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288 Comments
- Emachine, on 03/14/2009, -8/+262***** BELL CANADA
30kb/s is unacceptable - HCviolence, on 03/14/2009, -10/+213***** BELL.
- allowners, on 03/14/2009, -27/+152Simple solution: nationalize Bell Canada.
- Saitekc, on 03/14/2009, -5/+111Why is this surprising?, there are only a few major ISP's in Canada and they don't want to lose their monopoly. I hate using their service, it's terrible.
- Matt2727, on 03/14/2009, -6/+96i ***** hate bell. i hope they burn in hell.
- jjones20, on 03/14/2009, -6/+73I hope someone puts these douches in check. Awhile ago i was pretty damn sure i saw a plan on Bells site for 100 gigs of bandwidth, for the same price as the competing cable ISP that only offers 60 gigs.
it is ridiculous that canadians are forced to adhere to such small bandwidth limits, and these internet service cartels are stifling technology and advancements here in canada with these limits. - ryanshepherd, on 03/14/2009, -0/+61The Bell Canada network was built on Canadian tax dollars. We gave them the cash to get started with the understanding that everyone would be able to fairly access the network. So it was sort of nationalized from the begining. Now Bell wants to shut out competition from that network.
- mpn401, on 03/14/2009, -8/+64And this is why broadband sucks in the west.
- Claverhouse, on 03/14/2009, -3/+56Who allowed them to build it ?
No corporation can just thread cables all over a country or continent without the permission and aid of a government --- otherwise landowners could make it prohibitively difficult by refusing access, as with the beginning of the railway age. Since government trumps corporations they must abide by the rules government sets. - DeathRay2K, on 03/14/2009, -7/+53It's about time to nationalize a network, and I think the Canadian government is one of the more likely to do it.
- Snoz, on 03/14/2009, -3/+46I know! It's bs that they are allowed to traffic shape bit torrent.
- Pasaris, on 03/14/2009, -2/+41It's also dying a slow death. They've been a monopoly for so long and acted with such arrogance that people (myself included) have abandoned them out of spite.
- dcormann, on 03/14/2009, -4/+41Bell exists because the of monopoly on phone service given to them.
Part of that agreement is that they now share the infrastructure that they were helped in creating.
Otherwise Canada would have allowed multiple companies to create multiple phone systems, to have true competition, but obviously that would make more sense. - wonkavsn, on 03/14/2009, -6/+38Bell is a prime example of a disgustingly gluttonous corporation.
- MichaelAsp, on 03/14/2009, -3/+27Bell is probably the worst service provider ever. They're stupid, they could easily offer their fiber connection to people, but they don't because they fear that it will cut off some profit rather than looking at the fact that people would switch to them for such a connection.
Their customer service is ***** horrible. No matter your problem, they'll try to pin the blame on you and make you pay for it. The only time they give you service is after you call them to cancel everything. Then they'll offer you a crap load of discounts, free crap and act like they did nothing wrong to make you cancel. Of course after you canceled they send you a bunch of information about them all the time and call to give you more discounts if you come back. - watcht, on 03/14/2009, -4/+28GaltShrugged:Think before you type. Think of a four family house hold. Everyone wants to do their own thing, watch youtube hd, swap high res pictures with friends and family, skype, things like this add up, and when you have your house networked so everyone can use it on their own machines that limit gets eaten up real quickly. Not everythings about porn music pirates.
- jjones20, on 03/14/2009, -3/+27I actually dont have bell, and im not downloading tonnes of pirated crap.
I assume Galt doesnt purchase HD movies on xbox live? or stream HD videos on gaming sites? couple that with youtube and other streaming video sites, as well as purchasing games over Steam and its very easy to go over.
Hell, if i format my computer and want to redownload and install all my Steam games it puts me well over my limit.
Digital Distribution will never survive in Canada because we dont have forward looking companies to push it, all our ISPs or even the Wireless carriers want to do is provide the bare minimum of service for the most money they can, and there isnt any competition for them, which is exactly what this article is about. - pthomp, on 03/14/2009, -25/+48You know I don't blame them in a way... what company in their right mind wants it's competitors to benefit from their investment?
In good economic times and if Bell was clearly ahead of it's competition maybe it could be justified, but this just isn't the case. - HonoredMule, on 03/14/2009, -9/+30Government IS a business, you *****. Their services are national defense, upholding order, leadership...and infrastructure.
Government "serves" where competition or duality is actually counter-intuitive or downright disruptive. That includes duplication of nationwide investments. Government serves or OUGHT to serve where open market principles don't apply or actually hurt the society within. That includes our GDP being sunk repeatedly into duplication of last-mile networks even though they can not serve the population better than one unified network shared by all.
The real problem started with a private corporation being /allowed/ to own investments into public property in the first place. - theradical, on 03/14/2009, -4/+25"What company wants to sink billions into a new fiber rollout if it is required to offer access to its own competitors?" That's the spirit Bell, forget advancement. Mutually assured destruction.
