Newmarket resident Danielle Lowe has not been happy with municipally supported efforts to install fibre internet on her street.
TelMAX has started installing its internet throughout town after purchasing the previously town-owned internet utility company. That has led to teams of workers in trucks in Newmarket neighbourhoods putting lines into the ground, with cleanup efforts underway this spring.
But Lowe said she and others in her neighbourhood are not happy with the quality of the cleanup, and it is less than what telMAX has advertised.
“My lawn was torn up for something I’m not using,” she said. “I understand it’s town property, but it was messy, it was noisy and it was an inconvenience.”
Some residents have expressed unhappiness with how the utility company is repairing lawns that had to be dug up for the job. Instead of using sod, telMAX is placing dirt and seed to fill up any holes it has left behind.
This is all in a bid to install high-speed fibre internet throughout town, something the town tried to do with its own municipally owned utility company, ENVI, before it sold it off to Telmax. The town has said it is vital to ensure high-speed accessibility throughout the community.
Lowe said she understands the pursuit of infrastructure, but telMAX could do better with cleanup. She referenced an informational door hanger distributed by the company: “At the end of construction, telMAX will restore the neighbourhood to the condition from when construction began.”
“It’s going to take quite some time for it to fill in, so we’re going to have patchy lawns for the next few months that we’re going to have to take care of,” she said.
The resident is not alone in being upset.
“Most of us put a lot of time and effort in taking care of our over-taxed property,” said a Newmarket resident who responded to Lowe’s Facebook post. “To have companies like this just walk in and do as they please with it and leave it a mess only to expect us to turn around and buy the service they’ll be trying to sell us soon is really frustrating.”
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor responded on Facebook to Lowe regarding the photograph she posted of a dirt fill-in on the town-owned land at her curb. He said he does not see an issue with not using sod to repair the hole.
“I fully understand that the telMAX installation process has been impactful. It is, of course, a major infrastructure program,” he said, adding that the image “looks tidy, and it will become grass with a little care.”
However, he added that telMAX will be responsible to clean anything at a lesser standard than the picture.
“Please contact the town offices if you believe telMAX has left your area and left the site incomplete,” Taylor said.
Not everyone in Newmarket saw an issue with the company’s cleanup, and not using sod.
“This is much needed infrastructure bringing competition to a rather oligopolistic industry,” a Newmarket resident said on Facebook. “We should all be welcoming this infrastructure not wasting the mayor's time concerned about a patch of grass.”
TelMAX marketing vice-president Meg Shephard said the company is committed to restoring affected areas as quickly as possible.
"All restorations will comply with the town’s standards. Restoration work is ongoing from spring through fall," she said, adding that residents can message about specific concerns at 1-844-4telMAX, or email construction concerns to [email protected].
Still, Lowe said that despite the infrastructure's benefits, it is not right that telMAX is not meeting the standards that it advertised.
“It’s a matter of how they deal with the aftermath," Lowe said.
