Progress Report on Bell Cell in North Sault 30 Aug 12

Work on the new Bell cell site located near the Beaumont Trailer Park  near Heyden in the North Sault area is progressing well. As can be seen in the accompanying pictures, the tower is topped off and the antennas mounted. It looks like the power and fibre optic backhaul cables are in place.  One picture  shows its relative relationship to the existing Tbaytel tower as viewed from the MTO weigh scale area at Heyden.

The tower can be seen from the intersection of Hwy 17 and Pine Shores Rd. so I am expecting good coverage. 

I have no confirmed in-service date as yet.

Bell Tower at Heyden (Beaumont)

Bell Beaumont Showing Power and Fibre Optic Cable

Bell Beaumont Pinwheel Antennas Mounted

Relationship of the Bell Tower to the Tbaytel Tower

Data Hub Flex Rate Summary 21 Aug 2012

A reader noted that there have been changes to prices in some flex rate data hub plans. He recommended that I publish a summary of current rates to replace the summary updated on 26 Oct 2011. This is the summary from 2011 . Taxes need to be added.

2011

Data Cap	Bell		Rogers		Tbaytel
	Flex Rate	Cost Per GB	Flex Rate	Cost Per GB	Flex Rate	Cost  Per GB
3 GB	$45.00	$15.00	$45.00	$15.00	$35.00	$11.68
5 GB	$55.00	$11.00	$ 55.00	$11.00	$45.00	$9.00
10 GB	$70.00	$7.00	$70.00	$7.00	$60.00	$6.00
15 GB			$90.00	$4.50
20 GB					$75.00	$3.75

These are the current rates based on information posted on the respective websites as of 21 Aug 2012.  

It appears both Bell and Rogers have made minor changes at the 15 GB and 20 GB range while Tbaytel has remained the same.

2012

Data Cap	Bell		Rogers		Tbaytel
	Flex Rate	Cost Per GB	Flex Rate	Cost Per GB	Flex Rate	Cost  Per GB
3 GB	$45.00	$15.00	x	x	$35.00	$11.68
5 GB	$55.00	$11.00	$60.00	$12.00	$45.00	$9.00
10 GB	$70.00	$7.00	$75.00	$7.50	$60.00	$6.00
15 GB	$90.00	$6.00
20 GB			$90.00	$4.50	$75.00	$3.75
Cost Per Extra GB		$15.00		$10.001		$50.00

1.     1. As far as I can determine, Rogers still has the $50.00 maximum for overages charges, They will warn the user about excess usage but only charge the $50.00 limit or $140.00. 

      Telus also has a data hub plan that is very similar to Bell's. I have been unable to find anyone in the Algoma District using a Telus data hub.

Another Bell North Sault Site 18 Aug 12

Bell continues it build out in the North Sault area.  They recently announced public consults for two sites in the SSM area.  One they referenced as Pine St - Northern Avenue area near Sault College in the city; it will be a 34 metre monopole. The other they referenced as GNR - 6th  Line. It will be located to the west of the former Greenbelt Bingo Hall site on Hwy 17 and will be a 70 metre lattice tri-pole similar to those under construction at Heyden (Beaumont) and Goulais (Buttermilk).

There was no in-service date provided but it normally takes 6-9 months after the public consult for construction to start. Therefore I suspect we are looking at the 2013 work plan output.

Like other new Bell sites they will be HSPA+ only (no CDMA). The  new GNR - 6th Line site will also help fill some of the broadband service gaps in the area by making data hub technology available.

Letter to CRTC Reference the Deferral Account Program

I recently submitted a personal  letter to the CRTC expressing my displeasure at the 31 Jul 2012 proposal by Bell to delay implementation of the Deferral Account program in some areas of the Algoma District until August 2012.

I also included a copy of a paper I prepared last year questioning how the HSPA+ data hub service is covering Deferral Account areas and asked for action by the CRTC in light of this coverage. Additional sites that spill over into Deferral Account areas have since been added.

One of the problems in dealing with the CRTC is that unless one is responding to a call for public proceedings that is open, it is not easy to get a complaint or comment into the hands of the CRTC. In the end, I wrote using the same address as Bell used so I shall see what happens.  I am hoping the CRTC is willing to back-up the comments made by CRTC Commissioner  Katz at the Telecom Summit held in Toronto in June this year when he said:

" Broadband service is more and more of a necessity for full participation in the digital economy and in our life as Canadians. The funds were collected over a number of years from Bell subscribers. I urge our friends at Bell to give a higher priority to the needs of the people in these rural and remote communities by accelerating their rollout plans.”

Review of Tim Hortons Wi-Fi Hotspot in Sault Ste. Marie

I tried the new “free” Tim Hortons Wi-Fi hotspot offering  at the Trunk Road location in Sault Ste Marie on Saturday,  11 Aug 12 around 4:30 pm.  I used a Bell Samsung Galaxy S II.

The handset detected the availability of the hotspot immediately and connected. When I opened the browser application, I was offered two choices: - Tim Hortons Wi-Fi Plus and Free Wi-Fi. The former required a registration process involving a name and email address. There is no additional information on the Tim Hortons’ website but other sources state the registration for each device is a one-time requirement and my handset will be recognized when I try to connect in the future.

