Art Ortenburger is a home-schooled teenager who can't get high-speed Internet at his home in Bonshaw, PEI, 24 km. west of Charlottetown. Ortenburger wondered how many other Islanders were beyond reach of broadband, so he crafted a set of automated computer programs to find out. His tools submit each address from the freely-available PEI Civic Address Database to Aliant’s web page. Aliant, the only provider of DSL (or telephone-based) high speed Internet on the Island, responds with one of two messages: Congratulations! You can choose from the following list of services currently available to you…” or: Your address … does not currently qualify for...

24 May, 2010