep things sharp.
I know the speed is not great, and i understand the frustration. However, sometimes it's nice to have the other side of the story.
Cheers,
Alain Lance
(if questions, feel free to e-mail alance@krg.ca)
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