| [DSL] Modem Rental Fee I hate paying to rent a modem that I ought to be able to buy outright so I started investigating what can be done. CRTC is useless and by the time any regulatory change happens I'll have paid for the modem several times over. So, I called the competition bureau to see what they could do. I had a very interesting conversation - while they can't do anything under the market dominance aspect, they did suggest that something maybe amiss as to fair business practices.
Bell charges the fee as a "modem rental fee" but if you buy a compatible modem you are still charged the fee. This is considered false advertising because in actuality it's a user access fee. I'm waiting to hear back from the fair business practices dept of the competition bureau for more details, however, it looks good.
If Bhell is forced to stop calling it a modem rental fee and calls it a user access fee (or some such) then it falls under existing CRTC regulations. |
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| It's something like renting a house to own but paying twenty million dollars for a two hundred thousand dollar house. That's where the problem lies. |
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 GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | reply to JMJimmy
Let's not exaggerate. It's $96 per year for a VDSL2 modem that sells for ~$130 at wholesale prices (so you'd probably pay closer to $200). As a temporary measure, paying the modem rental fee is not a big deal.
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Developer: Tomato/MLPPP, Linux/MLPPP, etc »fixppp.org |
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 TSI GabePremium,VIP
join:2007-01-03
Chatham, ON
kudos:2 | Buying modems is in fact available to us as of a few days ago. We are still working out the details so it's coming soon. |
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| reply to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:Let's not exaggerate. It's $96 per year for a VDSL2 modem that sells for ~$130 at wholesale prices (so you'd probably pay closer to $200). As a temporary measure, paying the modem rental fee is not a big deal.
And if you've got a source to get one free? (uncle). Even then, at the end of the year you're still paying the $8/m and have nothing to show for it.
It's also about denying revenue to Bhell. |
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| reply to TSI Gabe
This is great news! |
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GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | reply to JMJimmy
Since Bell never sold any of them, and manufacturers don't allow them to be sold at retail, where did your uncle get one?
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Developer: Tomato/MLPPP, Linux/MLPPP, etc »fixppp.org |
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 kragop
join:2006-02-15
Scarborough, ON
 ·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to TSI Gabe
said by TSI Gabe:Buying modems is in fact available to us as of a few days ago. We are still working out the details so it's coming soon.
So you mean to say that we wont be forced to pay the $8/month in the near future. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to Guspaz
I bought two (Zyxel) from two different sources. Cisco also sells some and TSI sells one (Zyxel different model). Admittedly most of these only work on 7330 cards but there are certainly options out there. Whether or not Bell "allows" the us of such modems is a whole other question... |
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| reply to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:Since Bell never sold any of them, and manufacturers don't allow them to be sold at retail, where did your uncle get one?
They never sent him a box to return his when he cancelled his service.
You can also find things like:
»ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell···44123282
Also, if they don't allow people to buy their own and want to keep charging the fee it would fall under CRTC rules/regs and be subject to rulings which might reduce the fee or lump it in with existing fees.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the modem rental fee is a double dip anyway. |
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1 edit | reply to TSI Gabe
said by TSI Gabe:Buying modems is in fact available to us as of a few days ago. We are still working out the details so it's coming soon.
Wow that is fantastic news! I am getting ready to switch over to 25/10, this will be great for me as I always dreaded that rental fee.
I hope there will be some choices. |
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 Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to TSI Gabe
said by TSI Gabe:Buying modems is in fact available to us as of a few days ago. We are still working out the details so it's coming soon.
Finally! |
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 c2rothPremium
join:2006-04-26
Kitchener, ON
kudos:2
 ·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to TSI Gabe
said by TSI Gabe:Buying modems is in fact available to us as of a few days ago. We are still working out the details so it's coming soon.
Now there is some great news! It is looking VDSL is becoming closer to a reality for me. The only things that need to change as dryloops and modem rentals, until then cable is king! |
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| reply to JMJimmy
indeed great news.
Now the difference in price for the 16mbit and the 25mbit is only 7$ at the 300gb level.
(without factoring in the hw costs) |
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| reply to c2roth
said by c2roth:The only things that need to change as dryloops and modem rentals, until then cable is king! I'll be moving next summer and will most likely ditch POTS in the process. As much as I would like to keep using my ST516, cable gets me 10/1.5 instead of 5/0.6 (usable) for $5/month less.
Dry-loop fees do make DSL look horrible at the lower end of the service ladder. |
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| reply to JMJimmy
I'm really liking the idea of dropping the rental. I was about to cancel my 25/3.7 service due to the high dryloop and rental fees. Now I may have to reconsider and keep both it and my new Cable. |
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| reply to JMJimmy
lol - well I got a response from the competition bureau's fair dealings dept...
...we cannot provide complaint status reports or comment further on this matter in order to protect the integrity of the investigative process. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to JMJimmy
I've never paid more than 50$ for a DSL modem, due to people not returning them to their ISP , or for whatever other reason.(weather its bell or some other company in the world). People don't think to buy their own ISP hardware, so the market makes it available for cheap.
8$ modem rental, plus tax IS/WAS a big deal. When you buy a modem from someone else for 50$ and sell it for 40$ at the end of its life, your cost is 10$ versus 200+$ for 2 years of service with a rental model. |
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Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 | Back in the day they were more expensive and I bought a speedtouch modem for $85 through a group buy. Since then I've paid $20-$40 a modem. Prices have gone down big time. |
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corkyy
join:2008-06-01
Laval, QC
kudos:2 | Where I work We do have about 20-30 SAGEMCOM from bell, used, for sale when provider will no more forced to have rental modems. |
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