Results tagged “bellcanada”

For more than a year now, Canadian ISPs, net neutrality advocacy groups, and the CRTC have been battling over the issue of internet traffic management. ISPs, like Bell Canada and Rogers, argue that they need to manage their network traffic in order to stop BitTorrent users from hogging all the bandwidth; net neutrality advocacy groups, on the other side of the issue, believe that the ISPs should treat all internet traffic equally, with the limited exceptions of viruses and spam. Groups like SaveOurNet.ca also argue that Canadian ISPs are inflating the issue in order to gain the leverage necessary to create a lucrative tiered internet service, so that they can charge Canadians more for their access. Finally, somewhere in the middle, the CRTC has been listening to both sides of the argument.

Listening to the debate between the CRTC and Canada’s major internet service providers (news here, here, and here) during recent public hearings is a bit like overhearing a pair of Luddites discuss how the tiny people in computers make the World Wide Web work. ISPs such as Rogers and Bell continue to argue they provide nothing more than a “dumb pipe” through which web content imperceptibly flows (even though they’ve been “smart” enough to throttle BitTorrent downloads on smaller ISPs such as TekSavvy) and shouldn't therefore be expected to provide funds for the promotion of Canadian culture online.

If you want to gauge the disconnect between business "experts” and regular, everyday consumers, read online coverage of Bell Canada’s announced purchase of 750 The Source (formerly Radio Shack) stores last Monday. This apparently “gutsy” move will get noticed, said Kaan Yigit, president of telecommunications consultancy Solutions Research Group in the Globe and Mail, because "The Source is a respected leader in consumer electronics retailing right across Canada,” explained Bell and BCE CEO George Cope in the Star.

So we're, uh, pretty sure that Bell's behind those mystery "er" ads after all.

The latest ubiquitous mystery ad is "er." Though it has various configurations—billboards, (illegal) signs, and subway station placards—it always takes the same rough form: two blue letters in the same typeface, and some lone blue shape on the edge of an otherwise white canvas. It's no Obay as far as provocativeness goes, but it's nonetheless drumming up more than its fair share of interest.

Barack Obama thumps Hillary Clinton in last night's primaries. Obama for the first time won the majority of Latino voters, the majority of women voters, and the majority of senior citizen voters, while broadening his support in the demographics he was already winning. On the bright side for Hillary, she did manage to win the vote of nearly 87 percent of the voters who thought she was more qualified to be President than Obama. On the Republican side, John McCain won all his primaries, then told us that Barack Obama is a young whippersnapper selling false hope, and that grownups know that despair is the only rational response to the world.

Equal Voice, a group which advocates for more women in government, reports that there are 22% more women running in this year's provincial election than in 2003. However, they also note that because many women are competing in ridings where they have no hope of winning, the numbers may not translate into more female legislators. You know, rather than spending time and money trying to elect more women, the whole inequity thing could be solved through a program of gender reassignment surgery on sitting MPPs.

City council says up to 2,500 tonnes of dog poop are deposited in park trash bins every year. This is problematic since our garbage dumps in Michigan refuse to take it. So where should we put our growing heap of canine feces? Councillor Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) thinks the city should provide green bins in parks, while Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) doesn't think it's a big deal for dog owners to carry the waste home and flush/compost it. What are your thoughts on this crap?

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Craig White, Graphic Designer

A unique urban adventure that requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for ChasePoints scattered in unknown locations throughout the city.

If the most inspired feminist action we take in Canada is to challenge those silly Bell Canada ad campaigns, perhaps author Judy Rebick is right to call for more activism. Or, conversely, if the Bell ads are in fact our call to action, maybe next we could target Nickelback for being latent sex offenders? (Was it just us, or was that "Figured You Out" song about some sort of Chad Kroeger sexual assault? Gross nonetheless).