Bell Canada Caps Existing Users - Offers some users a plate of options

Bell Canada Caps Existing Users
Offers some users a plate of options
(old news - 09:15AM Wednesday Apr 18 2007)
tags: bandwidth · telco · world

Back in November our users observed that Bell Canada had begun imposing new caps and overage fees on new Sympatico customers. For a while existing customers seemed to be excluded from this, but our users are now saying that isn't the case. One customer, who was already paying $44.95 (Canadian) a month for service, said he was offered a deal where he could:

•Raise his cap another 30GB for $10 extra a month•Get Unlimited Downloading between Friday and Sunday night (weekend unlimited) for $10 extra a month•Pay $20 extra a month for unlimited

In an e-mail to customers, we notice that Bell Canada sells their bandwidth tracking as such:

"Bell Sympatico is always striving to provide our members with a quality experience on the Internet -- we understand that waiting for your favorite sites to load is never fun! The Bandwidth Activity Tracker is just one way Sympatico ensures that all our members can continue to enjoy their high speed connection to the Internet."

Another way would be providing adequate capacity. Customers not on unlimited plans who go above that 30GB limit pay $1.50 per GB up to a maximum of $30.00.

Monday Evening Links

Monday Morning Links

Tuesday Evening Links

Thursday Morning Links

Thursday Evening Links

Friday Evening Links

Backbone Analysis Puts Exaflood Myth To Bed

Forums » Bell Canada Caps Existing Users


	view: topics flat text	Post a:

CrazyFingers join:2003-10-01 Columbia, MO	Pay $20 extra a month for unlimited Well, as long as he gets that in writing, he's fine, right? snicker -- Burrow owl...burrow owl...
	permalink · 2007-04-18 09:22:16 ·

Chris 313 Come get some Premium join:2004-07-18 Houma, LA clubs: ·Comcast ·Charter Pipeline ·Comcast Digital Vo.. ·AT&T CallVantage	Re: Pay $20 extra a month for unlimited said by CrazyFingers : Well, as long as he gets that in writing, he's fine, right? snicker Until they change it again... And people say Comcast is bad.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 09:25:39 ·

pnh102 Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty Premium join:2002-05-02 Mount Airy, MD	Re: Pay $20 extra a month for unlimited said by Chris 313 : And people say Comcast is bad. At least they are advertising what the caps are and what the prices are for going over them, so that customers are better able to choose an ISP should this be a problem for them. -- Only SHATNER is Kirk.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 09:28:18 ·

CrazyFingers

join:2003-10-01
Columbia, MO

edit:
April 18th, @12:36PM

Re: Pay $20 extra a month for unlimited

Part of me is dying inside for saying this.

But pnh102 is right.
If a company is going to impose these types of restrictions on their customers, they should be clearly listed and easily tracked, so the consumer can make an informed decision whether to purchase their service, or remain a customer.
The hidden "SURPRISE! You exceeded this month's invisible double-secret probation limits!!" crap is just wrong.
--
Burrow owl...burrow owl...

permalink · 2007-04-18 09:35:15 ·

peter_m Premium join:2005-07-13 Canada, QC	Re: Pay $20 extra a month for unlimited Yet another reason to go to another DSL reseller. Mine offers more then Sympatico for less. People don;t be afraid to try the other ISPs out there!
	permalink · 2007-04-18 20:30:32 ·

mlerner Premium join:2000-11-25 Nepean, ON	If they start capping me, I'm switching DSL providers. I already pay $46.95/month and I'm not going to pay another $20.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 09:29:43 ·

TK Junk Mail Go ahead, make my day Premium join:2002-03-03 Margate City, NJ clubs: ·Comcast	Capitalism at work Another way would be providing adequate capacity. Customers not on unlimited plans who go above that 30GB limit pay $1.50 per GB up to a maximum of $30.00. They are providing adequate capacity. They are just charging for it like they should. The biggest bandwidth users get to pay more for their service. Capitalism at work. -- -- My BLOG My Web Page
	permalink · 2007-04-18 09:24:10 ·

en102 Canadian, eh? join:2001-01-26 Valencia, CA	Re: Capitalism at work I don't see the problem with what they are doing... 1. Advertising the service AS IT IS.... caps included 2. All (or most large Canadian carriers) have a similar service. 3. I would be able to purchase the plan that works for me.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 11:45:33 ·

adisor19

join:2004-10-11

·Radioactif

·Videotron

·Look Communications

Re: Capitalism at work

Actually, its not really like that.. :

1)The advertising is very misleading. Up to a few months ago they were still signing pple on "unlimited" contracts for 1 - 2 years and now it appears that even those pple will get capped.

