Is Starlink the answer to N.B.'s rural internet issues? Here's what users are saying

After years of putting up with unreliable internet, some New Brunswickers living in rural areas saythey'vefinallyfound a solution.

Many claim that Starlink, the brainchild of billionaire Elon Musk, has solved the long-standing problem of high-speed internet access in rural New Brunswick.

"It's almost life-changing," said Brody McGee, who has been using the Starlink internet service for about four months.

Starlink is a global internetservice from Musk's American-based company SpaceX.

Made up of hundreds of low-orbit satellites, they form a mesh-like network around the Earth. That network communicates with coffee table-sized satellite dishes customers can install on their roofs.

There are currently 145,000 users in 25 countries worldwide. On Saturday, Musk tweeted there were"1469 Starlink satellites active" and orbiting the Earth so far.

When McGee recently came back to New Brunswick after living in Nunavut, he moved toBocabec, a community about 20 kilometres northeast of St. Andrews.

Before he switched to Starlink, he saidhis internet was so bad that watching Netflix was impossible. The only YouTube videos he could watch were the ones offered in the lowest quality.

"I lived up in Nunavut for almost four years and we had better internet in Pond Inlet than we do in rural New Brunswick," said McGee.

McGee had been using Bell for internet service inBobabec, a service he says advertised download speeds of up to 10 megabits per second. Hesaid he never saw those speeds.

"It was very brutal," said McGee.

He paid $120 per month for the service, but made the trip to his parents' home in St. Andrews to use their internet for online classes as he works towardbecoming a nurse practitioner.

When he moved to Starlink, he said his download speeds went from around two megabits to 200.

Starlink user says he finally has internet access as it should be

3 years ago

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Jean-Marc Robichaud says his life has changed since high-speed internet became available in rural Fredericton Junction.

Things changed overnight.

His daughter was suddenly able to watch Peppa Pig in the living roomwhile he streamed music at the same time in the kitchen. High-definition television and video calls became an option. He stopped having toleave home for his classes.

"This seems like city-living in the country," said McGee.

Consistentlyfaster

Harold O'Donnell has had a similar experience. Living in Bath, about 50 kilometres fromWoodstock, he said Xplornet was his only internet option. While it did the job, he saidit left a lot to bedesired.

"I found the service was deteriorating," said O'Donnell. "I do a lot of gaming here and I do a lot of streaming and stuff, and I found sometimes you couldn't stream anything."

Sometimes following a power outage, or a storm, his internet would go out for a day or two afterwards.

O'Donnell saidhe'dbeen getting between 25 and 35 megabitswithXplornet,depending on how many other people were using the system at the same time.

He switched to Starlink looking for higher speeds more consistently in order to complete his online classes for hiselectricallicence.

"The speed [was]over 300 here yesterday," said O'Donnell.

O'Donnell said the new service isn't perfect. He saidthere was a global outage for about an hour earlier this month, and sometimes his social media feeds are slow to load.

But he said he's very impressed so far. He laments the higher cost to get set up $649 for the dish, according to the Starlink website. But, at about $150 a month for the service, he saidthe price is well worth it compared to the competition.

Higher security

With access to high-speed internet, Jean-Marc Robichaud saidhe's now able to use devices like internet-connected security cameras and doorbells.

The Fredericton Junction resident saidit was frustrating to see those living in thecentreof the villagea fewkilometresaway have had decent high-speed internetfor years.

Living on the outskirts meant inferior service. He'd inquired with Bell about getting high-speed lines run out to his road and was told he'd have to fund it himself at a cost estimated at $20,000.

"Starlink has been a game-changer here for the rural area," said Robichaud. "I know a lot of people who are working fromhomeand this has been a lifesaver."

Robichaud saidhe'd rather support Canadian-basedcompanies, butsays there's no competition to Starlink.

Campaign promises

The service highlights a problem that Premier Blaine Higgsraised during the last election campaign. He promised to bring rural broadband speeds in over 70,000 households to 100 megabits per secondover three years.

A recent announcement byXplornetpromises todoubledownload speeds with new 5G towers. But customers like Robichaud say they've heard promises before.

"Starlink is so far ahead that there's nothing that comes close," said Robichaud.

CBC News reached out to SpaceX for details on how many New Brunswickers were using Starlink.

"Unfortunately, we don't have anyone available to connect as our team is focused on rolling out Starlink service around the world," it said in an email.