Post Tagged with: "ISP"

ISP Funded Report Finds Canadian Broadband Isn’t Awful

Consultants Mark Goldberg and Giganomics released a new report this week on the state of Canada's broadband infrastructure.  Commissioned by Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, and Telus, it states as its purpose to "confirm or disprove whether Canada faces a real problem in terms of broadband infrastructure."  Given the sources, there is never much doubt that it will conclude that Canada is doing well and that studies that reach a different conclusion must surely be flawed.  Indeed, the report claims that "we are a broadband leader, scoring in the top ten or better for most international broadband rankings or measures, despite facing greater geographic challenges than most others." 

Yet reading the report, you are hard pressed to find anything resembling a leader.  For example, on broadband speed (download only, the report does not address upload speed), it points to reports from ITIF (10th), Akamai (14th), and OECD (25th).  On price per Mbps, it cites reports from the OECD (which it argues is flawed, 28th) and ITIF (21st).  On broader e-readiness, it points to reports from LECG/NSN (7th), the Economist/IBM (9th), and the ITU (19th).  There may be varying definitions of leadership, but I'm pretty sure none would qualify Canada as a leader based on these reports.

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October 9, 2009 20 comments News

Bell: Why Don’t Content Owners Sue Our Subscribers?

The government has just posted the audio from the Toronto copyright roundtable held in late August. The discussion started off with a bang with comments from Bell Canada. Bell had a lot of good things to say including support for the positions of Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright.  The discussion […]

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September 9, 2009 11 comments News

Bell and Rogers Square Off Over Internet Speed Claims

As two of Canada's biggest Internet service providers, Bell Canada and Rogers Communications are fierce rivals that frequently battle for the same customers. That marketplace fight rarely spills into the courtroom, yet my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) notes that last month a Rogers advertising campaign prompted Bell to file a $50 million dollar lawsuit.  The result was an end to the campaign and evidence both companies over-promise the speed of their Internet services.

The case began when Rogers launched a direct mail and Internet ad campaign called "Check Your Speed."  The campaign warned users the Internet services "you are paying for may not be what you're getting" and encouraged them to test their connection with an independent third party.  The campaign unsurprisingly offered Rogers services as an alternative, promising a "reliable speed every time you connect." Just days after the launch, Bell filed suit, arguing in court documents violations of the Trade-Mark Act, Competition Act, along with various torts.  The company sought $50 million in general damages, $1 million in punitive damages, and an injunction blocking Rogers from continuing with its campaign.

Two days later, Rogers dropped the third party testing feature.  Rather than using a fully independent third party service, Rogers had used a server located in Seattle, Washington to run its tests.  The court found that the distance between users in Ontario and the speed test server in Washington might help account for slower speeds. Even more telling was the evidence that placed the spotlight on a Canadian industry practice of advertising the maximum or "up to" speeds for customers, rather than minimum or actual speeds that customers typically obtain.  The Rogers campaign was effectively premised on this discrepancy since it encouraged users to check their speeds where they would undoubtedly learn their typical speeds were lower than those promised by their ISP.

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August 11, 2009 16 comments Columns

Bell and Rogers Square Off Over Internet Speed Claims

Appeared in the Toronto Star on August 10, 2009 as Internet Providers Fight Over High-Speed Claims Appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on August 11, 2009 as Bell and Rogers Square Off Over Internet Speed Claims As two of Canada's biggest Internet service providers, Bell Canada and Rogers Communications are fierce […]

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August 11, 2009 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

CRTC Releases Communications Monitoring Report

The CRTC has released the second annual Communications Monitoring Report 2009.  The nearly-300 page report is filled with data and charts that will generate considerable study and commentary.  Some of the points that jumped out at me: Do-Not-Call: As of May 19th, there were over 6.8 million registrations, 145,000 complaints, […]

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August 6, 2009 4 comments News