New BWI5 (Deferral Account) Price and Service Structure

It did not take long for Bell to adjust the price and service structure for the Bell Wireless Internet 5 (BWI5), the name of the service provided in the Deferral Account areas.

The major changes are in the hardware, the data caps and the basic costs.

a. The 4G LTE Huawei B882 Turbo Hub replaces the 4G NetGear MBR 1516 Turbo Hub;

b. The new data cap is increased to 40 GB monthly from 20 GB with the option to add an additional 20 GB per month. I received confirmation from Bell that the 20 GB usage insurance will remain at $10.00;

c. The basic service is now $49.95 (plus taxes) per month on a 2 year term, an increase from $41.95. There is no reduction if the user buys the Turbo Hub outright.

As per the usual Bell practise, the new terms are only being offered to new subscribers only. (In Bell-speak, a new subscriber usually means a subscriber who has not had a similar service from Bell within the last 3 months.)

Like the original BWI5 service, this new service is only available on a direct sales basis from Bell Canada at 1-866-668-9104. The local Bell Stores do not handle this product line.

The qualification to receive BWI5 service remains the same i.e. one must live in designated Deferral Account area.

Details can be seen on the Bell Internet Promotions page

BWI5 Available to Both Private and Business Users

There appears to be some confusion as to whether or not the Bell BWI5 (Deferral Account) service is available to business users as well as private residences.

Bell has confirmed to me that the BWI5 service is indeed available to business users provided the business is located within a designated Deferral Account area. The standard BWI5 speeds and data caps apply.

If a Bell Customer Service Representative (CSR) claims otherwise or refuses to enrol a business user, ask to speak to Supervisor Rose Tacconelli or phone her at 905 282-3587. 

Licensed Cellular Frequencies and Modes

When cellular telephone service in Canada went main-stream two decades or so ago, there were only three frequency bands that consumers had to worry about; namely, 800 MHz, 850 MHz and 1900 MHz. Each vendor operated on its own band and used difference technology modes: - CDMA, GSM and PCS.

Although there were multi-band and multi-mode phones available, most users opted for a single band, single mode configuration.

At the start of 2015, thinks have changed drastically. There are three nationwide carriers and numerous regional carriers that operate their own infrastructure networks. There are also carriers that have licenses to operate across the country but for economic reason have chosen to build out infrastructure only in selected areas, usually high density and thus high demand urban areas. They use roaming agreement to provide service to their customers outside the operators’ home areas.

The technology side has advanced to the stage where most carriers are operating their networks using the two major modulation schemes: - HSPA and LTE. Basic CDMA will be a dead technology in Canada long before the end of this decade. There is no indication at the moment that GSM and PCS will be shut down soon but things can change quickly and with short notice in the fast moving cellular industry. .

User demand has forced the agency responsible for spectrum management in Canada –Industry Canada (IC) - to dedication more of the radio spectrum to cellular service. This is usually done in coordination other national agencies in order to ensure interoperability. For example there are specific agreements on frequency use along the Canada-USA border with particular attention being paid to First Responders frequency needs.  

A lot of today’s hardware can handle numerous frequency bands and both of the common modulation schemes. However, there is a significant amount of fairly new hardware still in use that can handle only HSPA modulation and have limited frequency capability.  

The following table summarizes the more common frequencies bands currently in use,  

Band Name	Abbrev	Frequency 1
Mobile Broadband Services	MBS	700 MHz
iDEN 2	IDEN	800 MHz
Cellular	CELL	850 MHz
Advanced Wireless Services-1 Up/Down	AWS-1	1700 MHz & 2100 MHz
Advanced Wireless Services–3 3	AWS-3	1755 MHz to 1780 MHz 2155 MHz to 2180 MHz
Personal Communications Services	PCS	1900 MHz
Advanced Wireless Services-2	AWS-2	1915 MHz to 1920 MHz 1995 MHz to 2000 MHz 2020 MHz to 2025 MHz
Wireless Communications Service	WCS	2300 MHz
Broadband Radio Service 4	BRS	2500 MHz
Fixed Wireless Access	FWA	3500 MHz

1      These designations are a shorthand terminology to identify the various bands in everyday discussions. The actual operating frequencies may vary and in some case be outside the frequency ranges noted.

2       iDEN -  Integrated Digital Enhanced Network. This is a press-to-talk design that operates like a        walkie-talkie network.

