The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that after almost a decade, Ryan Christianson had grown tired of losing his Internet connection during storms and on windy days. The Globe's Alexandra Posadzki writes that spotty service from rural provider Xplore Inc., made running his business -- a wheat, barley and canola farm east of Humboldt, Sask. -- challenging. "It was a struggle to try to do things on-line, even just simple banking," Mr. Christianson said. He recently made the switch to SpaceX's satellite Internet provider, Starlink. The service costs $20 more a month, but the difference in quality has been "night and day," he said. Mr. Christianson's experience is emblematic of the problems facing Xplore, the Woodstock, N.B., telecom. Earlier this month, credit-rating agency Moody's downgraded Xplore's outlook to negative from stable, citing "continued weak operating performance, which has led to elevated financial leverage." The agency currently rates the telecom's debt as B3, deemed speculative and high risk. Xplore also faces growing competition from the big telcos -- BCE, Telus and Rogers -- which have been steadily encroaching on Xplore's territory as they expand their networks into more rural areas.