Inukshuk Wireless

Inukshuk Wireless
private partnership
Founded 2005 (partnership)
as Inukshuk Wireless
1999 (predecessor)
as Inukshuk Internet
Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Area served
 Canada:
Newfoundland and Labrador,
Nova Scotia,
Eastern Ontario and Outaouais,
Prince Edward Island,
New Brunswick,
Quebec,
Ontario,
Alberta,
British Columbia,
and the Yukon
Parent Bell Canada and
Rogers Communications
Website inukshuk.ca

Inukshuk Wireless is a joint venture of Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, created in 2005[1] to establish a Canada-wide network for wireless Internet connectivity in 45 major cities and more than 120 rural communities, throughout the ten Industry Canada licensed areas.[2][3] Bell and Rogers separately market the service to their customers as Portable Internet, although Bell also offers a Rural Internet service.

History

Inukshuk Internet, a predecessor to Inukshuk Wireless, was originally formed in 1999. Inukshuk was acquired by Microcell in 2001, which was acquired by Rogers in 2004. The spectrum and technology was merged into the joint venture with Bell in 2005.

Bell has announced termination of its Portable Internet service on February 14, 2012. Rogers has announced termination of its Portable Internet service on March 1, 2012.[4]

Network

The Inukshuk network was built using pre-WiMAX technology provided by Expedience solution from Motorola, now Nexpedience Networks.

Coverage

The network provides connectivity to 45 major cities and more than 120 rural communities throughout the ten Industry Canada licensed areas.

Activation, however, is only available in certain rural regions. Bell only allowed customers in the following regions of the province of Ontario to subscribe to Portable or Rural Internet:

Services

Wireless Internet

Monthly bandwidth limits for customers are not currently enforced, and simply exist to protect against network abuse. Bell's Rural service uses the same technology as the portable, except the modem itself is mounted to one's home in the direction of the tower it will be connecting to. Hence, it is not designed to be portable.[5]

Service Speeds Monthly bandwidth limits
Download Upload
Portable Internet 3 Mbit/s 384 kbit/s 30 GB
Rural Internet[note 1] 2 Mbit/s 256 kbit/s 10 GB
Portable Internet Lite[note 2] 512 kbit/s 128 kbit/s
  1. ↑ This service was exclusive to Bell.
  2. ↑ Information about this service was previously available on Rogers' website, but has since been removed.

Peer-to-peer throttling

Inukshuk Wireless throttles peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic on its network during certain times of the day.

For Bell customers, downloads and uploads are throttled to 512 kbit/s from 16h30 to 17h59 EST, then to 256 kbit/s from 18h00 to 23h59 EST, and again to 512 kbit/s from 0h00 to 1h00 EST every day. No throttling occurs from 1h00 to 16h30.

References

  1. ↑ "Rogers, Bell join forces to build national wireless network". CBC News. 16 September 2005.
  2. ↑ Inukshuk completes major milestone in network deployment
  3. ↑ Inukshuk announces the recent addition of several rural areas
  4. ↑ Dampier, Phillip. "Rogers Abandoning Portable Internet Service: Internet Overcharging 3G in Rural Canada’s Future". Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  5. ↑ Bell.ca

External links