3      Auction scheduled for March 2015

4      Auction scheduled for April 2015

Note there is no direct correlation between bands and modes. HSPA and LTE can operate in any of the bands.  Frequency bands are normally allotted as paired or unpaired frequencies across a specific bandwidth measured in MHz that varies from 5 to 30 MHz.  A paired frequency allows the use of part of the frequency band for download and part of the bandwidth for upload.  There may be numerous paired bandwidths within a frequency band. This allows a number of different vendors to operate without interference in the same band. It also allows IC to allot specific parts of a band to specific carrier classifications such as national, regional, new entrants, etc. This was most recently done in the 700 MHz band auction and will be done in the upcoming AWS–3 auction in March 2015.

Most bands also have one or more unpaired frequencies. Traditionally, these unpaired frequencies were used as one way broadcast networks or occasionally combined with another unpaired frequency in another band to provide two way communications. LTE-TDD (Long Term Evolution-Time Division Duplex) can use these unpaired frequencies to provide broadband service. The FWA (3500) band is currently being used by vendors such as Bell and Xplornet to provide broadband (high speed) Internet to rural and suburban areas. In the Algoma District Bell FWA is available in the Elliott Lake and SSM-Airport (Prince Township) areas. This service is considered an Internet service and not a cellular service. 

St. Joseph Island Resident Successfully Engages Bell

Paul Gregory of St. Joseph Island has given me permission to release the story of his recent dealings with the broadband primary vendors who serve the area. For the most part I have let Paul tell the story in his own words.

Note that Paul followed the four P's of dealing with any telecom company - be Persistent, be Polite, be Prepared and be Persuasive.

Here is his story.

Before the new Bell towers went in I had a Rogers rocket hub which got a very poor signal. I had the 20 GB for $90 data plan but my speed was roughly 0.1 to 0.5 Mbps. Not really a broadband net connection at all. It was just painful. 

I contacted Rogers by phone and explained that I was paying for a service that they were not providing at a speed which was acceptable. They did a little technical work and told me that I was roughly 13 km line of sight from the one and only Rogers tower in Desbarats[1] that my hub could connect to.  The technical guy was frankly surprised that I got any connection at all.  

To be fair to Rogers they did offer something of a solution.  They offered to buy me out of my remaining Rocket hub contract ($90 cancelation fee) and cover the deactivation fee ($12.50) if I returned the hub to them at my cost. I jumped at the chance and since the Bell towers were just coming on line I headed down the station mall to the Bell Store with high hopes of getting the same $90 for 20 GB deal but with a better signal (and therefore speed)[2]. 

I specifically told Bell that I was looking to use this hub as my sole fixed physical Internet connection point and that I wanted the cheapest, fastest and largest data plan that they had available. I was told that the Flex 60 plan was the best that they had on offer. So on 23rd Sept 2014[3] I signed a two year contract and took home my new turbo hub. 

All was as expected, I got great speed (11 Mbps peak with consistent 10.5 Mbps) and it was basically night and day with the dross signal that I had been dealing with from Rogers. However I burned through 36 GB in 15 days and could feel a big overage bill heading my way! About $180 in overages costs in 15 days. Not sustainable. 

Then my next door neighbour told my wife that he had got a flyer in his post box about some new Bell Internet deal. I didn't get a flyer. If he had not told my wife that he did I would have been none the wiser about Bell Wireless Internet 5 (BWI5) even today. Trust Bell to keep the customer informed as to the best available deals open to them...[4]

So I rang (416) 807 1498 and spoke to a girl called Mina who told me about a secret data plan[5] and hub that was not available through the Bell Store network and was not advertised on the Bell website. When I googled Bell Wireless Internet 5 I got some information about Bell Fibe 5. It was clearly not the product that she was talking about. I only half believed that she even worked for Bell. The whole thing just felt too good to be true. Could this be a con to get my MasterCard number?

Anyway, I ordered a hub and paid full price and went month to month on the data plan.  It arrived about 12 days later and booted up without issue and worked straight out of the box before the tech could even come out and fit the external antenna. Without the antenna I got a great signal, with the antenna better still. But the speed was only 5.5 Mbps.  Was somebody throttling me?[6] More phone calls to Bell led to the conclusion that that was the case. I was essentially being offered a trade off. 11 Mbps and prohibitive cost or 5.5 Mbps and 40 GB for $50. This is a no brainer for my situation. So much so that I ordered a second BWI5 hub and data plan to match the first. 80 GB for $100 would do the job and I could live with the speed (in the absence of any real choice).  

Now what about this two year contract for the hub and Flex 60 plan that I don't want, should not have been sold in the first place and I have no intent on using further as it is way too expensive?

I felt I had been mis-sold but I could see this going either way. Bell might make me eat the cost of everything or they could come good and cover the whole thing and apologize for making such a poor job of selling me the right product. Guess what happened next. 

