Northwestel Exploits a Loophole

About a year ago the CRTC issued a requirement that internet service in northern Canada get faster. Like a lot of other people, I made the assumption that this meant Northwestel would have to improve their service overall. I was wrong. I missed the loophole that Northwestel exploited this week: service only has to get faster, not necessarily better.

A couple of days ago, Northwestel increased the upload and download speeds of their highest-level consumer cable internet “Extreme” package, to 2 Mbps and 50 Mbps. The company also introduced a very moderate decrease in price of $10, or about 7.5%.

That’s nice, but it’s shadow play, an adroit marketing sleight of hand that satisfies the CRTC and fools us into thinking the company might actually be improving something. The real value of this package didn’t change at all.

Namely, data transfer caps didn’t budge an inch. The “Extreme” package still includes a measly 100 GB of data for the new price of $120 per month. Compare that to Shaw’s offering down at the end of the Alaska Highway, in Dawson Creek (population: 12,000). For $10 less per month there, you get 1 TB of data (that’s 1000 GB) and download speeds of 250 Mbps. Bump your account cost up to $130 and your data is unlimited.

There’s no real value in speed increases because Northwestel’s speed ratings are, at best, theoretical to begin with. In the real world you’ll never, ever download anything at 50 Mbps through Northwestel’s service. Not even close. The company readily admits that (at least its CSRs do). Increasing data speeds is a foil, a dupe. Or, more plainly, it’s BS.

I tested my internet connection to Northwestel’s local office yesterday. Repeated tests yielded results of barely 35 Mbps. That’s a test of a local connection to a service provided by Northwestel. To a server in Vancouver I got just 16 Mbps.

Assume for a moment, however, that 50 Mbps was a realistic data transfer rate through Northwestel. Then increasing speeds on an internet package without also increasing volume is a cruel joke to play on customers. You can download the same amount of stuff from the internet twice as fast. What’s the point?

In simpler terms, Northwestel has has increased the speed limit on the highway, but we’ve still only got half a tank of gas to drive with. True, we can travel twice as fast as we used to, but we won’t get any further down the road. Unless, of course, we fill up at Northwestel’s gas stations where fuel sells for $50/l, which the company certainly hopes we’ll do.

In that view, Northwestel’s data speed change can be accurately construed as a play for more money from heavy internet users. We’re now more likely to exceed the company’s data caps and be punished by the company’s over-use fees. It’s a significant increase in risk for us.

Northwestel’s “Extreme” account adjustments this week are at best a tease and at worst a taunt. Almost certainly, however, they’re an indication of what’s to come for the rest of their internet packages: speeds will be increased, but data caps will stay the same. That way the company can exploit a loophole in the CRTC’s requirements to make the internet faster, but not necessarily better. While it’s true that we’ll be able to download content in less time, we’ll also be drawn more quickly beyond Northwestel’s minuscule data caps where the company will be able to extract significantly more money from us.

Yukon, Vote for the Internet

Forget the gun registry.

Forget Afghanistan and Libya (most Canadians already have, after all).

The hot button issue of this election is the internet in Canada. Or, rather, the relative lack thereof.

This is particularly true in the Yukon, where we suffer from the very worst of Canada’s very bad situation.

The internet in Canada is, simply put, too expensive and too crappy when compared to other developed nations.

Canadians are falling behind other nations in our ability to affordably and effectively access information online.

Our access to the internet is controlled by a small group of companies with competing interests such as cable television and traditional telephone services.

Again, this is particularly true in the Yukon.

There is growing concern amongst Canadians about this.

This election is about changing that.

Geist on UBB: Canada Stands Alone

Michael Geist’s research team has just released a very important study into the concepts of network congestion, usage-based billing, and pricing structures of internet access around the world. He’s posted a great summary of it online (Usage Based Billing Around the World: How Canada Stands Alone), but the full report is also well worth reading if you have the time.

It’s clear that the practices of Canada’s major internet providers put this country’s citizens at a disadvantage both from a cost and an access perspective.

When you discuss the upcoming election with local candidates, be sure to ask them where they stand on the issue of internet access in Canada and what their government might do to improve access and reduce costs for Canadians to ensure that we can compete on a level equal to other developed nations.

What Do We Use the Internet For Anyway?

It was banned in Egypt.

It was made a legal human right in Finland.

It has its own government department in Australia, and it’s the single-largest infrastructure ever built in that nation’s history.

It’s the internet. We all know it. Most of us love it.

Heck, as Canadians we each spend an average of 42 hours a month online.

But what do we actually do with it?

Even Hitler is Mad About the State of the Internet in Canada

Best part: “$2/GB?!?! Are you mad? I’m not made of money!”

With a solid conclusion: “Maybe I’ll buy an antenna.”

Northwestel Drops the Internet… Again

Is anyone really surprised anymore?

It’s worth noting that whatever internet connection supports Bell’s iPhone in Whitehorse is alive and functioning perfectly well this morning. I’m tethered to it with full access.

Northwestel Limps Back to Life…?

Apparently an “intermittent link” in Whitehorse was fixed yesterday.

The results? Check them for yourself:

Things are reasonable again. My download speeds are running at about 66% of Northwestel’s promised rate. But web pages load fast again, and latency is down to an acceptable level.

Well done, Northwestel. Thanks for fixing that.

Now, if you’d follow that up with an open explanation, and apology, and promise to keep us in the loop on all future hiccups, and…

Sorry, you’re right. I’ll just be satisfied that my three days of public whinging paid off.

Now to make up for the lost time suffered this week as a result of this service disruption. Oh, happy Friday!

Another Communications Example Northwestel Could Learn From

Last week the blog platform I use, WordPress.com (the one you’re currently reading these words on), suffered some downtime.

The people who manage this platform went beyond just fixing the problem.

They told us what happened, what they did to fix it, how long it took, and what they’re doing to try and prevent another similar occurrence in the future. You can read their blog post here: Downtime.

That’s great customer service. And it’s for a service that’s totally free.

Now compare that to how Northwestel handles its outages. They provide almost no information, avoid even acknowledging that anything happened (it’s that maybe nobody noticed mentality), rarely explain what happened, don’t offer information about how they recovered from the outage, and provide no assurance that they’re working to avoid similar outages in the future.

That’s awful customer service. And it’s for a service I pay $90 a month for.

It would be both refreshing and encouraging if Northwestel made an effort to communicate these matters to its customers. It would provide an assurance to us that we can depend on the company to work in our interests and in the interest of providing quality services.

Instead, when the company hides behind a wall or buries its head in the sand over these issues, one begins to lose trust, faith, and wonder what the company is hiding.