Satellite Internet Service in Bragg Creek
Update . . .
A lot has changed since this article was published. Now, in 2026, there four high-speed internet services in Bragg Creek. Hamlet residents can get Telus cable. Outside the hamlet you can get Xplore, StarLink and Mage. There are also cellular services that provide high speed internet connections. Internet in Bragg Creek is more expensive than it is in the city, but now we can enjoy a full range of information, entertainment and communications.
I’ve heard good reviews of Mage from those who can’t connect to a satellite. Mage uses point-to-point send an receive that provides high-speed where it wasn’t available before.
Back in 2015, things were quite different.
The options for high speed or broadband Internet in rural areas are severely limited. You may be able to get fixed wireless where the signal is transferred using radio waves from a transmitter/receiver on a local tower or as shown in this video you can get a dish installed to connect to satellite internet in outer space.
Bragg Creek is about 50 km west of Calgary, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains – in the forest. About ½ km west of my house is Kananaskis a vast natural area. I like to say that I live at the end of civilization. Most of the time this is great, but when I want to jump on the Internet, it’s a big problem. The local cable companies won’t install high speed cable to the sparsely populated area beyond the hamlet. Davinci (now Xplore), the fixed wireless Internet Services Provider offers a very good service, if you can get it. That is, if it isn’t blocked by hills and trees. If you can’t you only have one choice, wireless satellite service.
Ours is supplied by Xplore. It’s basically the same as Wild Blue and Exede in the United States. In fact, in western North America they use the same satellite, ViaSat-1 (now Jupiter). Jet Blue airlines use the satellite for in-flight entertainment. They have portable systems used for news gathering and disaster relief. Xplore also uses another satellite, the Echostar 17 to supply other parts of Canada. Xplore purchased the use of 9 of the total 72 “beams” that carry the signal 35,783 km to the ViaSat-1 satellite in geostationary (fixed) orbit in outer space. Launched October 19, 2011 aboard a Proton rocket from Russia, it has a total capacity in excess of 140 Gbit/s.
The service I currently subscribe to (in 2026) uses a satellite called Jupiter. My service provides unlimited data (with 500GB at max speed), 100 Mbps download speed / 10 Mbps upload speed, advanced Router included and 24/7 customer service.
That long return trip to space creates a pause before the content appears. This “latency” is noticeable, but not a problem unless you’re an avid gammer. It has an effect on VOIP phone calls, like Skype, but the software they use to manage the flow of data is intended to reduce this. That software is controversial as it throttles or slows down service to those who place a heavy load on their system. This is less of a problem now, but Xplornet used to get a lot of bad press several years ago. I, my neighbours and sites like DSLreports say that most of their problems have been addressed. They also say that the service is variable. My speed tests support that. I’ve seen a range of download speeds from 1.7 Mbits/s to 25 Mbits. The blame game is active, but the load on the system seems to be a big factor. Xplore will offer upgraded service in 2017, once they get new satellites working.
Xplore offers a fixed wireless service in Wintergreen, but I can’t get that signal. I used the Davinci fixed wireless service operating on a tower near Wild Rose for many years. I upgraded to their enhanced service about a year ago. It offers download speed up to 3.5 Mbit/s per second, but I usually got 1.5. As the leaves returned last spring, the service became unreliable. Then the hail storm hit on Aug. 1 destroying the equipment on the tower. The service went down for about a week and when it came back it wasn’t working well. That’s when I decided to switch.
I update the weather on the braggcreek.ca web site every 15 minutes and I also provide updates to several other services. I use the web for other parts of my business and when it isn’t working, my business suffers. I would prefer to get Internet from a local supplier and I stuck with Davinci probably longer than I should have, but I had to make the change. Telus offers a cabled service in the Hamlet of Bragg Creek, but not here. So that’s why you see this man up on my roof installing the Xplore dish and setting up the network connection in my office.