Cogeco Cable is mailing flyers to residents in eastern Canada promoting the company’s ‘value’ option:

• 4Mbps download speed
• 12 Month Contract with $75 early termination fee
• Increases to $32.95/mo off contract
• “Generous” 15GB usage cap with $1.50/GB overlimit fee (maximum penalty: $50)

Cogeco calls this plan ideal “for anyone who uses the Internet to exchange emails with friends, search sites and download pictures.”

In other words, it’s barely broadband for those who barely use the Internet.

Many Ontario and Quebec phone companies can offer even faster speeds through traditional DSL service. In Bell Fibe areas, for $6 more a month, customers can get a 15/10Mbps package for $26.97/mo for six months, which includes a safer 75GB allowance. At the end of six months, threaten to walk and Bell will extend the offer an extra six months.

Customers bundling services with either Bell or Cogeco may be able to negotiate for a package with better speeds and a more generous allowance. While Cogeco has cracked down on promotions, Bell has not, so customers served by Cogeco are advised to ask about all available deals before committing to either provider.

Canadians: Get ready for more cell towers in your neighborhood.

Industry Canada’s fuzzy math threatens to allow cell phone companies to erect new cell towers in some of the country’s most scenic areas, which often coincidentally offer the best reception.

Residents in Pontiac, Quebec are learning that first-hand, as Industry Canada approves a controversial proposal from Vidéotron to install an 82-meter cell tower in the middle of a vista that tourist officials use in brochures to promote travel in the Ottawa River region.

It turns out the regulator now only considers an antenna’s base as a factor in determining whether to approve a new cell tower. That base amounts to just one square meter, “too small” by Industry Canada’s standards to conduct an environmental assessment. No matter that the antenna will tower nearly 270 feet into the skyline. Industry Canada is only interested in measuring the three legs of the tower (each leg is evaluated individually, not collectively), and at just one tiny meter, it isn’t worth their time.

That means local residents will have to contend with a new tower 25-stories high. As the Ottawa Citizen puts it, Vidéotron’s tower is smaller in the government’s eye than any pre-fabricated garden shed from Home Depot, which often requires a permit to install.

The new tower will be installed on Hurdman Heights, much to the consternation of area residents and naturalists opposed to its presence, ruining what many call the most scenic place in the region.

The local government of Pontiac has opposed the new Vidéotron tower since it was first announced, but the cable/wireless company pulled an end run around the municipality claiming there was a negotiating impasse and local officials would not meet to work it out, a good enough reason for the regulator to approve the new tower. Pontiac Mayor Eddie McCann says there was no impasse and the local council has been trying hard to reach a deal with the telecommunications company and never cut off talks:

Despite repeated provider claims that usage-based billing will save customers money on their broadband bill, new evidence shows the exact opposite is true. Broadband prices for metered broadband across Canada are rising, not falling, and now outpace pricing in the United States.

The reason for more costly broadband? Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps, overlimit fees, and so-called usage billing, which providers have uniformly implemented on both wired and wireless broadband in most parts of the country.

A new study from PricewaterhouseCoopers finds Canadian consumers now pay 3.9% more for broadband than American consumers do, and prices are expected to increase another 9% by 2016 — from the average $38.43 paid last year to $45 for usage-capped broadband.

Usage billing has been profitable to Canadian providers like Rogers and Bell, with broadband revenues up 17.5% last year as consumers adopted higher priced plans to accommodate their monthly usage.

Canadian providers have also systematically reduced or “re-tiered” usage allowances, engineering service upgrades for customers trying to avoid costly overlimit fees.

“Canada’s broadband fees were lower than those in the United States in 2007-09, but as a result of large increases during the past two years, the average Canadian broadband subscriber paid more in 2011 than the average U.S. subscriber did,” says the report.

Bandwidth caps have allowed Canadian providers to now charge premiums to high bandwidth users, according to the report. Rising use among all broadband customers “should continue to put upward pressure on pricing.”

In the United States, providers are having a more difficult time implementing similar usage caps and overlimit fees, primarily because of consumer-organized backlash.

Adam, a Rogers Wireless customer in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, got the customer service shock of his life when he called the telecommunications company after noticing a previously promised promotion on his wireless account was suddenly set to expire.

“Last year I was promised 100 long distance minutes for free, so long as I keep renewing my contract,” Adam told the Rogers forum on Broadband Reports. “The value was $5, balanced by a $5 credit. Last month an expiry date magically appeared next to the credit, so I called today to find out why.”

That was his first mistake, immediately apparent after the conversation with a Rogers manager quickly degenerated into petulant obstinance.

Some of the shocking things I was told include:

• “This wasn’t documented last year.”
• “According to the terms of service, Rogers is not required to honor what an agent says.”
• “Recordings are not valid in a court of law for this circumstance.”
• “We will not look at the terms of service to support our statements.”
• “We will not listen to your recording of the original call because it doesn’t have an interaction ID.”

A follow-up with Rogers’ Office of the President brought no relief, instead provoking more testy replies from the company’s customer service agents starting with an accusation the customer was lying about the ongoing credit he was promised. Adam helpfully offered to play the original recording of the phone call where the agent made the promise, but Rogers’ executive customer service was having none of it.

“I can’t listen to the call because I’m uncertain of the legality of it,” the Rogers representative replied.

A request to clarify the situation with Rogers’ legal department left Adam on hold for several minutes followed by a frank declaration when the representative returned to the line.

“We’re not going to honor the credit, regardless of what the agent offered you,” said the Rogers senior customer service representative.

Adam was a Rogers wireless customer for 11 years, and remains shocked the company would adopt a “take no prisoners” stance over a $5 monthly credit for calling minutes. But Rogers’ reputation has been questioned by many Canadians for years. One Broadband Reports reader offered:

“Rogers reputation is so bad that it is already 50 miles below the earth’s surface. I guess they want to make it 500.”