The map below is part of the complete deployment map that was recently published by Fibre Argenteuil. I have blown up the part that concerns us directly. To view the full map, click here.

Key elements:

• Deployment on Curran road (light green) is scheduled for this fall.
• In the other sections  of Dunany (dark green), the fibre line should be deployed around March/April 2021. The chart says “end of winter 2021” but when I asked the executive director of Fibre Argenteuil for a more precise target he told me March-April 2021.

The Fibre has been purchased, the organization has been staffed and housed in the old Lachute Police station, the money is there, the team is roaring to go but the necessary permits from Bell to deploy the fibre on the telephone poles take a long, long time to come and, often, with onerous conditions.

So much so that the MRC filed last May a formal complaint at the CRTC explaining Bell’s tactics to delay the implementation of high speed internet in areas such as ours. If you wish to read the report (en français)  click here.

Some of you might have noticed that the poles around here have a Hydro Québec tag. They do belong to Hydro Québec but, a long time ago, it signed an agreement with Bell that is still in effect, delegating to Bell the responsibility to manage access and thus award permits for the use of the poles for communications purposes.

The irony of this is that governments – federal and provincial – are footing most of the bill for the deployment of High Speed Internet in undeserved areas but that a private regulated company is compromising these projects, here and in many other areas of Québec.

I hear that governments are making serious efforts to untangle this situation which, by the way, does not seem to exist in Telus territory.

Pricing at Fibre Argenteuil

If you currently buy Internet service from Bell in Dunany and move to Fibre Argenteuil, your bill will be about the same (around 52$). But, that is a bit like comparing an old banger with a Tesla. From Bell, you get 5 Mbits as Fibre Argenteuil give you download speeds of 50Mbits – 10 times faster – and unlimited download.

However, if you choose to buy all three services from Fibre Argenteuil – Internet, telephony and television – by my estimate, you will save some money.

I used my current invoice from Bell and compared it with what I would pay to Fibre Argenteuil for its Ultimate Trio package.

For 129,00$ per month (before taxes), Fibre Argenteuil will give me state of the art technology,  Internet download speeds of 100 Mbits, a full telephony package and an exhaustive list of TV channels in both languages. To that amount, one needs to add about 15$ a month for the decoder, recorder and a long distance package. That is a total of about 145$ a month.

My current monthly invoice from Bell (Internet, telephony and TV) is 164.84$ (before taxes).

This is an approximation as the packages are not totally similar but, as you can see, choosing Fibre Argenteuil will be a no brainer.

You will find the full tariff list on the web site of Fibre Argenteuil.

Cottagers will learn with pleasure that Fibre Argenteuil will offer seasonal subscriptions (details at bottom of the page).

The MRC is vigorously pursuing its efforts to unclog the permit machinery. On top the submission to the CRTC, it has solicited the help of political authorities both in Québec and in Ottawa.

Support your MRC.!