How Xplore’s Fixed Wireless Home Internet is Changing One Rural Saskatchewanian’s Life

When Xplore called to Interview Andy Froneman, his TV was on in the background.

“Do you hear that? Thanks to Xplore we can stream TV now!,” he said.

Born in South Africa and raised in England, Andy moved to Canada a decade ago for a temporary work opportunity.

He hadn’t planned to stay and then “love happened.”

Andy married his husband and relocated to rural Saskatchewan permanently. After years living in Rockford, a small town with limited Internet and cellphone service, he recently moved to Kelvington and connected to Xplore.

“I knew someone who had Xplornet satellite service 10 years ago and it wasn’t good. When I saw the ads online for Xplore LTE, I decided to give it a chance and oh my god am I ever happy. It’s so so good. For the first time in 10 years, I’m able to do things that normal people do on the internet,” he said.

(A lot has changed in 10 years at Xplore. Our satellite network is getting a major upgrade with the upcoming launch of 100 Mbps-speed service on JUPITER 3 and we’re rolling out more fibre and ultra-fast fixed wireless Internet across the country all the time).

Xplore Internet with speeds up to 100 Mbps launched in Kelvington this fall and is now available in hundreds of other communities.

“Our community is so small, yet we have the best Internet, and I am just telling everybody about it. I have a friend that lives 100 km away and she’s like, “I’ve been with them for 2 years and it’s so awesome!” We absolutely love Xplore and we‘re dumbfounded we can get 5G out here. Our mobile provider doesn’t even do that yet!”

After growing up in more urban places, Andy has loved experiencing the friendliness of rural people and the true sense of community. He says it’s a delight that anytime he walks into a store everyone greets him and knows his name.

“People come over like you see in the movies with little baskets of food and welcome messages,” he said. “My landlord asked me the other day “is your garage door open”. When I got home, I found a note that said, “Happy early Christmas.” They had filled my freezer with beef from their farm.”

Lucky for Andy, he has what he called the “smartest home in Kelvington.” He can open his garage door using his mobile device from wherever he happens to be! Since connecting to Xplore Internet he has taken it upon himself to completely automate his home.

Home automation can use a lot of data, which is why Andy paid close attention to data options when selecting his Internet provider.

“There are other providers in the area but there’s always a limitation. I wanted the full unlimited experience. If we were limited to a certain amount of data, it would run out quick. That’s exactly why I chose Xplore,” he said.

Andy and his husband used to have to drive to town and check into a hotel to use the Internet, now they can do all their banking, streaming and surfing from the comfort of their rural home, including video calls to family in South Africa.

“And, we don’t have cable or satellite TV. We cut it all off because we can stream everything. It saves us a lot of money,” he said.

If you’re interested in Cutting the Cord, check out Xplore’s guide to Canada’s streaming services.

Check Your Address below to find out if Internet with speeds up to 100 Mbps and unlimited data is available where you live.