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While I have your attention, there are two things I feel compelled to write about.There are more, but that’s for another platform.

Rant #1 - If 50/10 is enough, then the connectivity problem is solved,
and no one needs to do anything more about it.

A recent article from The Wire Report suggested that federal broadband funding was finished, that the 2016 universal service objective defined at 50/10 was sufficient, and that LEO-based satellite options would fill any remaining gaps in connecting the unserved and underserved.

Meanwhile, at the Eastern Canada CRRBC conference, during a fireside chat with Ontario’s Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries, when asked about satellite-based connectivity to solve for the last of the unconnected, he remarked, “..the Premier has been very clear. We're not proceeding with SpaceX, we're not going to proceed with those contracts.”

He also went on to say that the Ontario government is 100% “technology agnostic” and “that they’re not going to exclude a particular proposal from anyone who believes that they can provide reliable high-speed Internet in corners of this province that otherwise would not be served.”

They want Canadian content, but they also recognize that global players can solve the problem. In the end, he said that “if they want to come here, we want to see them participate in our local economy in meaningful ways and not simply ride a wave of public cash.”

Makes sense. So, if Starlink is off the table (even though I’ll suggest there may be some public sector sites in the Province that use Starlink today), who does that leave? Amazon LEO.. unless Telesat Lightspeed decides to carve out something for direct-to-consumer-based services.

Or does the province - or any provincial government in Canada - need to be involved at all anymore? Funding was provided to support infrastructure, not to subsidize subscription costs. Internet access is not a “right” in Canada. It’s a nice to have.

For a $75/month subscription fee and a $10/month terminal rental fee, I can access and subscribe to a 100/20Mbps (at least) service from Starlink, pretty much anywhere in Canada. No provincial or federal involvement required. Twice the 50/10 mandate.

ISED says that’s good enough, and with no terrestrial infrastructure funding required, the problem is solved. Right? Thanks, Elon!

One would think that those who want/need the problem solved for themselves would have done so already, on their own. Is it time to move on to new, shiny things like AI and Energy, or does the horse need to be led to water, with a focus on larger community-based literacy and connectivity?

Rant #2 - Customer Service Excellence - not.

Oh, my. I didn’t think a customer support experience could get any worse than my recent - still unresolved - experience with my non-Bell mobility provider. Until it did.

I have a home phone service with Bell. The same one I’ve had for 30 years at this address. The one connected to the copper network. The one designed to survive cell phone, power, and Internet outages, and the zombie apocalypse.

And they want to take it away from me. Well, that’s not a fair statement. They want to migrate it to their Fiber network as they decommission the ageing, hard-to-maintain copper network. I get it. I spent years working with ISPs who overbuild old copper with Fiber.

I was notified of the pending change through a letter I received in the mail. I guess they figure people who still have landlines also check their mailboxes.

So I read it and saw the offer at the bottom for $ 0/month Fibe 50 as part of the deal. I’m thinking that’s a great deal. Lord knows there are memories of significant outages with my incumbent provider, now I can have a backup 50/10 service just in case, for free.

Here’s where it all gets dumb.

Call #1. “Beinvenue a Bell. For English, press 1”

I remember I should have pressed “deux” for “French” to connect with a CSR in Canada, but no.. like a good Canadian, I complied and pressed one..

Right out of the gate, we’re having some communication issues with the man from the Philippines. I tell him about the letter I received with the promotion for the Free FIBE50 and that I wanted to schedule the copper cutover. I may as well have called the man on the moon. He has no idea what I’m talking about, but he’s going to research it.

Hold please.. I’ll be back soon.

Maybe 10 minutes pass, and he comes back with a promotional package for Internet and Television instead, but no information on my promotion.

I keep telling him I have a letter.. From Bell.. With the promotion outlined. He keeps telling me there’s nothing he can do. He can’t find it in “his system” and can only offer the promotions at his disposal - but he can check with his colleagues (or whoever) to find out more. He asks if I mind being put on hold. *sigh*

More music on hold.. dead air.. etc..

15 minutes later, he returns with nothing but the same offer he originally had. Of course, he’s “sorry”.

After 40 minutes on the call, I need to speak with someone else. I ask for the call to be escalated, which he agrees to, but he tells me they will just offer the same thing.

Call #2. The Escallaton. Customer Retention.

My call is transferred to someone, still well outside of Canada. I explain my situation. I explain that I’ve been on the phone for 40 minutes. I explain that Bell sent me the letter. I explain how frustrating this whole experience has been.

“I’m sorry”. Of course you are.

On hold I go again, as she searches. But alas! She returns with good news, that she has found the promotion.

