The main obstical in providing a broadband service to the public is naturally cost. Currently, the instillation of a T1 line can range from 1500 to 3000 dollars depending on your house location and the type of optoelectritic componants you wish to install. The two industries which will likely be the providers of the service are the telephone and cables companies. Each has a distinct addvantage.
Telephone Companies have a great networking and routing ability, but unfortunatly they use twisted paid wire which does not have the bandwidth to provide broadband services. Cable Companies on the other hand, use coax cable in their network which has a much larger bandwidth which can provide a limited number of broadband services. Unfortunatly their networks are passive, one way, and do not have the networking and routing abilities of the telephone companies.
Developments by Rogers Comm. have pushed the development of Canadian broadband communication beyond that of the US. Their vision is to interconnect local broadband cable communication with other narrowband telecommunication on both the local and national level, This will give Rogers the ability to bypass local telecommunication companies and offers customers many more services. For example Cellar phone communication can be routed through Rogers fibre optic trunks to provide customers with cross country service.
Rogers communication has also been involved in a service called CableLink-school which provides over 600 school with broadband service such as on-line Canadian Encyclopedia and access to a classroom edition of The Globe and Mail. Plans are also in the works to provide Cablelink-Work and Cablelink-Home
Other smaller telecommunication companies provide specialized services. Stentor for example provides a broadband link for video conferencing between The SkyDome in Toronto and L.A. The cost of this service is not cheep though one hour of transmission cost roughly 1500 dollars.
Here are some Sits worth taking a look at: