Bell Internet: Difference between revisions
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* Bell charges up to a maximum of $30.00 in overage charges. |
* Bell charges up to a maximum of $30.00 in overage charges. |
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* Bell offers a plan for $5 a month for an additional 40GB of usage per month. These can be added multiple times. (example; 3 Usage Insurance Plans to equal 120GB + your original limit). |
* Bell offers a plan for $5 a month for an additional 40GB of usage per month. These can be added multiple times. (example; 3 Usage Insurance Plans to equal 120GB + your original limit). |
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* MSN Premium is |
* MSN Premium is offered |
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* Personal Vault storage is available at extra cost |
* Personal Vault storage is available at extra cost |
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Revision as of 01:59, 25 February 2010
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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet Service Provider |
| Founded | November 29, 1995 |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec |
| Products | xDSL, WiMax and dial-up |
| Parent | Bell Canada |
| Website | bell.ca/servicesympatico [1] |
Bell Internet, originally and frequently called Sympatico, is the residential internet service provider division of Bell Canada. It was affiliated with MSN. As of June 2009, Bell Internet had over 2 million subscribers in Ontario and Quebec and was the largest ISP in Canada.
History
Sympatico was launched on November 29, 1995.[citation needed] Originally a national service operated jointly by Canada's ILECs and operational run as a content portal by MediaLinx, the companies other than Bell (including Aliant) have since retreated to their own brands.[citation needed] Bell subsidiaries NorthernTel, Télébec and Northwestel continue to brand their internet services as Sympatico, and users receive an @ntl.sympatico.ca, @tlb.sympatico.ca, or @sympatico.ca email address, respectively.
Starting in Summer 2003, Sympatico tried to differentiate its service from its competitors by adding Radial Point's (formerly Zero Knowledge) suite of antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware services for extra charge. In 2004, Sympatico added a wireless modem-router hardware upgrade and Microsoft's MSN Premium software to its portfolio. In Summer 2007, Sympatico packaged its Security suite and wireless home networking modem together with its high speed offering as Sympatico Total Internet. In April, 2008 all users and resalers started being throttled, many have questioned the legality of this; this dispute is still being solved.
Bell Sympatico changed its name to Bell Internet on August 8, 2008. September 2009, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. and Microsoft Canada Co. have decided to go their separate ways and launch independent sites for MSN.ca The two new portals are Sympatico.ca and MSN.ca.
Equipment
Bell Internet offers many tiers of service based on two different kinds of technology: Dial Up service, based on telephone modem equipment as well as DSL services, based on ADSL and VDSL2 technology. The main differences in both equipments vary from the speed of signal, its length and its ability to overcome the noise of a phone line.
Three other Bell Internet services are also offered:
- Bell Internet Portable service is a portable wireless service that is part of the Inukshuk Wireless WiMAX partnership. Inukshuk aims to provide broadband Internet access to urban and underserved areas across Canada. Also, Bell has a service named Bell Internet Rural. It uses the same technology as the portable, except the modem itself is mounted to your home in the direction of the tower it will be connecting to.
- Total Internet Max service is a residential Internet service provided through a fibre optic network currently offering download speeds of up to 25 Mbit/s. These services currently have a limited availability however service expansion is ongoing.
- Bell Entertainment is a IPTV service offered in Toronto, but expected to expand. It is bundled with Fibre Internet offering speeds of up to 35Mbps Download and 6Mbps upload [1]
Plans for Ontario and Quebec
The plans as of January 10th 2010 are as follows for DSL services. The most recent plans can be found here. [2] Bell is now the only provider in Canada with Fibre Optic plans nicknamed 'Fibe'
- Bell Internet Essential Plus - Download speeds of up to 2Mbps, Upload speeds of up to 800Kbps
- Bell Internet Performance (Copper DSL) - Download speeds of up to 6Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1Mbps
- Bell Internet Fibe 6/7 - Download speeds of up to 6Mbps (Ontario) and 7Mbps (Quebec), Upload speeds of up to 1Mbps (Both Ontario and Quebec)
- Bell Internet Fibe 12 - Download speeds of up to 12Mbps, Upload speeds of up to 1Mbps
- Bell Internet Fibe 16 - Download speeds of up to 16Mbps, Upload speeds of up to 1Mbps
- Bell Internet Fibe 25 - Download speeds of 25Mbps, Upload speeds of 7Mbps
- Bell Entertainment (4 TVs) - Download speeds of up to 35Mbps, Upload speeds of up to 5Mbps (Only available in some parts of the GTA)
Value-Added Services (VAS)
These are services offered by Bell Internet in addition to the above services for additional costs. --
- Bell charges up to a maximum of $30.00 in overage charges.
- Bell offers a plan for $5 a month for an additional 40GB of usage per month. These can be added multiple times. (example; 3 Usage Insurance Plans to equal 120GB + your original limit).
- MSN Premium is offered
- Personal Vault storage is available at extra cost
Controversy
Project Cleanfeed Canada
In November 2006, to address the problem of the accidental access to child pornography sites, especially by those under the age of majority, Bell, Bell Aliant, MTS Allstream, Rogers, Shaw, SaskTel, Telus, and Vidéotron, in conjunction with cybertip.ca (a nationwide tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children), announced the creation of Project Cleanfeed Canada, an initiative designed to block access to child pornography sites. It is based on a similar program introduced by British Telecom in 2004. [3] Project Cleanfeed Canada uses an encrypted blacklist of known child-pornography sites operating outside the country and targets only those sites that offer images of prepubescent children. [4]
Some critics denounced the initiative, but others argue that it is a step worth taking. [5]
Bandwidth throttling
Users of bandwidth that Bell Internet deem excessive have been sent warning letters that state they are in violation of their Service Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy. As a result their use of peer to peer programs is traffic managed during peak hours. Some have questioned the legality of this (including notable companies such as Google and Skype).[6][7]
As of April 7, 2008, Bell began using deep packet inspection to identify and throttle all BitTorrent traffic across its network[8], regardless of actual bandwidth use. This also affects its wholesale service customers and resellers, who have filed a formal complaint to the CRTC[9]. Critics claim Bell's move stifles competition, violates net neutrality, and discriminates against legitimate uses of the BitTorrent protocol[10].
See also
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References
- ^ http://entertainment.bell.ca
- ^ http://bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpInt_Landing.page?language=en®ion=ON
- ^ Martin Bright (2004-06-06). "BT puts block on child porn sites". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ Michael Geist (2006-11-24). "Project Cleanfeed Canada". Michael Geist. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ Michael Geist (2006-12-04). "Child porn plan a risk worth taking". TheStar.com. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ Bell Sympatico P2P Black List. 2008-11-03.
- ^ Peter Nowak (2008-07-07). "Bell's internet throttling illegal, Google says". cbc.ca. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
- ^ Bell Canada Confirms Throttling - Tells wholesalers: too bad, so sad... - dslreports.com
- ^ Financial Post Story
- ^ Union urges CRTC to curb internet interference by Bell, Rogers