Northwestel says it has lowered the rate customers pay for exceeding their internet usage allowance.
The company says if you go over your monthly limit, most cable internet package owners will now pay an excess of $2.50 per gigabyte ($2 if you have the premium package) and DSL package customers will pay $3 per gigabyte.
That’s a reduction of 50 cents per gigabyte. Northwestel says the change has already taken effect across the NWT, as well as the Yukon, northern BC and northern Alberta.
Read: Here’s the Yellowknife man who won a $250,000 lottery prize
Internet access in the Northwest Territories remains pricey.
If you were in Ontario, you would be paying around $90 a month for a top-of-the-range Bell package including up to 175 Mbps download speeds and a 300-gigabyte monthly cap.
With Rogers in the same province, at February 2015 prices you’d again pay roughly $90 for 150 Mbps download speeds and a 350-gigabyte monthly cap, including extras like GameCentre Live.
In Yellowknife, Northwestel’s top package gets you 100 Mbps speeds and 300 gigabytes per month for just under $140 a month, or around $128 if bundled with TV service.
In Hay River, the best-available package – 15 Mbps download speeds and a 200-gigabyte monthly cap – costs $120 per month.
Northwestel launched its 15 Mbps Hay River service in December 2014, an upgrade from its previous maximum of 5 Mbps in the area.
Since being ordered by the CRTC to improve its northern service in late 2013, the company has maintained it is doing all it can to provide an effective service at the lowest possible price, investing tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure across “the most remote and rugged terrain in Canada”.
