February 9, 2011
Bell's internet usage tracker may overstate the amount of bandwidth its customers use, the company acknowledged this week on the website where people log in to view their usage data.
Most customers are billed based on their usage.
Bell has "identified an issue that may cause internet usage shown on this site to be overstated in some cases," the company said in the message posted to the website on Wednesday.
"In order to ensure we provide reliable information to all our clients, the usage tracker will be unavailable while we resolve the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Bell and other large internet service providers charge customers based on the maximum amount of bandwidth they are allowed to use each month as they perform activities such as streaming movies and music, talking over Skype, playing online games and downloading and uploading files.
Customers can choose different price plans based on the size of their usage caps. Bell says this ensures all users pay their fair share, and light internet users aren't unfairly subsidizing heavy users.
Overage charges up to $2.50 a gigabyte
If users go over their bandwidth cap, they face "overage" charges of up to $2.50 per gigabyte.
Canada's internet regulator, the CRTC, announced Tuesday that it is reviewing its decision that would effectively force many smaller ISPs to charge customers based on the same usage caps.
Many of those smaller ISPs rent network access from Bell to create retail internet packages for their own customers.
The CRTC's ruling that Bell could charge those ISPs
Bell's internet usage tracker may overstate the amount of bandwidth its customers use, the company acknowledged this week on the website where people log in to view their usage data.
Most customers are billed based on their usage.
Bell has "identified an issue that may cause internet usage shown on this site to be overstated in some cases," the company said in the message posted to the website on Wednesday.
"In order to ensure we provide reliable information to all our clients, the usage tracker will be unavailable while we resolve the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Bell and other large internet service providers charge customers based on the maximum amount of bandwidth they are allowed to use each month as they perform activities such as streaming movies and music, talking over Skype, playing online games and downloading and uploading files.
Customers can choose different price plans based on the size of their usage caps. Bell says this ensures all users pay their fair share, and light internet users aren't unfairly subsidizing heavy users.
Overage charges up to $2.50 a gigabyte
If users go over their bandwidth cap, they face "overage" charges of up to $2.50 per gigabyte.
Canada's internet regulator, the CRTC, announced Tuesday that it is reviewing its decision that would effectively force many smaller ISPs to charge customers based on the same usage caps.
Many of those smaller ISPs rent network access from Bell to create retail internet packages for their own customers.
The CRTC's ruling that Bell could charge those ISPs