Remote Canadian town of Stewart goes offline after sole internet provider shuts down
The people of Stewart could have to wait until well into 2016 until the internet comes back
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Your support makes all the difference.Every Netflix addict's nightmare has come true for the residents of one small Canada town.
From 30 November, people in the remote municipality of Stewart, in the sparsely-populated north western region of British Columbia, have been without any internet - and it's likely to stay that way for up to two months.
Prior to the shutdown, OneWayOut, a community-run internet service provider, was the only company offering internet to the town.
Now, OneWayOut has stopped offering internet services, and the town had been left high and dry.
"For me personally, it's like my life stopped right now," Stewart's mayor Galina Durant told CBC.
"My community, including my house and my office, will be without an internet connection."
It may sound over-the-top to people in the UK, but in a community as remote as Stewart, the internet is a lifeline
Stewart's resident rely heavily on the internet to do banking, entertain themselves, complete remote university courses, and order things that are otherwise hard to come by in the town, which has a population of around 500.
Since the nearest major settlements take hours to get to, internet is crucial.
Explaining their decision for the shutdown on their website, OneWayOut said: "The infastructure required to deliver internet and possibly cell service is extremely expensive - to do it effectively Stewart needs a tower that can serve the entire community."
"It is not our intention to stand in the way of progess. We wish to thank all our customers for your patronage over the last twenty plus years."
Earlier this year the local government of British Columbia announced it would be spending $10 million (£5 million) on a project to bring high speed internet to everyone in the province by 2021, but that goal is still far off.
"We fight so hard to get high-speed internet, and we end up without internet at all," the mayor said.
Now, Canadian ISP Telus and another local service from Terrace will be stepping in to provide internet to Stewart, but that could take four to eight weeks to install.
Until then, the residents of Stewart will have to live offline.
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