‘People think Wi-Fi is a premium:’ Inuit youth brings free internet to Arctic community
Jessie Kakkik says getting good Wi-Fi changed his life
Jessie Kakkik stands in front of his house across from Qikiqtarjuaq’s Northern store, which became the spot for the community’s free Wi-Fi. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Jessie Kakkik stands a few metres from his home across from Qikiqtarjuaq’s Northern store with his black, off-brand phone in his hand.
Jessie Kakkik provides free Wi-Fi to anyone in Qikiqtarjuaq so that people can feel more connected to the world. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
“I can open YouTube,” he says. Quickly, the app pops up on his screen ready to show videos.
“Or Facebook,” he adds, and without any loading time the app is ready to go.
Kakkik points to the Starlink satellite dish on the roof of his house as the source of his fast internet speed.
He was one of the first people in Qikiqtarjuaq to get the new satellite-based technology, which only became available in Nunavut in late 2022.
By 2024, Kakkik decided he didn’t want to be the only one in his neighbourhood to enjoy the high-speed connection — so he renamed his network “Free Wi-Fi” and made it available to anybody who was close enough to connect to it, which is roughly 10 metres around his house.
He also started to help anyone in the community who was new to Starlink to properly install the equipment for free.
“People think Wi-Fi is a premium,” he said.
“But it’s not. It changed my life.”
Starlink, based in the United States, uses low-orbit satellite technology to connect with dishes on the ground, providing internet access almost anywhere in the world.
Using the satellite service, he says he gets internet speed up to 400 megabits per second. That’s roughly 27 times faster than the maximum download speed in Northwestel’s top plan offered in Nunavut, which currently sits at 15 megabits per second.
By comparison, Canada’s average internet speed was 453 megabits per second in 2023 — 30 times faster than Northwestel’s top speed, according to the Canadian Telecommunication Association, whose members include firms such as Bell, Rogers and Videotron.
The actual internet speed provided by Northwestel in Iqaluit went as low as one megabit per second on Monday afternoon, according to Google Speed Test which describes that as “very slow.” On Tuesday morning, it was around 7.6 megabits.
Nunavummiut are used to regular outages of cellphone and internet connections. Some have gone so far as to ask for refunds for their phone bills.
That was Kakkik’s life too until early 2023, when he installed Starlink.
Having a good connection meant he could pursue his passion for web design.
The 20-year-old Northern store employee is the founder and manager of the local Facebook group called Qikiqtarjuak Public Service Announcements. He also designed several websites, including Qikiqtarjuaq’s unofficial website with the latest news and contact information from local authorities.
Kakkik doesn’t track user activity for the network so he doesn’t know how many people use his free Wi-Fi, but he hopes it helps some people to feel more connected to the world.
His only wish is to make the free Wi-Fi spot outside his home a bit nicer for people who come to use it.
“Maybe a place to sit, so that it would be a hangout area,” Kakkik says. “That would be really nice.”
It’s as simple as this: a place to sit and connect with others and the world around you. The fact that Jessie figured out how to meet this basic need for his community fills me with hope.
This is a great way to support his community; someone should gift him a modem amplifier so people don’t have to be directly outside his windows
This is great and the north needs way more publicly accessible
wi-fi netowrks.
Since it is a personal network though, Could he not be held liable if people are using his network for illegal activity?
Thank you for the information. Given its proximity to my remote location, the likelihood of this occurring is minimal. However, I acknowledge the non-zero risk involved and accept that risk.
Hi Jessie,
The article mentions you don’t track user activity, but this is actually something where you might want to look into how to set up basic tracking so that in case someone does abuse your free internet service, and logs would help point police in the right direction, you’d have some logs to share with them. I don’t know specific examples, you’d have to do some research about them.
I love this project idea of yours though. My dad and I, before he passed away, used to set up computers and networking equipment. I remember fun projects like connecting my grandfather’s house to our wifi via a long range antenna so he could be more connected to the world. I love seeing projects like these that use tech for good. Well done!
I have implemented Privacy Policy also Terms and Conditions via website: https://connect-free-wi-fi.base44.app