Last week Prince Rupert’s Internet users experienced severely slower Internet speeds for almost two days.
Connection speeds dropped so low that it became a chore just to watch a YouTube video.
According to Rupert’s only Internet provider, CityWest, the cause of the problem was that a fibre optic cable down in the Lower Mainland was damaged. The line-break in turn affected CityWest’s customers, not just in Prince Rupert, but also in Terrace and Smithers.
Technicians were sent to repair the problem, but the damage to the cable was much worse than expected and so on Canada Day, CityWest had to apologize to its customers and tell them that they would have to wait a bit longer for speeds to go back
up. Speeds were back to normal in Prince Rupert by Saturday night.