I enquired as to why the CSRs didn’t have access to the information and was told that they wouldn’t - that it’s only available to the retention team.

[Hey, Bell - maybe (1) inform your front-line people and/or (2) set up a separate inbound phone number for the promotion. You’re the phone company. You can probably figure that out.]

Anyway, things are looking up. And then she says that all we need to do is set up automatic monthly debit payments, and we’re all set.

Wait, what? I have the account set up with a credit card that the phone service is billed to monthly, but that won’t work because we’re talking about the Internet now. Without the debit billing, it’s $5/month.

Terms and conditions say nothing about that. Terms and conditions DO say they can change the rate whenever they want, and I’m fine with that, with 2 months notice, so I’m told (I would cancel..), but now we’re stuck on the $5/month issue.

Yea, I know. It’s $5/month, but it’s now a mission driven by pure frustration..

..and then the call just disconnects. I’m expecting a call back. That doesn’t happen.

But then… Ten minutes later, the phone rings. We never answer it, by the way, so it goes to voicemail.

It was Bell calling with a Customer Satisfaction Survey request. They want to know what my support experience was like on my last call! How timely. Maybe AI is good for something after all.

Normally, those get ignored. But not this time.

Call #3 - 1-866-LORDHELPME

The survey has three questions. Scale of 1-5, with 5 being “great, or very likely to” and 1 being “hahahahaha”. All three questions have a “1” response.

And then, to my surprise, and to their credit, a freeform 5-minute option to describe the situation in detail. It’s likely loosely transcribed and sent off to someone to do something, or nothing with.

I leave my 5-minute message, and then I’m prompted again - something like, “if your problem remains unresolved, press 1 to speak with a customer care” whatever.

I press “1”.

Call #4 - Here we go again.

Nope. Still somewhere in the Philippines, and really hoping by this point I’d end up in Canada somewhere, I’m greeted by someone whose name I didn’t even register.

I explain the issue. I explained that I was disconnected and didn't receive a callback. I was assured that it was bad form and shouldn’t have happened. I was told that she would “help me out”. Mmmhmm..

She reads some notes and says, “Ok, this is about copper retirement.” Yea, no. Sort of.

I explain the situation again. She asks to put me on hold. I told her that I’m now close to over an hour on this, with little patience remaining.

On hold I go again. No music. I keep checking my phone to make sure I wasn’t disconnected.

Ten minutes pass. “Hello?” I question. She replies, “yes, sir, I’m still searching”.

Another five minutes pass. Science. My questioning of “What’s going on?” is met with a grunt, and nothing else. I reply, “all I get is a grunt? What is happening here?”

To which she replies with something about her system, then comes back with a special promotion for FIBE 15, not FIBE 50. I’m thinking I’m just not hearing correctly, and I confirm that it’s FIBE 50. She says, FIBE 15.

I remind her that I have a physical piece of mail in front of me, complete with questionable conditions on the back, that I would like to send to someone who can actually help me complete this offer.

And then the call drops. And I don’t hear back from them.. again. It’s not like they don’t have at least two numbers to contact me with.

Still unresolved, this makes my recent customer service experiences with my incumbent provider look exceptional. The bar has been set pretty low. Maybe that’s the plan.

Through all of this, I have accomplished absolutely nothing.

If there is anyone from Bell reading this who can help me out, at least with my therapy bills and then this migration to copper, please reach out.

QUICK HITS:

Critical Undersea Infrastructure ISR Fusion, Small Wars Journal examines how intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities can be fused with fibre sensing to protect undersea cable infrastructure. The piece argues that distributed acoustic sensing along submarine cables provides persistent environmental monitoring with defence and intelligence applications.

My Take: The same fibre that carries the internet can also listen to the ocean floor. Governments are starting to treat cable infrastructure as dual-use strategic assets, not just commercial ones.

Completing the Ground Disturbance Lifecycle, The Alberta Infrastructure Institute examines how fibre sensing technology integrates into the full ground disturbance management lifecycle, from pre-dig planning through post-construction monitoring. The piece highlights how continuous sensing along buried infrastructure reduces damage risk and improves regulatory compliance.

My Take: Ground disturbance is still one of the leading causes of pipeline and utility damage. Embedding sensing into the lifecycle rather than treating it as a post-incident tool changes the risk equation entirely.

QUICK HITS:

🇨🇦 Government of Canada Strengthens Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure with Royal Assent of Bill C-8, Canada's Bill C-8 received Royal Assent, establishing mandatory cybersecurity standards and reporting requirements for operators of critical infrastructure including telecommunications, energy, and finance. The legislation gives the government new powers to compel security upgrades and share threat intelligence.

