Bell's Vonage Equivilant

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 6

From SeaBoard Group.

How I Wish I Was In Sherbrooke Now

“Then at length she stood two cables away
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now”
- Stan Rogers, Barrett’s Privateers[p]
What with Videotron’s entry into the telephone business earlier this week, and the compression of the CityFido™ offer by Roger’s Wireless, certain events in Sherbrooke Quebec may well have been overlooked by those interested in market developments.[p]
The Canadian balladeer, the late Stan Rogers (no relation, that we are aware of, to the Roger’s dynasty of cable fame) once lamented in his famous ballad ‘Barrett’s Privateers’ that he “wished he was in Sherbrooke now”. One wonders if he had foreseen that Sherbrooke would be such an interesting place for communications services, as it appears to be in the winter of 2004/2005. The war, is seems, may be starting there, not the sea as the narrator describes.[p]
Sherbrooke, Quebec is home to a quiet (and totally unannounced) trial of the long-awaited Bell Canada Voip service implementation. The service, called Bell Digital Voice Service, is a true Voip implementation and offers many of the service elements that were missing from the Videotron implementation announced earlier this week and available to customers on Montreal’s south shore.[p]
Elements of the Bell Digital Voice implementation in Sherbrooke
• Unlimited long distance (Canada and continental US)
• Unlimited local calling
• Phone numbers in ‘other’ area codes/cities
• Voice Mail
• Call Forwarding; web-menu driven
• Call Screening
• Call Conferencing (up to five people)
• Voice Mail – web browser integration
• Web-based account administration[p]
Bell Digital Voice will work with high speed internet service from any provider, or any high speed technology (cable or DSL) – although it prefers the non-Lite versions. Importantly the Bell Digital Voice service will even work in the Florida vacation homes that Sherbrooke residents might retreat to during the long Canton d’est winter. 911 emergency service is available, but it is incumbent on the user to register the address –and you are admonished not to use it while you are on the road.[p]
The trial is a technical trial and, we believe, free to users through June 2005.

SeaBoard’s view is that the Bell initiative shows that any new consumer initiative, such asVideotron’s recent implementation, will have to offer the new feature sets that IP makes possible– the Bell service set summarized about is far more similar to the BabyTel and Vonage product,than it is to the Videotron product set.[p]
Bell has not been sitting idly by, watching and fretting while the cable companies move forward with their plans, and Vonage, Primus, BabyTel and others start nipping at their heels. The features offered in the trail raise the bar for both the new entrants and the cable companies. We will continue to watch this space.
http://www.seaboardgroup.com

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 1

Here's my take on Bell Digital Voice (more Voip analysis at evans.blogware.com)

Bell Canada moved cautiously moved into the Voip market today by launching a Vonage-like service in three cities in Quebec. To be honest, it looks like a pilot project and a shot across the bow of the CRTC, which is taking its sweet time deciding whether or not to regulate Voip. There are several intriguing parts to Bell Digital Voice. First, the regulatory angle. Clearly, Bell is displeased the CRTC appears to be leaning towards a regime where Voip services offered by incumbent carriers will regulated, while rivals such as Rogers Communications and Vonage Holdings will be free to set their own prices. By brazenly launching a Voip service before the CRTC makes a decision, Bell is saying "Look, Voip is an Internet application so stop thinking of regulating our Voip service in the same way as traditional telephony service." Bell has bolstered its case by launching Bell Digital Voice without it to its broadband access service - thereby making it clear to the CRTC its Voip service is just an Internet application available to anyone with broadband access. My take is if the CRTC regulates ILECs who offer Voip service, Bell will launch a legal challenge. Basically, Bell is backing the CRTC into a corner in a game of chicken.
As for what Bell is offering with Bell Digital Voice - three simple plans ranging from $38 to $45 a month, which is not cheap but reasonable. It includes lots of features, including the ability to do conference calling, and free long-distance. Eamon Hoey, a telecom consultant, describes Bell Digital Voice as the "beginning of the beginning of the end" of the long-distance business, which had already had the bottom taken out of last year when Bell launched a $5 for 1000 minutes plan.
All in all, I would give Bell credit on all fronts. It introduces what appears to be an attractive service that's reasonably priced, and sends a strong message to the CRTC that push has come to shove. We know where Bell stands, now it's a matter of finding out where the CRTC is going to go with Voip.

Posts: 336 · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:21 pm Post subject:

The only thing I would give Bell credit for is trying to wipe out any competition before they get wiped out themselves.

