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Le Ripoff: Bell Jacks Up Internet Rates Another $3 a Month Just Because They Can

Phillip Dampier April 28, 2011 Bell (Canada), Canada, Data Caps 2 Comments

Remember when Bell’s head of government affairs Mirko Bibic told Parliament usage-based billing was necessary because he didn’t think it fair that all Canadians should pay for “heavy users” of the company’s Internet service?  That was a few months ago.  This is April — time for a rate increase that will jack Bell broadband service rates up an additional $3 a month, effective in May.  That’s a rate increase every customer will pay, and comes with Bell’s everyday Internet Overcharging scheme — usage caps and overlimit fees.

Stop the Cap! reader Alex in Quebec sent a copy of his bill showing Bell’s “Price Update.”  They don’t even want to call it a rate increase.

Bell's notification to customers in Quebec their bills are going up.

“Bell Canada will increase their Internet rates by as much as 15% (for Québec ”Essential” users),” Alex says. “Although $3 may seem like a negligible charge, it especially affects those with budget Internet plans, such as Essential, E Plus, and Performance ‘Fibe’ 6.”

Bell’s website cannot even get the story straight, originally telling customers their overlimit fees would now be rounded to the nearest gigabyte, instead of megabyte.  A Bell spokesperson tells Stop the Cap! that is a typo — they really still mean megabyte.

Bell is one of the few phone companies out there actually increasing their long distance calling rates as well, Alex tells us.  The original announcement came around the same time as the earthquake in Japan, underlining how essential long distance can be during natural disasters.  Many cable companies have waived long distance fees to Japan altogether.  Not Bell.

The rate increases mean customers like ‘Jackorama’ in Hamilton will pay $56.90 for “up to 7Mbps” ‘Performance DSL’ service.  After HST fees, he’ll pay $64.30 just for broadband service, with a 60GB monthly usage limit.  If he exceeds that, he’ll pay even more — $2.50 per gigabyte, or, if he knows he’ll exceed the cap in advance: $5/month for 40 GB, $10/month for 80 GB, or $15/month for 120 GB.

That also assumes Bell can count usage correctly, and there is every indication they cannot.  The company has admitted its usage meter is prone to errors — misreads they are still prepared to bill their customers.

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Alex Perrier
Alex Perrier
13 years ago

“Le Ripoff” for sure! 🙁 Fortunately, i left Bell many months before this letter was sent to me. Thus, i avoided the rate increases. Unfortunately, TELUS increased their mobile broadband rates by much more, up to 28%. For example, their “Smart Hub Flex Plan”, which includes 3GB of mobile data, now costs $45 instead of $35. With a voice service, the increase was from $55 to $60. As a TELUS customer, i have the lower rate for the rest of my contract, but it’s very little reassurance to me to see them increase the price by so much without changing… Read more »

Tony
Tony
13 years ago

Scum I signed a 12-month contract few months ago, already Bell dishonoured it.

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