2)FALSE. Videotron cable offers truly unlimited, unthrottled and uncapped cable at 10/890. Teksavvy offers truly unlimited DSL as well as other small providers like Colba.net in Montreal.

3)WRONG. This is how pple should NOT think. You should think of switching to one of those alternative providers like the ones i just mentioned and never look back at the likes of Bell and Robbers. Why pay the same price for 30G when you can get unlimited ? Even if you don't use more then 20G, you should go where the value is and reward those companies that gives you, the consumer, more.

Adi

permalink · 2007-04-18 14:44:31 · Print ·

plk bo may sleep in loft Premium join:2002-04-20 Ogden, IA	embrace it Buy into this folks..... pay the extra fees. It will lead to a better business model then no net neutrality. After a few years others will follow suit and prices will come back down. -- Thermaltake 2000a/Asus P4C-e/p4 3.4/ocz3500 2x512/WD.2x200g/raptor2x74 raid 0/ATI 9600/APC sua 1500/Logitech z-680/ Samsung 213t LCD/MX 1000
	permalink · 2007-04-18 09:41:23 ·

adisor19

join:2004-10-11

·Radioactif

·Videotron

·Look Communications

Re: embrace it

LOL embrace it ?!!? How about SWITCH to another truly unlimited DSL provider like Tekssavy and when you call Bell to cancel tell them precisely the reason WHY you're canceling the service. Trust me, after a while, management will wake up and smell the coffee.. The problem is most users are ignorant of this and will follow your advice..

If only pple were more aware of their options..

Adi

permalink · 2007-04-18 14:37:15 ·

plk
bo may sleep in loft
Premium
join:2002-04-20
Ogden, IA

Your to quick to assume the entire country has "another" provider to switch to.

You would also have to assume your "other provider" hasn't jumped on the two tiered internet market and still offers links to your favorite sites and they are still on the faster tier one.

Anyway you slice it, us end users will pay for the needed bandwidth in the end. We can do it our self and show the Bells we will pay for faster services of our choice or let them bill the providers and let the deeper pockets win in the end. All in all I think we are better off paying extra for what we have then what we may end up with in a NO neutral net world. I don't want a Internet that looks like cable.

In my humble opinion, I think the time is right to "trump" the Bells argument that they have no model to pay for this new equipment etc needed to support all this newly needed bandwidth. End user control is a better model.
--
Thermaltake 2000a/Asus P4C-e/p4 3.4/ocz3500 2x512/WD.2x200g/raptor2x74 raid 0/ATI 9600/APC sua 1500/Logitech z-680/ Samsung 213t LCD/MX 1000

permalink · 2007-04-18 15:07:02 · Print ·

adisor19 join:2004-10-11 ·Radioactif ·Videotron ·Look Communications	Re: embrace it If you have DSL from Bell, you bet there is another DSL provider there as well and the only way for the smaller DSL provider to attract customers from Bell is to offer a better/cheaper service. I'm not saying this is the case absolutely everywhere but in most cases, it is. Again, i reiterate,i just wish the regular consumer was more aware of his/her options. Adi
	permalink · 2007-04-18 15:38:38 ·

plk
bo may sleep in loft
Premium
join:2002-04-20
Ogden, IA

Well, most of the big cities and smaller ones do have more then one provider.

However, I have one and they do not do line sharing.
I pay 59.00 for 1.5/768 service. I just found out I can get unadvertised 3 meg down service for 99.99 a month.