- mustang460, on 03/14/2009, -0/+20Galt in many places around the world, such as japan, sweden, or south korea its easy to get 50+ Mpbs internet with NO, I repeat NO limits on use, these folks can spend all day watching HD steams from tv stations, buy games off steam, or any digital distro. without impacting other users.
North American internet is terrible because we don't force competition like those areas, so subsidies companies don't upgrade, now the digital distribution era blew up in their face and they don't know what to do but limit bandwidth. These companies took tax dollars and never upgraded sufficiently, the problems have nothing to do with users using to much bandwidth. - Peko, on 03/14/2009, -2/+22Ladies of Digg!
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*Offer subject to availability. Actual penis size may be limited by localized technical phenomena and usage rates. - tgc1, on 03/14/2009, -1/+20I wonder how much of this fiber network was subsidized by the Government (Ie. The Canadian Public)?
Bell seems to have a short memory of how many billions the Government has given that company in order to advance and build infrastructure to support these networks. They are being the typical greedy ***** company they have always been. Damn monopolies suck! - ikeeel4money, on 03/14/2009, -2/+21they also would benefit from line sharing by renting it to the competition. Just look at the japanes. I read an article analyzing how the Japanese managed to surpass America in internet speed early 2000. The article talked about how the Goverment funded ISP was forced to open up its lines to share with other competitors. This ironically led to it getting ahead of the competition because it was able later to secure the funds to construct fiber optics in most of Japan, which then later led to the competition also demanding that these fiber optic lines be opened to them for rent.
So Bell will actually benefit more from renting its lines than from leaving them closed. - LNahid2000, on 03/14/2009, -0/+18No it's not...the Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest corporation. BCE comes in at number 9.
- BoneheadFarker, on 03/14/2009, -3/+20Uh, yeah, I'm 30 and I've simply decided to move to the next generation of TV. I really don't want to be restricted in what and when I watch something. I also don't want to be restricted in what I download or how much. That's why I'm on a 3rd party ISP with no caps. Better still is that this 3rd party ISP started offering land line phone service too. I pay $75 for unlimited 5MB internet and phone service with 7 features and free long distance after 6PM. I priced it out for the same service with Bell. I'd be paying over $120 a month plus whatever extra charges for going over their cap.
If you want a better internet experience, stop blaming the punk ass kids are start blaming the people who really have you by the short and curly... - jugger74, on 03/14/2009, -0/+17The only reason Bell has the monopoly it has now is because from its inception until the early nineties it was funded by the tax payers and given unfair protection by the Canadian government. It should be smashed into a thousand pieces and let the independent ISPs reign supreme in a competition driven market. I have moved all my services from Bell and will never give them another cent again.
- Me0wmix, on 03/14/2009, -0/+16They can keep their next gen network unless they stop throttling my *****.
- allowners, on 03/14/2009, -7/+23We can't cater to industry prima donnas any longer, there is only so much right-of-way for public utilities and it's ridiculous to duplicate infrastructure without providing additional function. If they don't want to provide the public infrastructure, then they need to get out of the way so another private or public entity can do the job.
- xerox, on 03/14/2009, -1/+16Jassman,
NO. Government IS a business. In fact, CANADA is a registered corporation.
http://idea.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-idea?action=get ... - dhughes, on 03/14/2009, -2/+17i ***** hate Rogers, i hope they go...err...bodgers ...dammit!
- rpapi100, on 03/14/2009, -0/+14Simpler solution: nationalize the fiber optic network. Make ISPs pay rent and not throttle the thing.
Splitting Bell into numerous entities would be an additional good measure but in no way a substitute, as most devisions of Bell Canada have their own management teams and basically operate as different entities already but with the same name and partnership between them. Question to Canadians: how many unique CABLE ISPs with their own network do you have in your area? See, same problem.
A Bell Employee. (shhh!) - Charrion, on 03/14/2009, -2/+16This is why I dumped my Bell Mobile and ExpressVu accounts. Bell has the worst customer support of any of them and could care less. They got used to a monopoly that wasn't earned and now that there's competition they're having a temper tantrum.
Ditto to orion2013's sentiment. - Le3f, on 03/14/2009, -0/+13TekSavvy ($39/month, 200GB cap and same latency as bell) + Linksys WRT54GL ($50) + Tomato MLPPP (router firmware hack) = ***** you bell, no throttling for me!
- maleficdog, on 03/14/2009, -3/+16This is a shame, when you know that most of these small ISP are providing a better service then Bell in a large amount of areas, for cheaper, while using the same line.
