references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . november 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message this article is about bell internet services offered in major urban centres of ontario and quebec . for high speed internet in atlantic canada see bell aliant high speed internet . for the communications company see bell canada . for the fiber iptv services see bell fibe tv . bell internet type subsidiary industry internet service provider founded november 29 1995 headquarters montreal quebec products xdsl ftth wimax dial up parent bce inc. website bell internet bell internet originally and frequently still called sympatico is the residential internet service provider isp division of bce inc. . as of may 3 2012 bell internet has over 3 million subscribers in ontario and quebec making it the largest isp in canada . contents 1 bell fibe internet 2 history 2.1 1990s early years 2.2 2000s value added services and rebranding 2.3 2010s lower caps and faster speeds 3 hardware 4 services 4.1 digital subscriber line dsl 4.2 fibre to the home ftth 4.3 dry dsl 4.4 mcafee security 4.5 add ons 4.6 legacy services 5 see also 6 references 7 external links bell fibe internet edit bell fibe internet is offered at the following speeds 15 10 mbps 25 10 mbps 50 10 mbps 150 50 mbps 300 100 mbps and 1 gbps 100 mbps . 1 history edit 1990s early years edit bell internet s former logo as bell sympatico sympatico was launched on november 29 1995 . citation needed originally a national service operated jointly by canada s incumbent local exchange carriers and operational run as a content portal by medialinx the companies other than bell 2 including aliant have since retreated to their own brands . citation needed 2000s value added services and rebranding edit starting in summer 2003 sympatico tried to differentiate its service from its competitors by adding value added services . this meant the launch of radial point s formerly zero knowledge suite of antivirus firewall and anti spyware services . although a fee was originally required this is no longer the case as bell now provides the service at no extra charge for dsl customers . in 2004 sympatico added a wireless modem router hardware upgrade and microsoft s msn premium software to its portfolio . in summer 2007 sympatico packaged its security suite and wireless home networking modem together with its high speed offering as sympatico total internet . 3 bell sympatico changed its name to bell internet on august 8 2008 in conjunction with the today just got better rebranding . bell subsidiaries northerntel t l bec and northwestel continue to brand their internet services as sympatico and users receive an ntl.sympatico.ca tlb.sympatico.ca or sympatico.ca email address respectively . 2010s lower caps and faster speeds edit on january 3 2012 customer advocacy blog stop the cap reported that bell lowered its bandwidth caps in ontario and quebec by 10 gb for all new activations of its fibe services except for the fibe 25 plan in ontario which was lowered by 25 gb instead and fibe 6 and 7 which remain unchanged . in may 2012 bell launched new fiber to the home ftth plans and simplified its slower dsl plans . ftth regions can now download and upload at symmetric speeds of up to 175 mbit s. the previous changes for lower bandwidth caps were reverted for the new fibe 15 1 and fibe 25 7 plans . the fibe 5 1 plan replaced the older essential essential plus fibe 6 and fibe 7 plans . the bandwidth cap for fibe 5 1 however was lowered from 25 gb to 15 gb . the fibe 50 50 ftth plan was removed from bell s website by february 2013 . in its place a fibe 50 10 fttn plan was made available for the first time . during that same month usage caps for the 15 10 25 10 and 50 10 plans were lowered by 15 25 and 75 gb respectively . february also saw the addition of an unlimited internet usage add on for bell internet . it costs 30 month and can be added to any residential plan . 4 those who subscribe to telephony bell mobility or bell home phone and residential television bell satellite tv or bell fibe tv from bell can obtain a 20 month discount on the unlimited internet usage add on . hardware edit when bell started its dsl internet service then known as sympatico it simply offered one dsl modem which connected to only one computer . later it added more models with routing and wireless lan capabilities built in eliminating the need to purchase additional hardware . customers previously had to pay extra for such capabilities . today both of these features are standard in both all in one devices bell lends to its customers . standard dsl customers must rent bell s 2wire 2701hg g device which can create 802.11 g wireless access point . vdsl customers consist of any service with more than 1 mbit s of upload speed and they must rent the cellpipe router 802.11 n capable device instead which also bundles a superior dsl modem . bell internet dsl modems 1 speedstream 5200 2 speedstream 6520 front view 3 speedstream 6520 rear view 4 2wire 2701 5 cellpipe 7130 the speedstream 5200 is a basic legacy device distributed during the early 2000s providing an rj45 or a usb port for connectivity . the speedstream 6520 is a wireless capable legacy device distributed during the mid 2000s the back of the speedstream 6520 . four rj45 ports one usb port and 802.11 g wireless lan antenna for connectivity can be seen . the 2wire 2701hg g is bell s current device for standard dsl customers distributed since 2009 . it provides four rj45 ports and 802.11 g wireless lan for connectivity but omits the previously available usb