My Take: Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT priority. It's becoming a core requirement for the operation of critical infrastructure. Bill C-8 reflects a broader shift where resilience, accountability, and incident readiness are becoming just as important as preventing attacks in the first place.

🇨🇦 CBC's Hockey Night in Canada Ends as NHL Rights Deal with Sportsnet Expires, CBC has officially ended its Hockey Night in Canada broadcast after its NHL rights sharing arrangement with Sportsnet expired. The CBC will no longer broadcast NHL games, ending one of the longest-running sports broadcasting partnerships in Canadian history.

My Take: It’s like someone took Timbits away from Canadians.

The Invisible Home - Smart home technology promised to disappear into the background. It’s finally starting to.

My Take: The shift happening now is important because the competitive advantage is moving away from hardware features and toward experience.

Solid-State ACs Promise a Cool Future, MIT Technology Review examines solid-state air conditioning technology that cools without compressors, refrigerants, or moving parts by using electrochemical and electrocaloric materials. The technology promises dramatically lower energy consumption than conventional AC with a smaller physical footprint.

My Take: Cooling is one of the highest operational costs for data centres and telecom equipment rooms. Solid-state AC that significantly reduces energy use without refrigerants is worth tracking.

Artemis III Crew Revealed: NASA Announces Astronauts for One of History's Most Complex Missions, NASA has announced the four-person crew for Artemis III, the mission intended to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in over 50 years. The announcement marks a significant milestone in the program as hardware and mission planning continue to advance.

My Take: Artemis is about creating a transportation system that supports repeat missions, scientific research, and eventually a permanent lunar presence. Maybe they’ll build that data centre on the moon that I was talking anout.

🇨🇦 Securing Canada's Digital Future: Why PBMM Matters Beyond Government, Palo Alto Networks argues that Canada's Protected B, Medium Integrity, Medium Availability cloud security standard should extend beyond government to critical infrastructure operators in sectors like telecom, healthcare, and finance. The post outlines how PBMM compliance frameworks address the unique data sovereignty and security requirements of sensitive Canadian workloads.

My Take: One thing to keep in mind is that this is a vendor announcement, so it's naturally designed to promote Palo Alto's platform. The more important takeaway isn't the certification itself, but the broader industry trend toward validated security frameworks and operational resilience.

San Andreas and San Jacinto Faults Scarily Close to Major Earthquake, A new study finds that the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems in California are in a critically stressed state, with researchers warning the faults are closer to a major rupture than previously understood. The study used advanced seismic modelling to assess accumulated strain.

My Take: A major California earthquake affects more than just people in California. It disrupts internet infrastructure, data centres, and supply chains that the rest of North America depends on.

China's Doomed Plan to Create a Cloud-Seeding Corridor, China's ambitious plan to create a cloud-seeding corridor spanning thousands of kilometres to redirect rainfall has encountered major scientific and logistical obstacles. The effort reflects how far the country is willing to go to address water scarcity and climate instability.

My Take: Don’t they have some extra lead and melamine they can use?

Fox to Acquire Roku in $22 Billion Deal, Fox Corporation has agreed to acquire Roku for approximately $22 billion, combining Fox's broadcast and cable content with Roku's streaming platform and connected TV operating system. The deal gives Fox direct access to Roku's roughly 90 million active accounts.

My Take: The streaming wars are now about controlling the entire customer experience. Fox's acquisition of Roku reflects a broader shift in which distribution, advertising, and first-party data are becoming just as valuable as the shows and movies themselves.

My Take: “SpaceX’s $2.46 trillion market cap is larger than the combined value of the next 20 biggest public space companies, which together are worth about $235 billion.”

IMDb: 6.8/10

JMDb: 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿/10 (Very Spielberg-ish. Did I mention I didn’t like ET?)

Steven Spielberg returns to alien territory with Disclosure Day, a 2026 sci-fi thriller written by David Koepp from Spielberg's own story, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo. The film follows a group of whistleblowers racing to broadcast evidence of extraterrestrial contact and government cover-ups to a global audience — with John Williams scoring the whole affair.

Rotten Tomatoes critics describe it as a humanistic take on one of Spielberg's most revisited themes, calling Blunt's work a career highlight. Francesca Steele of The i Paper lauded it as a "giant, glorious blockbuster with a huge heart," deeply embedded with Spielberg's signature hopefulness for human empathy.

Structurally, the film functions as one long chase sequence with a satisfying payoff, and it's clearly the work of a master. Some critics note it doesn't quite reach the awe of Close Encounters, but as summer blockbusters go, Disclosure Day is a propulsive, emotionally grounded ride well worth taking.

Jason’s Industry Insights is produced by Verity Aptus.

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