Internet hard: The grocery store offers its Wi-Fi to the whole village

During all hours of the day and night, residents of Saint-Matthew-du-Park near Shavinigan come to park near the small A. Langlois grocery store to take advantage of its Wi-Fi.

Also read: The Internet is still not available in the teleworking age

“Sometimes, there are a lot of people overloading and unloading the Internet,” laughs co-owner Denise Samson.

Before the imposition of the Quebec curfew, the villagers arrived “day, evening, night”. From now on, they do it before 8pm.

As soon as you walk away from the main street in this municipality with a population of less than 1,500, connection problems often come up.

Residents often come to Mr. Samson’s grocery store for their emails or for studies or telecommuting meetings. According to him everyone knows their code.

Previously, the grocery store had a table with Wi-Fi access to serve customers, but this has not been possible since the epidemic began. So people use the service from their cars.

Mutual assistance

“Most of the people who use it are our loyal customers. I am happy to give it. Once there, it is not a question of money,” he assured us.

Guy Cloutier, a professor at the University of Montreal and laboratory director at CHUM, took advantage of this throughout the summer.

He went to his chalet in March for telecommuting. Until recently, he went to the Convenience store two or three times a day to pick up his emails, three kilometers one way, three to come back.

Another time, a long time ago, he was at a grocery store, enjoying services directly on a table set up in front of the beer refrigerator.

“It made my colleagues laugh,” he said.

Guy Cloutier’s chalet was finally tied up at high speed in January.

Hope for the residents

“It’s a total pleasure,” he wrote in an email shortly afterwards, thanking Mosquicom for honoring its promise.

Mosquicom is a non-profit organization established by the municipalities of Maskinong MRC, with no major providers providing services to areas within the region.