I was able to access the Internet immediately by selecting the free option but I am not sure if this is available to all users. The hotspot is supplied by Bell and Bell customers get “free” access to a number of “free” networks. Since the “free” networks are available to all users regardless of their home network, I am not sure what Bell is offering their customers except they claim Bell devices are recognized and no password sign-in is required.

I followed the registration for the Wi-Fi Plus option. This required I get access to my e-mail account to acknowledge receipt of the verification message sent by timhortonsverification@datavalet.com . Once I verified the registration, the connection performed well.

I conducted a number of speed tests using Speedtest.net Mobile on both the Wi-Fi connection and a Bell HSPA+ 3G/4G connection with the following average of five results.

Direction	Wi-Fi	HSPA+ 3G/4G
Download	0.60 Mbps	4.62 Mbps
Upload	0.21 Mbps	3.28 Mbps

I am not sure why the Wi-Fi readings were so slow. It may be the system is still being fine-tuned as the publically announced in-service date is Sep 2012. Also, none of the Sault Ste. Marie outlets are listed as Wi-Fi enabled on the main Tim Hortons’ website.

Noted added 01 Sep 12:  I retested the Wi-Fi speeds today and consistently received around 2 Mbps download and about .60 Mbps upload. 

Nevertheless, the access was sufficient to check e-mail and surf a few websites. I had no problem accessing the International bridge camera to check on traffic tailbacks.  I did not try a VoIP call, but the speeds are very close to the limits for acceptable voice quality although the ping times were low in the 50 ms range.

While the service may not be acceptable to the power user, I feel the service will satisfy the basic needs of most users and save valuable bytes from their data plan cap.

Comments on Data Hubs in East Algoma

I have received a number comments over recent weeks from Bell data hub users in East Algoma that the speeds are slowing down and all the classic signs of network congestion are beginning to manifest themselves.

Whether it is coincidental or not, I noticed this sign along the roadside during a recent visit to Desbarats and St. Joseph Island. 

Bell Cell Sites in North Sault 10 Aug 12

Work on the Bell cell sites north of the Sault is progressing well.

The pictures below show that the actual tower construction at Goulais (Buttermilk) is complete and the work of installing the antennas is proceeding.

At the Heyden (Beaumont) site, the tower base is now visible just above the tree line. I expect to see the full tower finished within weeks.

I have no information as to when the sites will be actually commissioned and service will be available. 

Panorama from Robertson Lake road showing the two cell sites at Goulais (Buttermilk)

 Bell Tower at Goulais (Buttermilk) showing antennas being installed.

Coverage of new towers shown in brown

Bell's Deferral Account Report of 31 Jul 12

The CRTC has released the Bell Deferral Account report submitted by Bell  on 31 Jul 2012 and it is a shocker.

The report completely revamps the schedule and throws out all previous ones, including the barebones version submitted as recently as May 2012 and reported in this blog. The bottom line is Bell states it will not be a position to implement the Deferral Account wireless plan until 31 Aug 2014. It shows 100 Deferral Account locales being activated on that date.

This includes the 5 areas in the Algoma District and means that, barring further changes by Bell, the Deferral Account service implementation is now not scheduled as follows:

Deferral Account Area	Original Date	New Date
Echo Bay	2013	31 Aug 2014
Goulais	2013	31 Aug 2014
SSM -Airport	2012	31 Aug 2014
St. Joseph Island	2013	31 Aug 2014
Wawa	2014	31 Aug 2014

I suspect Bell will proceed with the activation of some new sites in the Goulais and SSM-Airport areas but they will not be part of the Deferral Account program initially and will not be eligible for the special rates until much later, if ever. 

In my simplified interpretation, Bell states the implementation of the HSPA+ wireless solution will be much more complicated than anticipated and it wants to conduct field trials in nine selected locations as shown on this map, all of which happen to be in southern Ontario, before rolling out the technology in all Deferral Account areas.  

You can read the full Bell report  and the Bell schedule as released by the CRTC by following the links.

It is obvious the new proposal is a major disappointment to those living in the Deferral Account areas. The question now becomes one of whether or not the CRTC will accept the Bell plan or force them to somehow speed up the roll-out.  At the Telecom Summit in Toronto on 05 Jun 12, Leonard Katz, Acting Chairman, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission made the following statement concerning Bell  and the Deferral Account program;

“Unfortunately, it's a different story with Bell Canada and Bell Aliant. Nearly two years after we issued our directive, Bell has extended broadband service to only three of its 112 communities.

Broadband service is more and more of a necessity for full participation in the digital economy and in our life as Canadians. The funds were collected over a number of years from Bell subscribers. I urge our friends at Bell to give a higher priority to the needs of the people in these rural and remote communities by accelerating their rollout plans.”

One can hope that the CRTC will continue to press Bell to speed up the implementation. In the cases of the Algoma District areas, I suspect Bell could roll-out DSL quicker and with less effort than the challenges they seem to be facing with the HSPA+ wireless roll-out. A lot depends on whether or not the existing pole-lines could handle the additional cable loads.

I will be doing some follow-up work in this whole Deferral Account arena and will pass-on other observations in due course.