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Sluggish internet equals complaints

If you've noticed that your internet is slower than it used to be, you're not alone. The islands internet service is getting more and more sluggish, as more people use the system for longer amounts of time.Jim Pazarena of qcislands.net said his phone has been ringing constantly in the last few weeks with complaints about slow service. He said there is no particular problem, just an ever-increasing amount of traffic."It is getting slower every day," he said. "You can only put so many cars on the highway, it's going to slow down... We're using our capacity right to the limit."Islanders are using the internet to do everything from banking, to watching movies and playing video games, to taking educational courses. Right now, Mr. Pazarena said, there's so much traffic that there is no particular time of the day or week when service is better."It's busy from the morning until I go to bed," he said. "It's just busy."There's some relief on the horizon, as GwaiiTel is putting the finishing touches on a new radio link that will provide a huge increase in capacity. But Mr. Pazarena cautions that the switch to the new system will take some time, as a lot of reprogramming will be required.