Where I use to live did no line sharing, no other choice and charged 69.00 a month for 512k.
--
Thermaltake 2000a/Asus P4C-e/p4 3.4/ocz3500 2x512/WD.2x200g/raptor2x74 raid 0/ATI 9600/APC sua 1500/Logitech z-680/ Samsung 213t LCD/MX 1000

permalink · 2007-04-18 17:52:25 · Print ·

ldisimino join:2004-08-17	How many people on contract are being capped? I think this scenario only applies to people who are not on contract with Bell. I am on a one year $35/month plan on High Speed and still getting unlimited bandwidth. As far as I know, this won't change, nor have I been contacted by Bell about caps. My bandwidth tracker still shows "unlimited" next to plan.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 10:21:19 ·

CigaR
Premium
join:2004-08-24

·Bell Sympatico

Re: How many people on contract are being capped?

said by ldisimino

:

I think this scenario only applies to people who are not on contract with Bell.

I never took a contract with sympatico and I'm still getting unlimited bandwidth.

permalink · 2007-04-18 11:19:05 · Print ·

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: How many people on contract are being capped?

said by CigaR

said by ldisimino

:

I think this scenario only applies to people who are not on contract with Bell.

I never took a contract with sympatico and I'm still getting unlimited bandwidth.

60 HOURS! [no realtime usage stats?]
one can rack up alot of bandwidth charges in 60 hours!
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

permalink · 2007-04-18 11:57:34 · Print ·

CigaR Premium join:2004-08-24 ·Bell Sympatico	Re: How many people on contract are being capped? said by dvd536 : 60 HOURS! [no realtime usage stats?] one can rack up alot of bandwidth charges in 60 hours! Honestly, one can argue that because of the delay of 60 hours, they should not be charged if they exceed their bandwidth limit.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 21:50:51 ·

Ulmo

join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA

·Comcast

·SONIC.NET

said by dvd536

60 HOURS! [no realtime usage stats?]
one can rack up alot of bandwidth charges in 60 hours!

No kidding.

My roommate's transfer program puts out about 800KiB average when I go to log him out (is that one, two, or three days between logouts? This is Microsoft XP, so it's pretty often). Looking now I see he put out 133KiB since last night. Hmm, not much. Perhaps I wait three days before looking at it on average?

I myself pulled in a rather puny 1.6GiB the last two days (I visited my parent's house where our bigger pipes have a bit of buffer space for my big transfers, so that was a bit tempered). It's common for me to bring in 3 to 5 GiB a weekend, and recently I was pulling in 22GiB as fast as my link could handle it (it took about a month to get that project done).

BUT this is a 768kbps DSL link (about 75KiB/s); if I were using something ten times as fast, it could be rather easy to see much, much more going through.

60 hours is almost 3 days. That's a weekend. So, ten times 5GiB is about 50GiB. At least their caps have caps ($30 maximum per month overage charge).

My ISP says it pays about $900 per month to the local IBOC per 6Mbps amount of speed for their ATM carriage (for DSL; about 650KiB/s max). ?????!?!?!?!!!?? $90 per month for my bill seems puny when looking at that number, BUT I can hardly afford $30 a month!!

SOOOOOooo, if we eliminated the penny and the nickle (and the quarter, anything not bigger or equal to a multiple of a tenth of a dollar), and we started charging a dime per some amount of gigabytes or thousands of megabytes or something, and that rate was a reasonable one, SOME of us could shop for whoever had the lower rate. The rates would drop probably no faster than per gigabyte disc drive rates, but at least it would drop, maybe. It inflates because of the use of mono/duo/etc/polies, so then someone would occasionally cut through the crap and offer a bit of competition, and then that would sort of drive the price lower.

If it were easier to dig in public rights of way (read: cheaper and less paperwork, like rent a jack hammer and a shovel and start digging), we would have more ad-hoc networks between neighbors and possibly more aggregatable private networks that could be Nextelled into a few decent competitive ISPs; it would be a nice release valve, sprouting wherever the monopolies dragged their feet. As it is, there is little release valve, because of political corruption and monopolies taking advantage of the high barriers for entry by blocking the few small open doors there would still be even with the high barriers if the government didn't get in the way (like I explained: small private fifty foot street digs).

permalink · 2007-06-21 17:48:43 · Print ·

yabos join:2003-02-16 Ingersoll, ON	Mine still says unlimited as well but I'm on Ultra.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 14:08:33 ·

Derfel join:2004-06-06 Winnipeg, MB ·MTS	Hmmm... Perhaps customers should only support this if Bell's promise of "better service" actually amounts to anything. 30 GB is a pathetic amount, in any case. I would guess even the "average" user could easily reach that amount with any sort of regular streaming radio/video or game playing.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 11:21:32 ·

BonezX
Basement Dweller
Premium
join:2004-04-13
Canada

Re: Hmmm...

said by Derfel

:

Perhaps customers should only support this if Bell's promise of "better service" actually amounts to anything.

