Bell Fibre in older buildings

[DSCToronto]

I hear that Bell are offering to rewire older condo and rental buildings for Fibre at no cost. Being a cynic, I assume there is a catch. Comments

 

[TOareaFan]

Comment: isn't it Bell "Fibe"?

The "catch" may be as simple as Bell having a strategy to grow its customer base through TV.....wireless and internet are viewed as pretty mature businesses and they are in a perenial tussle with Rogers for a few market share points on an annual/monthly/daily(?) basis.....they see their TV as a real growth opportunity for them as they are the underdog/new product offer.

 

[Jonny5]

I hear that Bell are offering to rewire older condo and rental buildings for Fibre at no cost. Being a cynic, I assume there is a catch. Comments

Coincidentally, someone who is on the board of directors of a 1980's condo told me this today. However the catch was that while the explicit "rewiring" was free, they found there were would be add-on costs of construction they had to pay; and the eventual monthly prices, after a 6-month "introductory rate," would rise to be the same as are offered to anyone who randomly phoned them up anyway.

Any "free" telecom offer is revenue positive in the long run.

 

[crs1026]

When you figure that so many people have ditched their landline phones, the amount of revenue that Bell can extract from old copper twisted pair technology is likely in decline. It's probably the only way to stay in the game.

I wonder how long before the telco's just wire buildings once, with fibre, and limit their business to selling the programming. We don't have separate Rogers and Bell connections for water or hydro !

- Paul

 

[doug]

Fibe uses the existing copper pairs to the home, what are they rewiring?

 

[nfitz]

Comment: isn't it Bell "Fibe"?

I prefer to brand it as Bell Fib-E

 

[TOareaFan]

I prefer to brand it as Bell Fib-E

We made the switch and are very happy we did....so I have a hard time associating "fib" with them

 

[GenerationW]

We made the switch and are very happy we did....so I have a hard time associating "fib" with them

Same here. I find it much better than Rogers.

 

[LNahid2000]

Fibe uses the existing copper pairs to the home, what are they rewiring?

Theyre adding actual fibre to each unit capable of providing bells gigabit internet. Copper can't do this. My building was wired a few weeks ago but I don't think it's active yet.

 

[mdrejhon]

Comment: isn't it Bell "Fibe"?

Fibe uses the existing copper pairs to the home, what are they rewiring?

I prefer to brand it as Bell Fib-E

Nope.

Its changing.

I can confirm this is real Fiber To The Home.

I know someone who has Bell Gigabit.

Same speed as Google Fiber in USA!

Definitelt rocket fast. Get it if you are lucky and can afford it.

http://www.bell.ca/Gigabit-Fibe-Internet

They are finally wiring this to existing condos. I think they are using that new "Corning ClearCurve" stuff that makes it much easier to retroactively wire condos. Most newbuild condos have wire ducting that you can drop the fiber through, and reach the units. Condo management will need to work things out with bell, to make it happen.... But they are now pulling fiber into condos that don't have the fiber yet. If you are a condo dweller and it doesnt show yet, you might be able to petition your condo board to ask Bell to wire-up your tower.

They are spending over a billion dollars in Toronto doing this now.

 

[Disparishun]

I hear that Bell are offering to rewire older condo and rental buildings for Fibre at no cost. Being a cynic, I assume there is a catch. Comments

If they remove the copper and leave only the fibre, then they don't have to wholesale that network access to TekSavvy et al. unless your condo board requires it contractually. That will change in the future, but not anytime soon.

 

[LNahid2000]

If they remove the copper and leave only the fibre, then they don't have to wholesale that network access to TekSavvy et al. unless your condo board requires it contractually. That will change in the future, but not anytime soon.

They didn't remove the copper when adding fibre to my building...

 

[mdrejhon]

Yes, leave the copper in.

I'm a TekSavvy subscriber.

In due time, once enough portion (not necessarily all) of the capital costs of the FTTH network is being paid off, Third Party Internet Access (TPIA) fiber is definitely warranted. TekSavvy over Bell-intstalled fiber!

But it will take time needed for a small period of exclusivity (3 years? 5 years? 10 years? Not sure...) to at least partially pay off the billions capital installing fiber. Otherwise they might not bother to install fiber in Canada if fiber infrastructure installations aren't government-subsidized enough (like in other places, e.g. Korea) to permit TPIA competition more quickly. One condition is unlimited (no caps) to permit Bell to have temporary exclusivity.

Right now, this is the case -- there is no cap on Bell Gigabit FTTH. (good!)

I'm kinda okay with CRTC deciding something along the lines on Bell getting a small period of exclusivity on gigabit fiber deployments (as long as unlimited data), as long as they cede access to TekSavvy et al, after X years, as a condition of rolling out fiber more quickly. Tough balancing act...

It's a balancing act between making it unappealing for Bell to install gigabit fiber, versus getting all the TPIA gigabit goodness sooner...

 

[muller877]

If they remove the copper and leave only the fibre, then they don't have to wholesale that network access to TekSavvy et al. unless your condo board requires it contractually. That will change in the future, but not anytime soon.

The CRTC ruled on this. Bell appealed to Cabinet and lost. So the re-sellers can access the fibre network of both Bell and Rogers.

The announcement that Cabinet said no was earlier this month or in April.

 

[georgevicbell]

They did this in our building a couple months back. Added conduit in the halls and then drilled into each unit and put a drop. We basically switched as soon as it was operational and have had less problems than with Rogers.

Then a few weeks ago the Bell sales team was setup in the front hall with 5 people and a flat screen tv trying to encourage everyone entering the building to switch. Pretty aggressive in a 5 story apartment building. I'm sure they got a few switchers...