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Despite years of arguments that Bell Canada (BCE) could not sustain offering unlimited Internet access, the company suddenly managed an about-face Monday, announcing the launch of a $10 unlimited Internet add-on option for broadband customers who do not want to worry about their online usage.
Bell customers in Québec and Ontario who choose at least three Bell services (broadband, television, phone, satellite, or wireless service) can qualify for the add-on. Broadband-only customers and those with two qualifying Bell services can also buy unlimited access for an additional $30 a month.
Oosterman
“Canadians are the heaviest Internet users in the world and our time spent online is growing every day,” said Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility and Residential Services. “Thanks to Bell’s massive network investments and the success of the new Fibe network, Bell is taking the lead in maximizing the online experience with affordable unlimited usage options.”
Another factor may be a forthcoming ruling regarding wholesale access to Bell’s network from Canada’s chief telecom regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), rumored to be beneficial to the growing number of independent providers that already offer unlimited access.
Canada’s largest cable and phone companies have imposed usage caps for at least five years, although a few in western Canada have not enforced them. Most providers offer allowances tied to Internet speeds, compelling customers to upgrade to avoid overlimit penalties if they exceed the limit.
Bell’s decision to offer an add-on may force Canadian cable operators, particularly Rogers, to follow suit.
(Thanks to Stop the Cap! reader Alex for the heads up.)
Other stories of interest:
- CRTC Ruling on Usage-Based-Billing Arrives at 4PM ET: Unlimited Internet Plans At Stake
- Bell Admits Usage Billing is About Smashing Independent Competition
- Usage Caps Leave Bell Customers Test Driving Their New Broadband Speeds
- Same Story, Different Countries: Whether It’s Bell or AT&T, Usage Billing & Caps Are Nonsense
- Bell Lights Up Fiber to the Home in Quebec City, Suburbs
Bell is smart to bring back unlimited internet. The whole usage cap idea was nothing more than a scam to protect cable’s multi-million dollar reality TV model.
Correct, but not quite true. They don’t care that much about the “TV” model per se other than that’s their established business which they have a huge investment in. It really comes down to protecting profit and generating more at the lowest cost.
If they can make you pay more for the same internet, now paying extra $10-30/mo for the same ‘unlimited’ service you had before, then they really don’t care about the “TV” side as they just kept their average revenue per customer up.
If it was in their interest they’d be more than willing to sacrifice the TV business for Internet, just as the Cellular carriers like AT&T and Verizon have sacrificed their landline phone/DSL for high margin cellular data.
Plan on seeing more rate hikes or hidden prices increases on the Internet side, and more leeway on the Cable TV side as they start offering small channel packages to appease TV subscribers as the fees go too high on those (they will never do ala carte). Either way they will win as you’ll never see your overall bill go down, only costs shift from TV to Internet.
This is really nothing but a rate hike in disguise. And I would honestly like to see what they do about someone who buys this “add-on” and then keeps his DSL line humming at max capacity all month long. I’m sure Bell retains the right to “manage” bandwidth right down to 512k…
One of my LinkedIn folks had this on his posting this morning – Interesting or not?
Love me
I got a flyer for this earlier, and contacted Cogeco about a similar plan. They told me, to my face, that it is ILLEGAL- yes, ILLEGAL, to offer unlimited internet in Canada from a Canadian based company, and then told me that Bell had ‘outsourced’ and was no longer Canadian based, so it could get around this ban.
Apparently this ban does not target third party companies that rent or lease network usage from big telecom, as despite all canadian companias being banned from selling unlimited packages, canadian companies that lease network useage from other canadian companies, are legal to sell unlimited packages, despite the companies whose networks they lease prohibiting it.
WHAT A RIP OFF!!!
$30 EXTRA, when they charge $40+ for internet???
I’m paying them $60 a mth and with that extra I’d be spending $90+ tax and mth!
Other companies offer it for much cheaper!
That’s why I’m changing providers.
They keep overcharging us too.
They say from April 28 until today we’ve used 70 gigs and out of that 40 gigs have been uploaded!
NOT possible, I have usage monitoring software installed on both machines and 1 shows 35 gigs TOTAL (which is right) and my mother’s being less than 1 gig (she only checks e-mail and browses now and then.
I don’t stream videos and all that, how do I have more uploads than downloads?
BELL CANADA RIPS IT’S CUSTOMERS OFF!