On the first round of phone calls I was getting nowhere. I had signed a contract and the Bell store employee had advised me as best as his training and knowledge allowed. On the next round of calls they could see my point of view and were prepared to 'meet me half way' and let me cancel the Flex 60 and keep the hub (it was no use to me as it does not work with the BWI5 data plan) but I would still need to pay half of the contract cancelation fees ($~90). I took this offer and cancelled the contract. It was costing me $60 a month just to have the hub sat in its box unused anyway. The quick a stopped the bleeding the better. 

Then I made a third round of phone calls. This was breakthrough time. I got through to a supervisor / manager (it is quite hard to understand the rank structure within Bell) who could see that Bell were already on the back foot. They could see that they had put me in the wrong product and were holding me to a contract which made no sense for me to ever have been advised to sign. Maybe they could feel a complaint to the CRTC pending. 

I was told that if I returned the hub to Bell at my cost ($26) they would forgive all of the remained cancelation fees for the Flex 60 plan and it would be like it was all a bad dream. I said yes and got down the post office as quick as I could. 

I have yet to see the adjustments on my bill confirming that Bell have done what they said they would.  But I am hopefully that I have got myself into the right and best available product for my requirements. Unless Bell are hiding an even cheaper faster larger plan from us all in Algoma?

(Fighting) Bell is hard work and some might say that that is how Bell likes it.  A customer needs to be calm and persistent to get the best out of them.  I did not find ADnet until after I had made the third round of calls to try and get some satisfaction from Bell. If I had found your site sooner I would have felt less alone and better informed as to what was out there for customers. 

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[1] The nearest Rogers tower is actually north of Bruce Mines.

[2] A better signal is only one of the factors that affect speed.

[3] The BWI5 plan was available at this time but not sold through the Bell Stores.

[4] Many people did not get the marketing material. Based on my discussions with Bell, I am very suspicious their database is not very accurate. I was told they are using Google Maps as a primary source.

[5] I believe secret is too strong a word; poorly advertised and poorly explained to local Bell Store CSRs. There has been stories in both the national and local media as various times over the past ten years. Nevertheless, I believe Paul is correct in implying that Bell did not want the rate package to become well known at a time when they were charging other clients using the same infrastructure up to 10 times as much.

[6] Yes the service is "throttled" but is "throttled" in accordance to the speed stated they would provide for the BWI5 service.   True throttling would occur if Bell throttled the speed below the 5 Mbps. See the CRTC regulations on traffic management practices.

Connecting Canadians - Digital Canada 150 ISP Application Process

The federal government announced on 15 Oct 2014 that eligible Internet Service Providers (ISP) can now apply to extend or enhance high-speed Internet[1] service to areas in need across the country. As part of the Connecting Canadians initiative, the target of the subsidy program is to connect 280,000 homes to the Internet.[2] See this blog entry  for basic information about the program.

Interested ISPs have until 12 January 2015 to submit their applications. Industry Canada (IC) expects to make the first announcement of successful applicants in the spring of 2015.

ISPs can receive up to 50% of eligible project costs for expenses  in rural areas and up to 75% for expenses in remote (Far North) and Aboriginal communities. 

According to the IC release, "Successful ISPs will be expected to provide services at speeds of at least 5 megabits per second (Mbps) to Canadians in rural areas of the country that currently have slower access and 3 to 5 Mbps in the satellite-dependent communities served under the northern component of the program." While likely not the intent of the program, this seems to leave out areas that do not have any access. 

Industry Canada also released an application tool kit (ATK). The ATK contains all the necessary background and application information need by the ISPs to prepare their submissions.

The ATK provides excellent  templates that require the ISPs to provide detailed information about their proposals in the areas of (1)Internet Service Offerings (2) Network Capacity and Equipment (3) Project Budget Costing (4)  Broadband Subscriber Estimates (5) Environmental Assessment Screening and (6) Lobbyist Declarations.

If I were preparing a RFP (Request for Proposals) or RFI (Request for Information) for Communications and Technology (ICT) services, I would definitely consider adapting these templates into my document. 

A review of the actual application document leads to interesting observations.

The application identifies the following as potential solution types :

(1) Cable (2) DSL (3) Fibre (4) Satellite (5) Mobile Wireless (6) Fixed Wireless (7) Other

The definition of what the applicant proposes to deliver is rather loose in that it does not indicate whether the speeds mentioned are burst speeds, consistent speeds, peak time speeds or any other parameters and metrics that ensure a superior quality of service.  In the Internet Service Offering template, a column heading uses the term "Advertised Speed". I consider this avoidance of a more definitive identification of the speed that an end user may expect a lost opportunity.