port . the cellpipe 7130 has the same ports as the 2wire but also adds ports for a wireless antenna a console or fiber . no longer being distributed the sagemcom f st 2864 marketed as the bell connection hub was used for adsl vdsl and ftth customers distributed 2010 to june 2014 . it provides one wan port for ftth an rj11 jack for vdsl connection four gige lan ports an hpna connector 802.11 b g n wireless lan for connectivity and 2 usb ports . the sagemcom f st 4350 marketed as the home hub 1000 is bell s current device since june 2014 for internet only customers subscribing to 15 10 or higher and issued on both adsl vdsl and ftth . it provides one wan port for ftth an rj11 jack for vdsl connection four gige lan ports 802.11 b g n 2.4 ghz wireless lan for connectivity and 2 usb ports . the sagemcom f st 5250 marketed as the home hub 2000 is bell s current device since june 2014 for internet and fibe tv customers issued on both adsl vdsl and ftth . it provides one wan port for ftth two grey rj11 jack for vdsl connection pair bonding capable two green rj11 jacks for voip not currently used four gige lan ports 802.11 b g n 2.4 ghz and 802.11 a n ac 5 ghz wireless lan for connectivity and 2 usb ports . as of august 2016 the home hub 3000 is bell s newest modem for internet and fibe tv customers on different types of plans . services edit for turbo hub internet service see bell mobility . while bell internet mostly sells digital subscriber line dsl service they also offer dial up service to businesses and grandfathered residential customers . this legacy technology uses a telephone modem to provide internet access . digital subscriber line dsl edit bell s digital subscriber line dsl services are based on adsl adsl2 and vdsl2 technology . the main differences in both equipments vary from the speed of signal its length and its ability to overcome the noise of a phone line . except for very few grandfathered customers bell has monthly data transfer limits for all of their tiered internet services . both downloads and uploads count towards the limit . the following bell internet services are only available in ontario and quebec and availability varies by region . fibe services can only be used where fibre to the neighbourhood fttn technology is deployed . this currently includes urban hamilton montreal ottawa and toronto as well as most major cities around gta . non fttn regions offer two plans bell internet and bell internet plus . bell has simplified its dsl lineup to offer only two traditional plans and five fttn plans . fibre to the home ftth edit bell fibe internet ftth services are offered by bell in select regions of ontario and quebec . bell guarantees that the ftth download and upload speeds advertised will be delivered to the bell equipment . bell aliant offers a similar but different fibe service under the same branding to certain areas in atlantic canada . dry dsl edit naked dsl commonly known as dry dsl in canada consists of a dsl service without a traditional home phone service . bell does not charge any additional fees for dry dsl service previously 4 per month . bell charges resellers a monthly fee ranging from 7.25 to 25.10 and a one time activation fee for dry dsl service . although bell still attributes a phone number to a dry dsl line it can not be used for phone calls . when one attempts to call a dry dsl phone number they receive the following message the number you are calling can not receive incoming calls . this is a recording . le poste que vous appelez ne peut recevoir d appels . c tait un message enregistr . mcafee security edit since april 11 2013 bell offers mcafee security on all of its current internet plans . add ons edit these are services offered by bell internet in addition to dsl or ftth services either for free or at additional costs pc care an optional computer technical support service with a monthly fee . usage insurance which increases the monthly bandwidth cap with one or multiple blocks of 25gb or provides unlimited internet usage for a fee . unlimited internet usage wireless home networking legacy services edit see also inukshuk wireless and inmusic bell previously offered portable internet and rural internet services in select rural regions similarly to what rogers communications offered . 5 these services used the inukshuk wireless network . bell is discontinuing these offerings . citation needed customers are encouraged to use bell mobility internet services instead which generally offer a much lower bandwidth cap . bell entertainment was a bundle offer which included bell fibe tv service and 25 mbit s fibe dsl . it was only available in some parts of the gta greater toronto area . customers can now add any dsl internet plan to their fibe tv service . despite being an iptv service bell does not charge usage based billing for bell fibe tv . personal vault was a backup service available nationwide both for customers and non customers . while inmusic remains available as a music news portal both the online music store and subscription service were discontinued . see also edit montreal portal companies portal bell canada cogeco net neutrality rogers internet teksavvy references edit fibe internet plans mobile phones tv internet and home phone service bell canada . bell.ca . bell internet . bell.ca . unlimited internet bell internet promotion . bell.ca . bell internet . bell.ca . external links edit official website bell internet support bell sympatico review by dslreports.com cited in many sites provincial protection agency report section in french the loop entertainment website v t e bce inc.