Play nice Bell! the kids don't like it if mom is cranky

Bell moves to limit internet downloads of competitor ISPs
Last Updated: Thursday, July 31, 2008 4:14 PM ET
By Peter Nowak. CBC News
Bell moved in April to eliminate mandated access to its network by small internet service providers. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
Bell Canada Inc. is moving to impose download limits on customers of independent internet providers, an act the smaller firms say is designed to eliminate broadband competition and prevent the introduction of new television services.
The Montreal-based company, which cut its own Sympatico customers off from unlimited downloading last year, has proposed extending that plan to firms renting portions of its network in order to provide their own services. That would include a number of smaller wholesale ISP customers such as Chatham, Ont.-based TekSavvy Solutions Inc., Cobourg, Ont.-based Eagle.ca, Mississauga-based Acanac Inc. and Ottawa-based National Capital Freenet.
The limits would range from two gigabytes per month for customers with slower connections of 512 kilobits per second up to 60 GB for those with the faster speeds of five megabits per second, according to Acanac president Paul Louro. Customers who exceed those limits would incur extra charges, much like cellphone subscribers do when they surpass their monthly minutes.
Rocky Gaudreault, president of TekSavvy, said Bell's proposal was unacceptable because it would eliminate the last way in which the smaller wholesale ISPs can differentiate their services.
"This is very much making us little more than a reseller," he said. "We would become mini-Sympaticos."
Louro told CBCNews.ca the repercussions would be even greater because some of the smaller ISPs are getting big enough to start installing their own equipment in Bell's telecommunications offices, which will allow them to offer not only super-fast broadband but also internet-based television. Such a service, known as Internet Protocol Television or IPTV, would require much more capacity than the proposed 60 GB limit and would compete directly with Bell's own ExpressVu satellite television offering.
"It seems like a way to limit our growth so this won't happen," he said. "No ISP at this point can offer IPTV — you're looking at hundreds of gigs, not 60."
Bell officials could not be reached for comment.
The company has taken several steps toward eliminating the smaller ISPs' ability to compete

See the CBC story here