30 GB is a pathetic amount, in any case. I would guess even the "average" user could easily reach that amount with any sort of regular streaming radio/video or game playing.

actually with just my gaming and streaming audio, i go nowhere near that in a month.

now tack on the bittorrent seeding and downloading, then i EASILY go over that.

permalink · 2007-04-18 14:19:31 · Print ·

dvd536 as Mr. Pink as they come Premium join:2001-04-27 Phoenix, AZ	DSL Well i guess this does away with the old tired arguement many have "DSL doesn't have any caps" -- You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
	permalink · 2007-04-18 11:53:35 ·

TOPDAWG Premium join:2005-04-27 Midland, ON ·TekSavvy Solutions.. edit: April 18th, @12:44PM	hm Well if you can get bell in Canada then just switch to TekSavvy. There you go same DSL as bell and no cap. Well they got a 100GB plan or you can pick the no cap one both are the same price of $32 a mouth. »www.teksavvy.com/ I like them. Also tell them TOPDAWG_21 sent ya. They give me free shit well not really but still they should.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 12:37:22 ·

anon bell user @bell.ca	is this confirmed? If this is true then I'm switching to another provider immediately. I've used Bell HSE for over 4 years and according to my account, I still have unlimited usage. I went to bell.ca and there is no announcement regarding this change at all.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 13:03:50 ·

en102 Canadian, eh? join:2001-01-26 Valencia, CA ·RoadRunner Cable ·DSL EXTREME ·DSL EXTREME	Re: is this confirmed? 3rd party resellers have a cap on the 'lite' packages of 5GB, and none on the 5Mbps/800kbps package »www.vianet.ca/residential_dsl.php Their cable packages have caps with the exception of Northeastern Ontario »www.vianet.ca/cable_nwestern_on.php »www.vianet.ca/cable_central_on.php »www.vianet.ca/cable_northern_on.php
	permalink · 2007-04-18 13:27:09 · Print ·

robink join:2004-04-16 Canada	Re: is this confirmed? »www.teksavvy.com/res_unldsl.htm Buy your modem from them and the monthly price is less than Bell for unlimited bw. Yes, same speed. -- Argue opinions using facts. Not facts using opinions.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 15:47:17 ·

en102 Canadian, eh? join:2001-01-26 Valencia, CA	Re: is this confirmed? teksavvy.com doesn't cover Northern Ontario according to their website... Vianet.ca does.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 19:55:21 ·

R0CKY
TSI Rocky
Premium,VIP
join:2005-05-19
Chatham, ON

Re: is this confirmed?

It would depend on where you are looking to have service in... We don't cover Northern Telecom territory or Thunder Bay as they have their own Telco providers and don't talk with the Bell network, but we do however cover places like Sudbury and surrounding, Sault St-Mary, North Bay, Parry Sound.... basically, anywhere sympatico goes, over their own Bell network, normally we go.

Rocky
--
TSI Rocky - TekSavvy Solutions Inc.

permalink · 2007-04-18 20:31:44 ·

milnoc join:2001-03-05 H2Z	Re: is this confirmed? Rocky, the day that Bell tells me I'm being capped, I'm calling your company! I'll also be contacting you later to get some technical info on your corporate accounts.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 22:10:48 ·

R0CKY TSI Rocky Premium,VIP join:2005-05-19 Chatham, ON	Re: is this confirmed? Good stuff! Just PM me whatever you need to know and I'll do my best to either answer or point you in the right direction. Rocky -- TSI Rocky - TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 22:13:50 ·

en102 Canadian, eh? join:2001-01-26 Valencia, CA ·RoadRunner Cable ·DSL EXTREME ·DSL EXTREME edit: April 18th, @10:48PM	White River (and most areas between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay) are covered by Bell Canada. Highway 11 is covered by Northern Telephone. (not to be thought of as Nortel). Its only 320 km north of Sault Ste. Marie
	permalink · 2007-04-18 22:47:25 ·

