POSTED AT 2:45 PM EDT Monday, May 6
Sympatico introduces new speeds and bit caps
By JACK KAPICA
Globe and Mail Update
In a statement that will please some people, anger others and surprise nobody, Bell Canada announced Monday it will roll out three new subscription plans to its Sympatico High Speed Internet connection in Ontario and Quebec.
The new plan, details of which have been leaked to GlobeTechnology.com and revealed over the past several weeks, will start in late June.
Billing it as a "more personalized choice and control," the services will introduce a "basic" subscription plan at 128 kilobits per second (Kbps) and Sympatico Ultra at 3 Megabits per second (Mbps) in addition to the current High-Speed Edition offering, which is just less than 1 Mbps.
All three digital subscriber line (DSL) services will include monthly limits on the amount of material subscribers upload and download.
The subject of intense criticism from users, the limits - known as "bit caps" - vary according to each plan.
Sympatico Ultra, described as a "turbocharged" version of the Sympatico high-speed Internet service, will offer download speeds up to 3 Mbps and upload speeds up to 640 Kbps.
Sympatico High Speed Ultra will cost $69.95 per month, and have a bit cap of 10 gigabytes (GB) downstream (download) and 10 GB upstream (upload).
Sympatico High Speed Standard Internet Service, essentially the same service already being offered to Sympatico's existing customers except for a small change in pricing and the introduction of bandwidth limits, will be priced at $44.95 per month. Its bit caps will be 5 GB downstream and 5 GB upstream.
Sympatico DSL Basic Internet Service, the slowest of the three, offers Internet service with speeds up to 128 Kbps, to be available to customers in Ontario only, at cost of $29.95 per month. It limits its customers to 1 GB downstream and 1 GB upstream.
Both the Basic and Ultra versions feature services similar to those for Sympatico HSE, including six e-mail addresses, antispam filtering, Web mail access, 5 MB of personal Web space, a dynamic IP address and round-the-clock technical support.
Prior introducing the limits of now much subscribers can upload and download, Bell Sympatico will allow its DSL customers to have access to a tool that tracks the level of bandwidth usage. Called an activity tracker, the tool will allow customers to measure the quantity of on-line content they upload and download each month.
The introduction of the tool will assist customers to decide which subscription plan is best for them, Bell stated.
Customers using more bandwidth than any of the three prescribed monthly amounts will be charged $0.79 for every additional 100 MB of content either downloaded or uploaded each month.
"The bandwidth activity tracker is like the odometer or gas gauge on a car, providing users with a detailed breakdown of how much bandwidth they have used over a certain period of time," Bell ISP Marketing vice-president Fil Giulione said.
She explained that "92 per cent of Sympatico High Speed customers currently consume an average of 1.5 GB of on-line content each month. Looking to the future, the personalized pricing model will ensure that customers have sufficient bandwidth to meet their on-line needs and allow Bell Sympatico, as Canada's leading ISP, to continue modernizing our network to address consumers' growing requirements for more speed and additional on-line services."
Sympatico introduces new speeds and bit caps
By JACK KAPICA
Globe and Mail Update
In a statement that will please some people, anger others and surprise nobody, Bell Canada announced Monday it will roll out three new subscription plans to its Sympatico High Speed Internet connection in Ontario and Quebec.
The new plan, details of which have been leaked to GlobeTechnology.com and revealed over the past several weeks, will start in late June.
Billing it as a "more personalized choice and control," the services will introduce a "basic" subscription plan at 128 kilobits per second (Kbps) and Sympatico Ultra at 3 Megabits per second (Mbps) in addition to the current High-Speed Edition offering, which is just less than 1 Mbps.
All three digital subscriber line (DSL) services will include monthly limits on the amount of material subscribers upload and download.
The subject of intense criticism from users, the limits - known as "bit caps" - vary according to each plan.
Sympatico Ultra, described as a "turbocharged" version of the Sympatico high-speed Internet service, will offer download speeds up to 3 Mbps and upload speeds up to 640 Kbps.
Sympatico High Speed Ultra will cost $69.95 per month, and have a bit cap of 10 gigabytes (GB) downstream (download) and 10 GB upstream (upload).
Sympatico High Speed Standard Internet Service, essentially the same service already being offered to Sympatico's existing customers except for a small change in pricing and the introduction of bandwidth limits, will be priced at $44.95 per month. Its bit caps will be 5 GB downstream and 5 GB upstream.
Sympatico DSL Basic Internet Service, the slowest of the three, offers Internet service with speeds up to 128 Kbps, to be available to customers in Ontario only, at cost of $29.95 per month. It limits its customers to 1 GB downstream and 1 GB upstream.
Both the Basic and Ultra versions feature services similar to those for Sympatico HSE, including six e-mail addresses, antispam filtering, Web mail access, 5 MB of personal Web space, a dynamic IP address and round-the-clock technical support.
Prior introducing the limits of now much subscribers can upload and download, Bell Sympatico will allow its DSL customers to have access to a tool that tracks the level of bandwidth usage. Called an activity tracker, the tool will allow customers to measure the quantity of on-line content they upload and download each month.
The introduction of the tool will assist customers to decide which subscription plan is best for them, Bell stated.
Customers using more bandwidth than any of the three prescribed monthly amounts will be charged $0.79 for every additional 100 MB of content either downloaded or uploaded each month.
"The bandwidth activity tracker is like the odometer or gas gauge on a car, providing users with a detailed breakdown of how much bandwidth they have used over a certain period of time," Bell ISP Marketing vice-president Fil Giulione said.
She explained that "92 per cent of Sympatico High Speed customers currently consume an average of 1.5 GB of on-line content each month. Looking to the future, the personalized pricing model will ensure that customers have sufficient bandwidth to meet their on-line needs and allow Bell Sympatico, as Canada's leading ISP, to continue modernizing our network to address consumers' growing requirements for more speed and additional on-line services."
