Fee waivers are history, but permanent increases to NWTel internet plans start July 1

Northwestel will in July permanently increase data limits on internet plans with no rate increases, the company said in a news release on Tuesday.

Starting July 1, most residential and business customers will receive the increases, while the company’s Covid-19 data relief measures will end on June 30. Those measures had been extended each month since they started in March.

Northwestel applied two weeks ago to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to expand the data plans and stated in its news release Tuesday that the commission had approved the application.

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The data boosts for residential customers apply to cable and fibre internet, satellite and terrestrial DSL, as well as for customers in Nunavut. For business customers the increases are in terrestrial DSL and cable and fibre.

The largest increase will be seen in the Internet 250 plan. The new capacity will be 750 GB per month.

“We know our customers want more usage permanently,” said Northwestel’s president Curtis Shaw. “And we know business customers are asking for more usage as business activity increases.  These changes to Northwestel internet plans will make more permanent usage available in every community while respecting the capacity constraints of local network technologies.”

Many non-regulated plans will receive monthly data increases as well, and the new increases will be applied automatically, with no need for customers to contact Northwestel to request them, the company said.