R0CKY TSI Rocky Premium,VIP join:2005-05-19 Chatham, ON	Re: is this confirmed? I know the north a little... I lived in Wawa for a bit, Elliot Lake and Sudbury for a few years each... I'm familiar with how sporadic things are up there.... If you want to know if the area's covered by third party DSL providers, just PM me your details (phone number and full address) and I'll let you know. Rocky -- TSI Rocky - TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 23:13:51 ·

en102 Canadian, eh? join:2001-01-26 Valencia, CA	Re: is this confirmed? I went to high school in Wawa, and was born in Elliot Lake
	permalink · 2007-04-19 01:09:29 ·

karlmarx

join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH

·Fairpoint Communic..

But is it Verizon unlimited?

Hey, for an extra 20.00 a month, you get TRUE unlimited, then sure, it's a great deal. But if I'm paying for UNLIMITED, then don't complain if I download 500GB per month.

I suspect however, their 'unlimited' means you get to go to 100GB/month, then they cut you off.
--
Stick it to the MAN. Support your local torrent sites. Proudly providing 100mb of upstream for all your TV, Movie, and MP3 needs.

permalink · 2007-04-18 14:44:51 ·

robink join:2004-04-16 Canada	Re: But is it Verizon unlimited? I use Sympatico now and do an average of 300GB/month. Never got a complaint. -- Argue opinions using facts. Not facts using opinions.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 22:21:06 ·

jessegr join:2005-03-05 Gatineau, QC	Unlimited Im glad i still have unlimited.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 15:08:51 ·

nekkidtruth You fail at life. Premium join:2002-05-20 London, ON ·Rogers Hi-Speed	ROFLMAO! The best part about ALL this, is the fact that certain Bell Zealots who shall remain unnamed, were VERY vocal about how EXISTING customers will NOT be capped and it will NEVER happen. Gotta love the irony. Here's a BIG FAT "I told you so!" The level of ignorance due to loyalty to some large corporations around here crack me up. -- Weeeeeee
	permalink · 2007-04-18 15:27:42 ·

adisor19 join:2004-10-11	Re: ROFLMAO! AMEN brother! A customer should only be loyal as long as the service being offered give more bang for the $. Adi
	permalink · 2007-04-18 15:40:31 ·

batterup I Can Not Tell A Lie. Premium join:2003-02-06 Netcong, NJ clubs:	Another way would be providing adequate capacity What you are saying is provide unlimited porn access for a few dollars. Adequate capacity is available to all but there is no free lunch.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 16:25:24 ·

kingb71 join:2000-10-09 Mississauga, ON ·TekSavvy Solutions..	Re: Another way would be providing adequate capacity I dunno about you folks, but I signed a contract back in December & it is a no cap contract, while there are cap contracts, mine ain't one. I believe these new caps are for month to month customers, & we discussed this in the Sympatico forum a few months back, I don't think this is for no cap contract customers.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 20:17:06 ·

canuck999999 join:2004-04-19 ·MTS	An attempt to attract investors? I know this might be flawed logic but since BCE is shopping itself around perhaps they are doing this purposely to either boost revenue and make their purchase price more tolerable or they are trying to drop their share price so that they aren't as expensive. Yeah I know that doesn't really make much sense, but hey, you never know.
	permalink · 2007-04-18 22:27:35 ·

decx Premium join:2002-06-07 Toronto, ON ·Bell Sympatico	Isn't confirmed yet... While I believe that it's a matter of time before older accounts have the usage caps imposed, as of now there isn't any confirmation of this cap yet. Information from the CSR has long been unreliable (last time this news broke the date given was Feb). Currently many users's account info (mine's included) still gives the bandwidth included in the plan as "unlimited".
	permalink · 2007-04-18 22:44:05 ·

your comment..

Forums » Bell Canada Caps Existing Users


Friday, 09-Jan 05:14:04	Terms of Use \| Privacy Policy \| Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo \| feedback \| contact over 9 years online! © 1999-2009 dslreports.com.republican-creole