Feedback From our First Fibre Internet Customer: How Xplore is Enabling Online Work and Learning

This spring, Xplornet launched fibre Internet in Prince Edward Island! The first customer to be connected to Fibre Internet was Margaret Rooney in Orwell Cove, PEI.

“When the team was here, they said I was the first person in Canada and I was so surprised. How did I, in little Orwell Cove, end up being the first in Canada?” Margaret said.

Xplornet is all about having great Internet, regardless of where you choose to live. Margaret described her backyard as “rolling farm land, looking out on the ocean.”

“We know our neighbours and the kids can run free in the back woods and have fun and I don’t have to worry about them. It's beautiful, we can ride on trails through the woods and up into the back forest or go down to the shore and ride the beach. It is very nice,” she explained.

Her favourite part about living rural is being close to nature.

"You get pretty depressed when you’re inside all the time but when you’re in the country you can go outside and do whatever you want, enjoy the fresh air and do your thing. I like to snowshoe with my children. We horseback ride and spend our summer in the river swimming. It’s a freedom that not everyone has,” she said.

Before she was with Xplornet, Margaret had a difficult time with her home Internet connection.

“It was so slow that when I taught vet college online, I couldn’t play the videos, join Zoom meetings or upload presentations,” she said. “When you’re teaching from home you need to be able to do these things.”

Margaret originally switched to Xplornet because we offered faster service.

“It was good. The meetings were definitely better than with [other provider]. When Xplornet offered me fibre, a direct connection, I was pleased. Plus, I have six children and when school was shut down, they were all on the Internet at the same time as I was working. With [other provider] we couldn’t do that but with Xplornet we could. For example, this past weekend we had two computers, a telephone and the TV on and all of it worked well,” she said.

When the team arrived to get Margaret’s fibre connection hooked up, they were pleased to find that she had made them a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies!

“The team was fantastic. They were helpful and polite and they listened to my concerns. They were so pleasant. They wanted to help and wanted to make it better, and it’s rare to see that now. I would make that team cookies any day,” she said.

The first customers to be connected to fibre also served as a testing group. Offering a select group of customers access to the network ahead of full market launch lets Xplornet gather important customer feedback and ensure that the service is working as expected.

“It’s been very reliable since they fixed it up. I haven’t had any issue with it dropping at all. They were super polite to listen to my concerns and address them. I was a customer with [other provider] for 20 plus years and when I asked for an upgrade, they said there wasn't anything else available and they wouldn’t give me a deal because of my loyalty so that’s why I switched. And they weren’t nice to talk to whereas the Xplornet people were very sincere and polite. On the weekend we had multiple devices on at the same time and it worked great,” she explained.

Because Margaret is currently working from home, a strong Internet connection is key to her making a living.

“With my kids, multiple times they’ve had to do their schoolwork full time online. My husband likes to watch TV, but for the most part it’s for work and school so it’s a serious priority,” she said. “Now, where my entire job is online it has to be efficient, effective and reliable and it doesn’t matter where you live, if your job is making you work online from home you’ve got to be able to access it otherwise you lose your job.”

Fibre Internet is now available to more than 270 homes and businesses in Prince Edward Island, including the communities of Vernon Bridge, Millview, Vernon River, Pownal, Mount Mellick, Alexandra, Alberry Plains, Belfast, Summerville and Eldon, with more coming across the country.

Use our Fibre Look Up tool to see if Fibre Internet is available at your home!