Rural broadband provider Xplore announced it updated “a bunch” of its Ontario towers with 5G and will leverage the new technology to offer home internet with speeds of up to 100Mbps.
Xplore shared the information in a (tweet? xeet? post?) on the website formerly known as Twitter. The company shared seven Ontario communities that will benefit from the 5G launch and encouraged people living in those communities to call 1-866-841-6001 to learn more about the service.
- Russell, ON
- West of Kemptville, ON
- Brewers Mills, ON
- South of Madoc, ON
- Yarker, ON
- Harrow, ON
- Moores Corners, ON
However, 5G service is just one way that Xplore will connect Canadians. The company also recently launched a JUPITER 3 satellite that it will use to provide internet in rural Canada. The JUPITER 3 satellite is the world’s largest communications satellite and was launched via a SpaceX rocket — SpaceX is also the company behind Starlink, another satellite internet service making waves in Canada.
Xplore plans to offer internet speeds of 100Mbps download and 10Mbps upload via satellite in the fall. Unlike Starlink, Xplore says it won’t charge for hardware to use its satellite internet (though it may charge a conversion fee or installation fee). Starlink hardware costs $759 but has been discounted to $199 in Canada since May.
Another core difference between the two is that Starlink uses low earth orbit (LEO) satellites while Xplore uses geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) — sometimes called geostationary — satellites. Starlink claims its LEO satellites provide much lower latency since there’s less distance for the signal to travel.
It’s not clear how much Xplore will charge for its service. Starlink costs $140/mo.
Header image credit: Xplore
Source: Xplore (X)
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
