1) Attention especially to members in the Kitchener/Waterloo area. We know that Wi-Fi is slower than wired internet and much less efficient. Also, it can interfere with medical equipment as well as with the health of vulnerable people. Sadly, most hospital staff and management do not know this, and here is a prime example of a family needing help to bring wired internet to their son, at least, but hopefully to the entire hospital. I am hoping that someone can help raise this option to the family, the media, and, hopefully, to the hospital management. It would benefit all patients and staff as well as this young man.
Kitchener hospital’s internet policy leaves patient’s family paying $600 monthly for service they say he needs
“The 30-year-old was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy — which is characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, and requires complex medical care. He relies on a ventilator to breathe, which impacts his speech, and has limited mobility.
Lister is only allowed to see his parents for an hour each per week due to pandemic visitation restrictions. When he’s not sleeping, he’s browsing YouTube videos, chatting with his friends or girlfriend on Facebook, or watching his favourite movies and shows on streaming services….
However, Tom’s dad, Malcolm Lister, says a change to the hospital’s internet policy has restricted streaming services and blocked some YouTube videos. The family say they have no other option but to pay out-of-pocket fees for a workaround that isn’t feasible for much longer….
The family wants the hospital to step in. But Malcolm said that when asked about the policy change, the hospital told them “the internet wasn’t sufficiently strong enough to support streaming for everyone. They now have said as well that they think it interferes with medical equipment….
“Grand River Hospital is dedicated to creating positive patient experiences, and part of this includes ensuring those in our care can stay connected with loved ones by using our wireless internet, free of charge. We balance this with our priority of cybersecurity, ensuring patient information, and our clinical and corporate hospital systems are safe, secure, and available for patient care at all times,” Robertson-Cain said.”
2) Sent from someone in the USA, it is about Duke Energy, which is a very large provider of power in the South East US, says that smeter info can be transmitter via a “daisy chain”, where one home’s smeter signals may not reach a collector, it can be sent to another home, even a couple of other homes, until the signal can be sent. I wonder if this is being done here. It would have been interesting for the person getting a huge bill to see if his neighbours were getting smaller bills than pre-smeter. Could “daisy chaining” cause usage from one home to be added to another’s, thus resulting in high bills?
(click on photos to enlarge)
News 13 Investigates: Duke Energy’s smart utility meters not without problems
““They said, ‘Well, it works on a cell signal.’ I said, ‘Well, we don’t really have a cell signal up here.’ They said, ‘Well, that’s OK, because if any of your neighbors do, it will daisy chain and everyone will be connected,” Baker said.
What does daisy chaining mean? Essentially that means your smart meter will relay your energy usage using an RF signal to a hub in your neighborhood. If you can’t connect directly, it could send your usage next door or to the next neighbor or next one until it can get a signal to Duke’s hub, placed in your neighborhood.”
3) Telus believes regulations are hindering its marketing and expansion of 5G technology. What regulations? The vast majority of ISED policies favour telecoms at the expense of the general public. And, IMHO, costs to use the public airwaves should be high enough to cover the healthcare and cybersecurity costs that are and will be incurred thanks to 5G/EMF.
‘Burdensome’ regulations hampering access, cost of spectrum: Telus CEO
“The chief executive of Telus Corp. says the Canadian telecommunications market and the launch of 5G technology is being hampered by regulations and expensive spectrum auctions….
“Canada’s position as a global network leader is being undermined by burdensome regulations governing access to spectrum and its cost.”
Spectrum is a term the telecommunications industry uses to refer to airwaves that transmit wireless signals. Companies get access to spectrum through auctions the federal government hosts.”
4) CRTC has made a ruling that says that having access to fiber cable in condos and apartment buildings doesn’t really benefit the public and neither does competition or choice re service provider. Perhaps Bell taking Ian Scott, the Chair of CRTC, out for a beer paid off.
CRTC’s fibre wire access decision ‘nail after nail after nail in the coffin of competition’: CNOC
“The CRTC’s decision against mandating access to fibre in-building wire (IBW) in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) — on the basis that wire inside apartment buildings can easily be duplicated and that there is sufficient competition in the market — is “very anti-consumer,” according to an advocacy group and smaller telecommunications companies….
“We are disappointed that the CRTC has reversed another major telecommunications decision, once again in favour of big telecom profits and at the expense of increased consumer choice and competition,” Gary Kenning Co-Founder of CloudWifi Inc., said in a written statement to The Wire Report. “This ruling delivers a blow to the millions of Canadians who live in condos and apartments across the country, making it even more difficult to find high quality, reasonably priced alternatives to the big phone and cable companies.” …
“The public good policy consideration does not apply to access to fibre IBW because such access does not have a strong connection to social or consumer welfare, public safety, or public convenience. In addition, the commission does not consider that competition and consumer choice qualify as public good considerations,” it wrote in its decision.”
Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” Thor Heyerdahl