Bell Data Hub Overages and the Wireless Code

I have been exchanging e-mail with a user in East Algoma about the high cost of Bell data hub service.  He was getting monthly bills in the $200.00 - $350.00 range for a 4 user household with a mix of computers and smartphones.   All the hardware used the data hub’s WiFi capability when they were within range.

Of late, he was getting cutting off at $100.00 overage and had to contact Bell to get reconnected.

Needless to say, he was not happy with both the price and the procedures.

I received the following info from him recently:

“I just received my Dec Bell bill and low and behold the max charge for data over 10 GB is $50.00.

We used $197 worth and they only charged $50 for that and waived $147.50.

Our bill for the month is $96.05; Relief finally.

I was suspicious and call them. It’s due to the CRTC Wireless Code.”  

This is the section of the Wireless Code that would seem to apply in this case:

          Sec 3 - Cap on data overage charges

        A service provider must suspend data overage charges once they

      reach $50 within a single monthly billing cycle, unless the customer 

      expressly consents to pay additional charges.

      A service provider must provide this cap at no charge.

My interpretation of this section was that once the cap was within reach during a billing cycle, the vendor would contact the user, normally by e-mail or SMS, notify them of the cap limit coming into force and warning this would result in a cancellation of service until the end of the billing cycle unless the user gave explicit permission to charge additional overage fees.

Indeed, this is what was happening prior to 02 Dec 2013 when the CRTC Wireless Code came into effect.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the January billing cycle.

If this is in fact the long term Bell policy for handling data hub overages, it will certainly be of tremendous benefit to rural broadband (high speed) Internet users.  

Tbaytel's Seasonal Service

I recently sent a query to the Tbaytel Community Forum concerning the availability of a seasonal service option for Tbaytel customers in the Algoma District. You may view the full query and the Tbaytel response at this link.

In short, Tbaytel offers a seasonal service option for “HSPA Wireless Service” (Rocket/data hub) and “Regional Internet (Canopy) Service”.  They recommended I contact Tbaytel Customer Care at 1-888-264-9501 for additional information.

I could not find any reference to this offering on the Tbaytel website. This is unfortunate. 

More Deferral Account Update Info 07 Nov 13

Another Bell Deferral Account site is under construction in the Goulais River area. It is located near the intersection of Hwy 552 East and Bellevue Valley Road. It looks like it will be a self-supporting tripole similar to the one at Heyden Beaumont.  This map shows the location of all the known Deferral Account tower sites in the Goulais River and the St. Joseph Island area.

I gleaned this information from the public domain by means of first person reports of construction, notices about public consultation and by driving around the area.

If anyone knows of any other sites, I would appreciate it if you could let me know. I am articulately interested in happenings in the Echo Bay Deferral Account area but information about any new site will be gladly accepted.

Unfortunately, Bell has not been very forthcoming lately with their Deferral Account information.

Web Page Size Shows Significant Increase

While doing some research to answer a recent question from a reader about data charges and data caps, I came across some updated statistics on webpage sizes as measures in bytes. This is an area I had not looked at for some time. What struck me was how much the average webpage size had increased.

According to the HTTPArchive website, the average page size as of 01 Nov 2013 was 1.6 MB (megabyte).  This compares to 14 KB in 1995, 93 KB in 2003, 300 KB in 2008, 828 KB in 2012 and 1.2 MB in Jun 2013. Some commentators are expecting a page size of close to 5 MB by 2015 or sooner.

The authors attribute the significant growth of page size to improved hardware, in particular the high resolution screens used by tablets together with high resolution cameras and smartphones.  Extensive us of Flash and Java on web pages also contributes.

A few years ago web designers would build to the lowest common denominator screen size but now they tend to use more uncompressed images to fill the space on the high resolution screens. Social media users are posting images directly from their cameras and smartphones without any editing or compression. In both cases this results in images having a file size of several MB instead of less than 100 KB which is sufficient for routine viewing. In image intensive applications this can add up quickly.

What does this all mean? If you have an Internet plan without any data caps, not very much. Unfortunately, most of us have to live with fixed data caps and associated extraordinarily expensive overage fees – think $10 to $15 per GB. .

So not only are we using the Internet more either voluntarily or because in some instances it is the only way to get service but the data we are transferring is increasing in size without providing any incremental increase in information. 

Goulais Deferral Account Update 23 Oct 2013

The Bell Deferral Account (Deferral Account) project roll out is bearing fruit in the Goulais river area. The aim of the DA project is to provide cellular based broadband (high speed) Internet with the same speed and data caps as Bell’s urban DSL service. The Goulais River Deferral Account area is shown in purple on this map. 

Additional information about the Bell DA project can be found at this site.

There are currently three Bell cell sites in the North Sault area providing cover along the Hwy 17 corridor including the part running through the DA area.  There is an existing site at the Buttermilk Hill area. To provide the necessary radio signal coverage in the DA and to handle the expected traffic loads without congestion, additional towers/cell sites are required. One of these towers is under construction  on the Pine Shore Road area as shown on this screen shot as a red dot.

These pictures were taken on 23 Oct 2013 while the tower was still under construction.

 From Pine Shore site access road 

From Grant Road 

It is known that there are additional sites planned for the Nils Bay and the Marlette Bay areas. There may also be other locations. 

Telus Is Shutting Down Their EV-DO Data Network

As first reported in this blog entry, it is now confirmed Telus is taking the initial steps to decommission its CDMA network.  Effective 31 March 2014, Telus will discontinue EV-DO data service on the CDMA network in all of BC and AB (excluding Edmonton and Calgary.)  There is no news about the rest of Canada.

EV-DO stands for either Enhanced Voice-Data Optimized or Enhanced Voice-Data Only depending on the company using the abbreviation. The standard went through a number of revisions but was eventually overcome by the much faster HSPA and LTE protocols. EV-DO achieved theoretical download speeds starting at 2.4 Mbps, then 3.1 Mbps and finally 14.7 Mbps. A far cry from the 75 to 100 Mbps range claimed for LTE.

Telus is offering affected users in BC and AB outside Edmonton and Calgary an exchange deal to upgrade to HSPA hardware.  

Telus is planning to completely shut down the remainder of their CDMA network at some unspecified date in 2015.

There is still no indication of what impact this action by Telus will have on the CDMA networks operated by Bell, Tbaytel or Public. 

However, since Bell and Telus share their CDMA networks across the country, so it is hard to see how the decommissioning could not help but affect the Bell network.

There is also the question of whether or not the CRTC or Industry Canada (IC) will take any action in the matter. As noted, the new entrant Public relies on the CDMA networks to offer nationwide service. Without the ability to roam on the Bell and Telus networks, it seems doubtful if Public can survive. Only time will tell.

Bell Site at North City Limit Operational

The Bell site at the city limits north on Hwy 17 located behind the old Greenbelt bingo hall as reported in this blog entry is finally operational.