This is the quote from the application form.

"The applicant must demonstrate that the proposed technological solution will support broadband[3] connectivity, defined as speeds at least 5.0 Mbps download and 1.0 Mbps upload (3.0 Mbps download and 512 kbps upload for the Northern Component) to underserved households in the underserved area.

"A settlement certified by a project technical authority confirming the ability of the technological solution to deliver the minimum download and upload speeds is required to meet this eligibility criterion." 

Similarly, the application allows the IPS to establish their own data caps in their proposal. In many  of the sample cases the data caps are far below the average monthly downloads as identified in the in the annual CRTC Telecommunications Monitoring Report referenced in this blog entry.  At a time when the projected increased in data transfer by users is increasing at a two-digit rate, these cap limits are rapidly becoming unrealistic.  A more realistic approach would require applicants to commit to tying their data caps to the annual CRTC statistics.  

There is a section in the application which addresses the five-year outlook and scalability that asks the ISPs to describe how the network will handle forecasted network capacity including additional subscribers and usage traffic, enhanced services and the network's ability to adapt to increased speed demands. However, there is no mention of data caps.

Maps are available for download on the Connecting Canadians website that purports to show what areas identified with "households that do not have access to service at 5 Mbps." I have serious reservations as to the accuracy of the information associated with these maps. It is a fact that many of the areas in the Algoma District identified as unserved have access to terrestrial based service in excess of 5 Mbps.    

Overall, the application process looks comprehensive from a business perspective. I would like to have seen more stringent technical parameters for the proposed service.  

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[1] While the CRTC implies a distinction between high-speed and broadband, IC appears to be using the term as all-inclusive for anything that is not dial-up. 

[2] This is a bit misleading in that the program will provide the infrastructure necessary to allow access to the Internet. At this time, the cost of actually connecting to the Internet such as set-up charges, routers and modems if required and computers are the responsibility of the individual. In others words, while this program may address some of the physical digital issues, it does not seem to address the economic divide issues.

[3] Back to broadband - not high-speed. 

CRTC Communications Monitoring Report 2014

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) released information on the telecommunications sector from the 2014 Communications Monitoring Report on 25 Sep 2014.

This is an annual report covering multiple aspects of the Canadian  broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. The report is filled with data and statistic that only a nerd could love. Nevertheless it does contain some gems of wisdom which may be of use and interest to readers of this blog.

One striking  statistic is the huge  increase in the average GB downloaded and uploaded per residential Internet subscriber between 2012 and 2013. Only a few years ago the total were in the range of 12.3 GB (2008) and 14.8 GB (2010). These are the latest figures:

	2012	2013	Annual Growth (%)
Average GB Download	28.4	44.8	57.7
Average GB Upload	5.4	6.0	11.0
Average Total GB Per Month	33.8	50.8

                        (Source: CRTC 2014 Communications Monitoring Report - Table 5.3.0)

One can only expect this trend to continue as the use of video and audio streaming to deliver Internet content continues to expand. Another source of data increase are constant software updates that may require repeated downloading of the same material for each appliance attached through the same modem or hub. For example if you have four computers in a residence, which is not uncommon, the infamous Microsoft Tuesday updates are downloaded four times and each download counts against your data cap.

The report contains figures that some users may find useful.   They show how long it takes in hours for a specific application to use up a monthly data cap. 

For example, a wireline connection watching Netflix at a "low"setting can use up a 100GB cap in  263 hours. Increase the Netflix setting to "Super HD" and the 100GB cap is reached in 91 hours.

For mobile broadband (data hub or smartphone) connections which usually have a lower cap and slower speed than a wireline connection the figures differ. For Netflix in "Auto" mode a 5GB cap is reached in 14 hours while You Tube in "HD-720p" mode a 5GB cap is reached in 4.2 hours. (Note: these are only examples and actual usage rates may vary but not substantially.) 

The original version of these figures can be found in the CRTC Monitoring Report, pages 189 and 190. The report is in .pdf format so the figures can be enlarged. (The figures below can be enlarged by using Ctrl-Plus sign and returned to the previous size by using Ctrl-Minus Sign.)

Number of usage hours before typical wireline broadband capacity thresholds are reached, by service

(Source: CRTC 2014 Communications Monitoring Report - Table 5.3.11)

Number of usage hours before typical mobile broadband capacity thresholds are reached, by service

 (Source: CRTC 2014 Communications Monitoring Report - Table 5.3.12)

Deferral Account Marketing Material

Have all the Deferral Account areas' potential users  received their direct mail marketing material from Bell yet? 

I am also interested if anyone living outside the areas shown on these maps received a direct mail brochure.