Uploaders rejoice: "Fibe" is here
For the last 10 years (or more) most consumers and frankly most ISPs have been exclusively focused on the performance of their high speed Internet connection’s ability to offer fast downloads. And for good reason. Fast downloads enable virtually all web-based content to be enjoyed smoothly including streaming audio and video and graphics-heavy Flash animations.
But what about upload speeds?
With the vast number of devices that let people create their own digital content being snapped up at retail every day (has anyone else noticed the explosion of Flip Video-style camcorders?) having to wait while your clips of the kids’ birthday parties upload has become a real drag. Same thing goes for photos. I have a Flickr Pro account which lets me upload tons of full-res photos to share with friends and family. I typically upload these as a batch of 50 or so images at once. That means starting the upload and then walking away for up to an hour while it completes.
Faster uploads would be a welcome option.
To address the growing need for faster uploads, Bell has just announced the availability of a new product they’re calling “Fibe”. It’s available in the Montréal and the Greater Toronto Area and offers uploads speeds of up to 7Mbps – the fastest of any current residential options. Downloads are of course pretty speedy too at up to 25Mbps.
The name Fibe was clearly inspired by the technology and infrastructure that delivers the service, known as VDSL2 (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line) over FTTN (Fibre To The Node). The combination of fibre-optic cabling and the enhanced data-delivery protocols of VDSL2 is a significant improvement over traditional DSL arrangements.
You can find out more about Fibe here.
However, if you live in Quebec City, or some of the new home developments in Quebec and the GTA, there’s an even better service that will soon be available to you. Known as FTTH(Fibre To The Home), this fully fibre-optic based network can deliver download speeds of at least 100Mbps and download speeds of at least 20Mbps.
How fast is that? At 100Mbps, you could download the entire contents of a DVD (approx 4.3GB) in 7 minutes.
Full Disclosure: Sync is owned and operated by Bell Canada.
Excitable 
This will be good for “Skypers” etc.too….but how much are we going to be “raped” for this service ? Seems every time a new service comes along we’re charged an arm & leg for it.
As for upload speeds – I’d bet that 90% – 95% of internet users don’t know what their upload speed is …. and would be shocked to find out that it is only a fraction of what it should have been in the first place !
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hear hear
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Awesome! Downloads at 100Mb and uploads at 20Mb minimum!! I’m gonna hit that cap with lightning speed!!
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Once again Hi-Speed gets faster while the poor Bell “Dial Up Only available” Customers sink further into the Stone Age of computer technology, With Bells standard answer as to when Hi-Speed may be made available “Not in the forseeable future”
WOW 50 or so images in an hour, it would take a dial up customer about 16 hours to upload 50 images, downloading updates just to keep programs currrent are becoming prohibitive sometimes taking up to 8-10 hours,
any other souls out there in the same boat, like electricity some politition needs to step up to the plate to make Hi-Speed available to all Canadians.
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Could not have said it better. “Not in the forseeable future”
in my opion is never. I think we are going to have to look at other options for high speed in our area!
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Try one of Bell’s new HSPA Turbo sticks. I live in “dial-up country” and I switched my home computer over to the wireless Novatel modem in November when the new HSPA network came on stream. Not quite as fast as high-speed at my office but not far off. Very happy. Not bad rates either on their Flex plan.
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Tried it in our area, not any better than dial up and sometimes even slower.(Central Ontario Area between Huntsville & Sundridge 3 Miles west of Hwy 11).
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Same dial up problem here in southern Essex County (Windsor). I’m guessing that we still have the same 8-party line equipment that we had when we moved here over 37 years ago. So much for the promise of the Liberals to provide high speed service everywhere.
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you can actualy get fairly good high speed out not the best by far but not bad its called Xplornet… i used to live out in cholchester and they are getting high speed over the phone and cable soon
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I’ll believe it when I see it. Bell said I was able to get high speed downloads before and after I subscribe and get billed I end up being told “sorry, no high speed service to your address”. Bell-Bull is the one single constant with their sevice.
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The question with Bell is never the upfront charge but rather how much the charge will increase month after month. Bell is really good at nickle and diming people.
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Great! Another scheme from Bell to grab your money on services that do not live up to their hype. How about getting the rural homes in S.W.Ontario high speed access first? As far as uploading is concerned, Bell has the slowest upload speed in Canada (source CBC). Perhaps their money would be better spent on Customer Service. Think of the jobs Bell could provide Canadians here at home rather than shipping them “off shore”. I may as well subscribe to AT&T or some American provider.
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I’m with Robert R. McDonald.
I moved from NDG in Montreal to St-Hubert on the South Shore and I don’t have high-speed available. This was a HUGE shock to my system.
I had to settle for their Portable 3Mbps system which, although better than dial-up, is a fraction of the High Speed I used to get. Add to that the fact that the system is radio-based and reception goes up and down like a yo-yo, causing me to lose connection completely several times a day.
What’s really frustrating is that I’m living in a suburb of the largest cosmopolitan city in Quebec with High Speed available only blocks away. Meanwhile my gray-haired mother who lives on a dirt road in the Eastern Townships has High Speed. Someone please explain Bell’s priorities to me!
