The Arctic’s Internet Is So Expensive That People Mail the Web on USB Drives
In the sparsely populated Canadian Arctic, an internet connection with a one megabit per second download speed on an “ultra” home office plan can cost you $100 every month. For the people who live there, accessing the online services most of us take for granted means coming up with crafty workarounds.
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To get around these restricting circumstances, Tiggatujuq told me that he’s set up a computer in his dad’s broom closet in Calgary, which he can access remotely to download files using the internet connection there. He usually downloads software or system updates, which would otherwise take up a decent chunk of his monthly data allowance, he said, or Netflix content, which he told me he downloads locally using an app called Replay Media Catcher.
After Tiggatujuq downloads what he needs, his dad loads it on to a 128 gigabyte USB key and mails it to Cambridge Bay for just a couple bucks worth of postage. Tiggatujuq mails it back after retrieving its contents. This convoluted approach has been adopted by some businesses in Nunavut, which rent servers in the South, and Tiggatujuq repeats it every two weeks.