CBC: Canadians urged to talk to government about Internet standards in hearing

 It's more important than ever that we speak out before their deadline for comments. To get your voice put into the hearing, head over to UnblockCanada.ca and sign on to our open letter calling for world-class Internet services across the country. Article by Jane Sponagle for CBC At Iqaluit's Four Corners intersection downtown, it takes Jessica Bos more than 10 minutes to send a text message with a photo.

A regular text and a phone call go through right away, but Bos says that's not the norm.

"Phone calls it always takes at least three times," says Bos. "It drops the call sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't even work. I tried to make a phone call on the weekend and it didn't go through, so I gave up."

She says service seems to be better in the morning and late at night, but stalls in the late afternoon.

"Sometimes it might be fine, but to say that it's always 3G? Absolutely not."

John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, a group that works on the behalf of consumer rights, says "There's no point in complaining to each other. The time for that is over.

"Unless you're going to switch from company to company and try a new competitor that may be able to provide you better service, then the only other person to complain to who's going to be able to do anything about this is the CRTC."

CRTC hearing

The CRTC is asking for input on basic telecommunications service standards. Lawford says people can file their comments on the CRTC website. The deadline for comments on the first stage of the process is July 14.

- Read more at CBC