Bell Canada: If at first you don’t succeed
p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- “Bell Canada now wants its bread buttered around the edges as well as on both sides.
“In an arrogant move reminiscent of Verizon in the US, and which was struck down by the Federal Communications Commission, it wants the CRTC to order customers who don’t like its service to first check with Bell before moving on.
“Currently, all anyone who wants to go elsewhere has to do is: call the competition and their phone number is ported away from Bell.
“But Bell wants unhappy punters to call it first, “Giving Bell the opportunity to lower cost and offer incentive to keep the customer …”
That was the intro to a piece by p2pnet’s Ottawa Gal in February last year.
The headline was Tell Bell first: new Bell Canada demand.
Now, more than a year on, Bell Canada still wants its bread buttered around the edges as well as on both sides.
It says it’s getting ready to bring “enhanced TV competition to urban markets” and wants its pal, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, to guarantee it doesn’t haemorrhage any more customers.
Bell is demanding “regulatory symmetry” by “applying the same rules to cable and telecom companies when they sign up new customers”.
In other words, in an arrogant move reminiscent of Verizon in the US, and which was struck down by the Federal Communications Commission, it wants the CRTC to order customers who don’t like its service to first check with Bell before moving on.
Currently, all anyone who wants to go elsewhere has to do is: call the competition and their phone number is ported away from Bell.
But not any more.
Not if Bell can help it.
“Bell is hoping a 3 hour wait on hold will be enough to make people give up and leave things as they already are”, says k6richar on dslreports.
“Bell must be bleeding customers for this to be an issue … ”
Stay tuned.
(Cheers, Marc)
p2pnet – Tell Bell first: new Bell Canada demand, February 19, 2009
Bell Canada – Bell asks the CRTC to implement “regulatory symmetry”, May 27, 2010
dslreports – NEW Bell CRTC demand. You can’t leave our phone service …, May 27, 2010
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May 28th, 2010 at 10:27 am
The latest topic on this one can be found here:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24303435-Bell-tries-to-screw-people-leaving-them-again
As Hivolt mentions over there:
“Thats just f’n dumb… The only reason number porting exists, because telephone service is bound to a number…
TV services are not bound to anything, so a user can drop and sign up with a new provider every month if he so chooses…”
—
If bell for any reason (after hours on hold and a dozen hang-ups) finds a cause they won’t let you port or cancel. Thus they will hold you and your number hostage.
As for IPTV, it’s likely Bell will get young people into multi-year contracts with terminally insane termination fee’s in order to prevent people from leaving it. Young people are the target with IPTV.
Around the beginning of this year Bell signed up a bunch of people in the Ontario market for their “entertainment service” (IPTV & internet). After a month or so Bell cut the upload speed. When people complained they were told, “this is a beta product nothing was guaranteed” and told them too bad. Does the Beta concept of doing business ring a bell with you? It should. See: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/38462
Now with all these DPI’d services, Bell will know when you turn the TV off, what time your favorite porn is on, what you are googling etc etc. DPI TV + DPI internet. It’s only a matter of time before targeted ads hit your IPTV based on your DPI’d services.
With Telus introducing this I fully expect telus to file in support of Bell (eg already planned between the two to prevent people leaving). As seen through out the years, Bell will hook young people in multi-year contracts saying it’s less expensive than the competition, then raise rates 2 months later and telling people, “too bad you are in a contract”. Or, “too bad you are an early adapter to this beta product”.
It’s always the same with Bell. Year after year.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Also of note: Bell’s new (May 1st) TOS sez they allow themselves the right to grant themselves access to the modem they supply you for this. Bell then says that they can use their built in “maintenance connection” (ie a security hole in the Bell supplied router) to monitor the devices attached to the router.
They sure give themselves some very big rights at your expense.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Then attempt to modify their router to block UDP. Lock it down.
If you, like me, are not on Bell but on a 3rd party supplier, the same rules apply and it is your modem so you can do whatever you want and block the hell out of it. No info should be provided to Bell.
They’ve proven they don’t care, so why should you?
May 28th, 2010 at 11:45 am
20. The Service Modem. A DSL or a Wireless Home Networking modem (collectively, the “Service Modem”) is required for use of the Service. In order to operate and optimize the Service and enhance service offerings made available to you, Your Service Provider reserves the right, from time to time, to remotely monitor the Service Modem and any connected devices, and to remotely update, replace or upgrade software and log-in credentials on the Service Modem.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24296859-Updated-Bell-Internet-Service-Agreement
The thing is Robert, the IPTV Set-top-box can’t be replaced with anything. Even your own bought modem to block Bell out. With ISP’s like Teksavvy and Electronic box or Acanac this may be possible since you buy your own modem.
But for IPTV you have to use their defective and purposely privacy breeched modem so they can monitor you. In addition to DPI.
Also, the previous “maintenance connection” where Bell Canada can port in and snoop at your logs and attached devices used a different Virtual circuit from what I understood. So unless you flashed your modem, hacked into it, or other, that “maintenance circuit” is still active and ripe for snooping even if you took that Bell modem and brought it to a wholesaler. Chances are it is the same.
Definitely one for the privacy commissioner or those people running that Canadian DPI website http://www.deeppacketinspection.ca/ to look into.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Speaking of Bell shafting it’s customers, and I’ve not heard reports of (perhaps it is a local thing) our lovely event:
Here bell was required to send out a letter to tell people they may not be required for a “pulse dial” charge on their phone (something we’ve not paid for years, but had working). You didn’t have to pay for it if you’ve been a customer for x years (signing up in the rotary phone era).
Not sure if the letter was new / old, but suddenly this charge was added to our bill. We called bell with the letter, got the charge taken off. Suddenly the phones didn’t make any calls. Yup, were not required to pay for it, but Bell reaches around this requirement and makes you’re phones not work if you don’t … Well unless you kept your rotary phone from 30+ years ago! This was their acceptable solution.
So more shafting and reaching around it’s requirements Plus had their been an emergency before we realized the phones didn’t work there’d be no way to call even 911. As it was we couldn’t even call bell to fix it.