They are dirty pool players if you ask me. I guess you are too young to remember the days when Bell was charging $1.00 per minute on long distance phone calls even within the same province. Bell is not the reason we have lower phone rates, I can assure you of that. If they had it their way, we would all be paying through the roof for phone service. If we kept going the way Bell was going, we would all end up starting our own neighborhood party line phone systems again just to get rid of Bell.

They are a lousy company to do business with. I have had so many problems with them, and still have trouble with my Bell Mobility service that they are charging me an arm and a leg for. Each month they remove something. Message Manager, Call Display, Unlimited Weekend/Evenings, and recently they've removed my 100 prime time minutes that I used to get. I signed a 2-year contract in December 2003 and that is the last contract I will ever sign on a cell phone.

Do you know that they can change your phone plan without even letting you know about it? You'll find out about it when you get your bill.

There were several write-ups in the Ottawa Citizen about their unfair billing practices. However, this did not seem to stop them. They are still at it. I'm sure next week when I get my bill for next month, I'll be writing them yet another letter asking to have something credited or fixed.

What irks me is that the minute they start losing business because a company such as Vonage comes along and offers customers decent and fair rates on their telephone service, Bell cuts their prices. Look at long distance. The first company that I recall offering long distance outside of Bell to Canadians was Unitel (which was bought by AT&T). Then Sprint came along. Bell raised their local rates from $13.99 per month to over $20 per month because they said they were losing money on their long distance. In order to raise these prices like that they went to the CRTC asking for approval. The CRTC granted them the rate increases every time because Bell was threatening they would have to lay off their staff because of the cut in revenue due to the loss of long distance. They failed to mention the additional revenue they were making through their brand new call management features (Call Display, Voicemail, Call Return, etc). They also failed to mention the revenue they were collecting with their new cell phone network. In the early 1990s, Sprint released a $20 unlimited long distance plan across Canada. Sprint had so much success with that, Bell started doing the same thing. The problem was that Sprint took millions of customers away from Bell. Bell lost huge amounts of revenue. Sprint eventually ran into problems. The problem was Sprint did not have enough circuits to support the influx of traffic. Customers started complaining because they were getting either re-order tones or recordings stating that the circuits were busy. Sprint decided to cap the long distance at 800 minutes for $20.00. Guess what, Bell did that too even though they had enough lines and equipment to support unlimited long distance for $20 per month.

The only time Bell lowers prices is when they absolutely have to do it to stay in business. When they had the monopoly, they literally gouged people. I will never forget that, and once my 2 year contract is over, I will never pay them another dime of my money. They are not leaders, they are a company that tries to get as much money as possible leaving customers with low value for their hard earned dollars paid. Bell has created their Voip system to compete with Vonage, Primus, and the several cable TV companies that are now offering Voip across Canada.

Let us pray that they do not succeed in wiping Vonage or other companies out. You can be guaranteed if they wipe out their competitors, their prices will soar because the bottom line is that they don't care about you. They only care about their shareholders. This is all like a big game of chess to them.

Bell Mobility Problems Bell Problems Bell Canada Problems Bell Customer Service

Posts: 110 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:58 am Post subject: Bell

Bell came out with their Voip service today?

Posts: 336 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:30 pm Post subject:

Yes, in 3 cities in Quebec. Check out their prices - totally pitiful. I told you. Bell will try to get all that they can.

Posts: 110 · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:33 pm Post subject: Bell

I'm trying to check their prices, but I dont see any advertised price.

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 20

djino wrote:

I'm trying to check their prices, but I dont see any advertised price.

That's because it's only offered right now in 3 Quebec cities, as a test. If you live in one of those cities, you would have gotten all the details in the mail. Presumably based on user response they will set their national prices later. Then when they are ready to go national, they will post all the details online.

The second post in this thread lists some of their test prices, but your guess is a good as mine if those prices will stay as they are.

Posts: 336 · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:15 pm Post subject:

Bell Voip:

$38 a month for Quebec
$45 for the rest of Canada and the US

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 20

DarKev wrote:

Bell Voip:

$38 a month for Quebec
$45 for the rest of Canada

Source??

Posts: 336 · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:06 pm Post subject:

The $45 is for the rest of Canada and the US - not just for the rest of Canada.

Check out this site:
http://aolcanada.workopolis.com/servlet/Content/fasttrack/20050331/RVOIP31?section=Dot-com