Northwestel customers to see increased data caps, end of waived overage fees
Waived overages set to expire at end of the month
Most Northwestel residential and business internet customers will have access to more internet data every month starting July 1, though temporary waived overage fees are set to expire next week.
The telecommunications company has received regulatory approval to permanently increase the amount of data on select plans with no rate increases, according to a news release sent Tuesday.
The northern telecom giant made the application to Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the regulatory body for internet providers, on June 2.
The company added that many non-regulated plans will also see an increase in monthly data.
"We know our customers want more usage permanently," said Northwestel's President Curtis Shaw in the release.
"These changes to Northwestel Internet plans will make more permanent usage available in every community while respecting the capacity constraints of local network technologies."
New monthly data amounts will be applied automatically, the company said, and customers do not need to contact Northwestel to request the increase.
A table provided by Northwestel in the release shows which plans will receive usage cap increases. A customer on the Internet 100 plan, previously receiving 300 GB of data per month, will automatically be upgraded to 450 GB, for example.
The company also added that their temporary COVID-19 relief measures are set to expire at the end of June.
Back in March, the CRTC approved an application from Northwestel to waive internet bandwidth caps for communities with cable internet service. In other communities, the move granted large increases in monthly data for users.
Information about available Internet plans and rates is available here.