(If you're with Bell at the moment and are living in Quebec, look-up radioactif.com's impressive internet plan. Although I'm pretty much sure that there's another small ISP startup in your area which can give you the same quality of service.) - xR0e, on 03/14/2009, -4/+17Everyone is saying "***** Bell"
I'd just like to say I *heart* Ars Technica for bringing us awesome articles :)
A lot of Ars' articles make it onto Digg, with good reason. - daball99, on 03/14/2009, -3/+15Back in the late 80's, when long distance competition first came to Canada, Bell ran into a similar problem. The other companie's customers had to dial access numbers to use the cheaper long distance plans. The CRTC ordered Bell to install switching equipment so that using another long distance carrier would be transparent to the customers. This was great for the competition as customers did not like dialling extra numbers to get lower rates. Bell paid for this equipment, which made competition on a level playing field possible. At the time I compared it to a gas station on one corner being told they would have to build another one across the street for the competition to use.
During all this Ted Rogers, who owned Cantel, one of the LD companies, stood in front of the CRTC, wrapped himself in the Canadian flag and talked about competition in long distance being good for Canada. A few years later he was in front of them again and talked about competition in the cable TV industry being bad for Canada. This was in response to Bell starting a Satellite TV company. - mustang460, on 03/14/2009, -1/+13North american internet sucks because of the monopolies, without competition ISP's get huge boosts through huge subsidies. Then they get stale for years with slight improvements because no one can afford to enter the area without government help.
Your right Bell would want to keep its monopoly, but as a tax payer, ya know the ones PAYING for the lines to be put up, shouldn't you want the best service possible? and shouldn't it be up to YOU not bell if the lines are opened up? - Le3f, on 03/14/2009, -0/+12I haven't logged onto digg in months, but i feel obliged to pass this on as a sort of "***** you" to bell:
TekSavvy ($39/month, 200GB cap and same latency as bell) + Linksys WRT54GL ($50) + Tomato MLPPP (router firmware hack) = no throttling, even though you're running on Bell's copper. - dhughes, on 03/14/2009, -10/+21 Oh great! Run by unionized government workers (in other words paid 4X they should be and twice as many people as there should be) no support or service after 4:30pm, no support or service on weekends, they'll be gone on dozens of holidays and if you do call for help you will always get some angry French lady who can barley speak English and was only given the job because we're supposed to be a bilingual country.
- blacklilyninja, on 03/14/2009, -1/+12Bell is the worst quality communication network in canada. Doing this would only shoot themselves in the foot. I say:
Do your worst Bell. Give me a reason to never consider you again. Do you even remember the review of your products by Marketplace? You made rogers look good. That should tell you a lot. This would also give Telus a window to the eastern market. - HonoredMule, on 03/14/2009, -0/+10As an Aliant customer living in a city where the only tech jobs around are in telecommunications and utilities, I can vouch for this description.
- dsmx, on 03/14/2009, -4/+14The UK system is actually a very good one it has created a market where there is huge competition between providers it has resulted in lots of companies all offering good value services. Some offer laptops if you join them some offer broadband free with other services they provide.
- eraser34, on 03/14/2009, -5/+14How about Bell stops throttling my P2P downloads 18 hours of the day? Only reason I stay with Bell is cause my contract dates from back when regular high speed included unlimited downloading, and at 30$ a month its hard to switch.
- MtheoryX, on 03/14/2009, -0/+9I'm diggin' your rhymes, man.
- bigbadgoat, on 03/14/2009, -0/+9Well as a Canadian, I expect my government to first and foremost, look our for my best interest.
If that means imposing regulations on a company that utilized tax dollars to create a network, so be it. If that means operating the network themselves, so be it.
I will not be taken advantage of and exploited by any business, and my government sees to it, that if I am not given an option from competition, that I will not be.
But that's the difference between Canadians and Americans, we trust our elected officials, our representatives, our government. - dhughes, on 03/14/2009, -0/+9 I think mine was a busted rhyme.
- Kallius, on 03/14/2009, -2/+11Bell Canada does not provide the line for free to its competitors. It charges for that privilege. That said, if Bell is mandated by the government to provide leasing at a particular price on the new network, then I can understand Bell's reluctance. However, if this is not the case, then it appears that Bell is simply trying to monopolize the DSL market.
- tonmil, on 03/14/2009, -3/+12The Telcos don't want to be in the "dumb pipe" business. We need them to be in the commodity business whether they provide services for mobile phones, Internet or TV. Create more competition and make sure there is:
- Line sharing
- Wireless sharing
- Flat monthly rates
- Open access
- No usage charges or maximums - AmazingSteve, on 03/14/2009, -2/+11Just more bitching and whining from Bell. Fact is when the CRTC had to force them the share lines with competitors, they lost customers in droves. Then they tried to cap "unlimited accounts to 5GB a month. Again they lost customers in droves. Now they're facing another round of it when competition starts offering non-crippled fiber access instead of whatever ***** Bell sees fit to offer. This is why they fought tooth and nail to be able to throttle competitors using their lines. Maybe if Bell offered, oh I dunno, GOOD SERVICE maybe, they wouldn't be in this position. Instead they continue to look for new and creative ways to fleece the user base.
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