They are really good at promoting what they do right but in the meantime do nothing to correct what they do wrong.
INSTEAD OF MAKING FAST FASTER…WORK ON GETTING EVERYONE ON FAST.
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SHAME! Shame on Bell Canada….For the poor technology!! Look while BELL Canada is out loud promoting this but we , at the heart of MONTREAL, could not receive a basic high speed services!!! What’s a joke!!! Check it out Bell Canada: Why do you fail to provide a basic hi-speed internet services to our postal code:H4N 4A2!!! you said due to technology not permit!!! WHAT ‘S A SHAME??? I wish the CEO, and All cross Boarding members, investors check this out and let me know. Thank you!
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I think Bell should get hi speed up and running for everyone first, after all the Federal Government set aside monies for each province. In fact the Province of Ontario received 223 million dollars for broadband service upgrades for areas that are on dial up. I personally have spoke with my MP and MPPs, and according to all, it could take between 2 & 3 years before we have hi-speed in our area…..East of Hwy 40 south of Sarnia and north of Wallaceburg. The funny thing is one of our county clerks, doesn’t understand why we do not have this he is on the other side of Hwy 40 and he has hi speed.
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Interesting article by Simon Cohen. I thought that the first paragraph was particularly interesting. High speed being rolled out to Ontario and Quebec residents. Maybe you should look at a map!!! Ontario and Quebec are not just made up of The GTA and Montreal!!! Beleive it or not, there are other people out there!!!! I do not think that all those hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars were dolled out for just a few select areas of the province. News Flash Bell, there are other internet users/subscribers outside the GTA/Montreal!!!!Why should the rest of us have to accept rediculous waiting times??? Your BS slogan, “Where technology exists” is just a little to convenient!!!
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Bell likes to hide behind the “up to.” I have never had anywhere close to the “up to” speeds they advertise. After many years with Sympatico’s DSL internet I will be dropping them at the end of my contract in favour of my local cable company’s ISP. I also do not like the way Sympatico “outsourced” their email to Hotmail. Just two months to go before I kiss Bell’s internet goodbye.
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Hey Randy – try speedtest.net and see what your speed is – I use this site all the time to keep tabs on my service. I’ve had Sympatico DSL ever since it was available in my area and i’ve had to call Bell only twice to fix slow speed ( after checking speed at speedtest.net)
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I’ve heard great firsthand experiences about Bell’s new service (in the GTA) and am considering switching though I too am worried about Bell’s historically infamous “hidden” and “prorated” fees.
Bell’s Entertainment service (http://entertainment.bell.ca/) has a 60GB cap (I easily use 5x that) and a maximum overage fee of $30 which is less than Rogers’ new $50 cap (taking effect in March). Best thing: no commitment/contract.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for high-speed access and Canada’s large geography makes it an expensive proposition to connect up rural areas. The only consolation is that all new subdivisions and nodes will now be fibre.
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Feb.4/10
We are just east of Uxbridge, ON and are still on dial-up! It was another Liberal election campaign broken promise to have all ‘rural’ areas of the province receiving Broadband (hi-speed) service in 2 to 3 years. Well, that time has come and gone and we are still using the Frank and Gordon (Bell’s beavers) method of using dial-up….yell out the window to have others get off their computers in order to get SOME speed.
What ever happened to Canada being the most ‘computer’ literate country? Our costs for so little are mounting and Ma Bell just cannot be trusted to deliver!
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Hurray for Bell for what…I live in rural Ontario. The Cretian government gave Bell the green light to connect Canada with high speed. I can’t even get decent dial up where I am. Nice…
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Dude, is the Greg of Price in Winnipeg?
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I hate bell. why? at one side they introduce stupid caps and throttling, crying to the CRTC that traffic shaping is required to maintain a good network speed. On the other side they falsely advertise fiber networks. total crap i must say. bell sucks !
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Are we to think that down and upload speed was limited to copper, since the article talks about fibre is going to make it faster?
Are you sure it has nothing to do with the major providers throttling and capping the speed?
Did Gigabit over copper not work for Bell or Rogers?
This is just another way for the ISPs to jack up the rates in hopes of silly clients thinking they will be able to download faster.
Of course, we never been lied to by the ISPs before, have we.. ;)
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Interesting news item since Bell has already rolled this out in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It’s been in place in NB since the fall and I believe in NS late summer.
I don’t think the speed is any better than Rogers Hi-Speed. I’m not a user so I can’t say for sure.
BTW, NB will be the first province to have all of it’s rural communities connected to high speed.
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If everyone is so mad at Bell… use a different provider and stop complaining. If you are rural use satellite.
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I live in a small town (rodeny) between london and windsor and there hs been fiber lines instled for almost two years. Bell and all of their wholesale isps including the one I use (MNSI) have been utilizing the fiber lines and getting amasing speeds since then. I would love to know why they are trying to promte fiber as a new tech exclusive to montreal and the gta.
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