Northwestel seeking permanent internet usage increases, potential changes for packages in Nunavut
Territory’s internet providers have adjusted services during pandemic
Northwestel says it has applied to the CRTC to permanently increase Internet usage on its most popular packages. Meanwhile, data caps have been doubled for customers in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Arviat and Cambridge Bay until the end of June. (File photo)
Changes may be coming to Nunavut’s internet service providers, but customers will have to wait to find out.
In March, Northwestel, northern Canada’s largest telecommunications provider, doubled monthly data for customers in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Arviat and Cambridge Bay in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. That was then extended to May and June.
In an email to Nunatsiaq News, Northwestel said those relief measures will continue until June 30. But the company is waiting to hear from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on whether permanent changes will be approved.
“Northwestel is seeking permanent internet usage increases. We have submitted the necessary CRTC applications to increase the usage allowance on our most popular regulated internet packages,” Northwestel said.
Northwestel also said it is “looking at potential changes to our internet packages in Nunavut.”
Northwestel does not need CRTC approval to make those changes.
“These are not regulated by the CRTC, but we would look to be making these changes in conjunction with our regulated products,” Northwestel said.
But “to avoid customer confusion,” Northwestel said it will not comment on the specific details of those changes until they receive approval.
“We will communicate details with our customers and the public at that time,” Northwestel said.
In April, Bell Mobility extended additional data usage and billing credits for its “turbo hub” customers in Nunavut to June 30. In an email to Nunatsiaq News, Bell did not say whether these changes would be extended beyond June 30 and said customers could find up-to-date information on its COVID-19 webpage.
SSi Canada (formerly called SSi Micro), which operates the Qiniq network that provides internet and mobile phone service to all 25 Nunavut communities, did not make any adjustments to its regular services during the pandemic, given that the network “operates on a satellite backbone with extremely limited capacity,” SSi Canada said in an email.
Back in March, the company called for “social solidarity and sharing,” asking customers to voluntarily limit their internet data use, especially during peak daytime and early evening hours.
To that end, the company said it added extra satellite capacity to ensure the network continued to perform. Because backbone capacity for Nunavut is subsidized by the federal government, SSi Canada has also applied to the CRTC’s broadband fund for more support.
“We are also seeking urgent support from other federal departments,” the company said.
SSi Canada said it did, however, develop new service plans “for organizations who need to communicate online rather than in person with students, clients or patients due to the pandemic.”
Ice Wireless, which serves Iqaluit, also made a few changes during the pandemic.
The company permanently doubled its network capacity in Iqaluit, which improved the quality and speed of internet, said Cameron Zubko, Chief Operating Officer of Ice Wireless.
“This upgrade was made at our expense, at no cost to customers,” Zubko said.
Ice Wireless also suspended data throttling for users who exceed 10 gigabytes a month of data use.
“Ice Wireless, which serves Iqaluit, also made a few changes during the pandemic.
The company permanently doubled its network capacity in Iqaluit, which improved the quality and speed of internet, said Cameron Zubko, CEO of Ice Wireless.
“This upgrade was made at our expense, at no cost to customers,” Zubko said.”
AHAHAHAH
Yeah right… The service is still slow as f**k
We need optic fiber up here or even StarLink the new service Elon Musk launch recently
Requiring customers to pay for a phone line and advertising internet at a certain price without incorporating that phone line cost is misleading and shameful. I hate dealing with NWTel.
We used to be able to download movies before watching them, which used much less bandwidth than streaming them but for the last few weeks we have been able to download and have only been able to stream which uses more bandwidth.
Notice how NWTEL is saying they need to get approval from CRTC to make changes to their data caps, but simply increasing caps doesn’t require CRTC approval. Do you know what that means?
The price of those packages will be going up. That’s why they need CRTC approval. It’s the ol’ bait and switch. NWTEL tries to make themselves look good by saying they’re increasing caps, but what they’re not publicizing is that the cost is going to go up.
That’s not true, NWTel does require CRTC approval to make any changes like this even if there is no change in price. NWTel has increased data caps since April, with no change in price, but they were only allowed to do so after applying to CRTC.
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You can check the March 18 Nunatsiaq article, “Northwestel wants CRTC permission to offer relief to home internet customers”.
The article states they do not need CRTC approval to make changes to caps.
Not true, the article states that they do not need approval to make changes to the caps “in Nunavut”. They do need it, and previously needed it, to make changes in other jurisdictions. However, NWTel is not going to make changes to Nunavut’s caps without CRTC approval to also make changes in their other jurisdictions, hence “we would look to be making these changes in conjunction with our regulated products”, and the reason for waiting.
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I don’t know where you get your fear from. 5 or so years ago the highest data plan with NWTel was 30GB, and it cost more than the current 100GB plan currently costs.
So the new caps have come out, with significant increases, and there’s no change in price. Are you embarrassed yet?
StarLink is coming soon folks. Better go on the website and sign up to get it as soon as possible.
80$ USD/mo, 600mbps, 30ms ping.
No word on wether or not there will be data caps.
Starlink won’t be operating in Nunavut and Iqaluit for a long while yet. Your cost and data speed info is pure speculation.
Check the map here for the location of the starlink network
https://starlinkradar.com/livemap.html
…upgrade made at our cost, at no cost to customers…
Did they go and get second jobs to pay for this?
Good grief.
Permanent increase in usage and permanent increase in price.