Haldimand — Metro Loop is mid-build
Metro Loop, working with Xplore, is building fibre to 19,000 homes and businesses across Haldimand County. As of May 2024 roughly 6,500 were connected.
Fibre is live in Caledonia, Cayuga, Dunnville and Selkirk. Listed as under construction: Fisherville, Cheapside, Nanticoke, Jarvis, Hagersville, Byng, Lowbanks, Canfield, Conborough, Kohler, Decewsville, Featherstone Point and Peacock Point.
If you are in a live area, fibre is the answer — it will be faster and cheaper than satellite. If you are in an under-construction area, the question is how long you are prepared to wait.
Norfolk — SWIFT finished in 2024
Norfolk's position is simpler. SWIFT declared its Norfolk buildout complete in August 2024: 3,947 homes and businesses, $12.1 million of upgrades.
Rogers built 71 kilometres of fibre serving more than 2,100 homes around Waterford, Wilsonville, Boston, Bealton, Dundurn, Townsend Centre, Villa Nova and Bloomsburg. Execulink delivered over 900 homes in the Long Point area.
Most Norfolk addresses now have a wired option worth having. Check yours before buying satellite.
Fixed wireless
WhiteFox Online runs fibre-fed towers delivering fixed wireless to rural and edge-of-town addresses around Caledonia, Glanbrook, West Lincoln, Haldimand and Brant. The backhaul is fibre; only the last hop is through the air.
It sits between fibre and satellite: better latency than satellite, needs line of sight to a tower, and availability is address-specific.
Satellite
For addresses the builds have not reached and towers cannot see, satellite is the realistic option. It works essentially anywhere with a clear view of the sky, which on a treed property is often not the roof of the house.
The honest caveat is that if fibre is at your road, satellite is the wrong purchase. We will tell you that rather than install it.
And the part all three share
Whichever you end up with, it arrives at one point on the property and stops. The barn, the shop and the far end of the yard are unaffected by which technology delivered the connection to the house. That second problem is the same in every case, and it is the one worth budgeting for.