Whitecroft residents get wired on high speed

Whitecroft will finally have high speed Internet service after Mascon Cable’s latest application for a Connecting Citizens grant was recently approved.

Mascon Cable received $50,000 in grants from Connecting Citizens, a government program that aims to get rural communities connected online by sharing the cost of infrastructure with Internet service providers.
This development means that digital phone, cable and high speed Internet will be available to Whitecroft residents through the company.

These services will start “sometime late August or early September,” said Mascon Cable manager
Darren Muloin.

High speed Internet will make life easier for Whitecroft resident Dom Koric, who runs a video editing company.

“Up until now, I’ve been coming up to the hill to upload or download anything,” said Koric. “I opened an office (in Sun Peaks) just so I can have Internet access.”

Koric is just as thrilled about having more entertainment options, like “being able to get Internet radio stations, things that I’ve lived without for six years. When I moved here, I didn’t even think it possible to not have high speed Internet somewhere,” he said.

Whitecroft resident John Cleaver had just spent $500 for a booster and an Internet stick before finding out about the news, and was annoyed that the government hadn’t informed the community sooner. However, he thinks this is a positive development.

“I download books,” said Cleaver. “With dial-up, it used to take me 12 hours to download. Now it will only take 12 minutes.”

“I think everyone will be really, really happy,” he said.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” said Sun Peaks Utilities manager Pat Miller, who assisted in securing the grant. “It provides an option for staff that perhaps don’t want to live in the hustle and bustle of the resort, but do want to live close. They now have the same level of services.”

Despite being denied last year, Muloin, with the support of local organizations, businesses and MLAs, re-applied this year. His persistence finally paid off.

He said the community’s assistance helped Mascon secure this outcome. “The community provided letters of support so without everybody helping, this wouldn’t have happened.”