Bell Sympatico, originally and frequently called Sympatico, is the consumer-side Internet service provider division of Bell Canada. It is affiliated with MSN. As of March 2006, Sympatico had over 2 million subscribers in Ontario and Quebec and is the largest ADSL ISP in Canada. Image File history File links Logo_-_Bell_Sympatico. ... An Internet service provider (abbr. ... Bell Canada Enterprises (TSX: BCE, NYSE: BCE), legally BCE Inc. ... MSN (or The Microsoft Network) is a collection of Internet services provided by Microsoft. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages None Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor Linné) Tree Yellow Birch Bird Snowy Owl Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of...

History

Sympatico was launched on November 29, 1995. Originally a national service operated jointly by Canada's ILECs, the companies other than Bell (including Aliant) have since retreated to their own brands. Bell subsidiaries NorthernTel, Télébec 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. November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ILEC or Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier is a local telephone company that was in existence at the time of the breakup of AT&T, for example, the Baby Bells and GTE. They compete with upstart Competitive Local Exchange Carriers. ... Aliant Inc. ... NorthernTel (formerly Northern Telephone) is a telephone company in Ontario, Canada. ... Telebec is a telephone company located in the province of Quebec in Canada. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

Starting in summer 2003, Sympatico tried to differentiate its service from its competitors by adding Radial Point's (formerly Zero Knowledge) suite of antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware services for extra charge. In spring 2004, Sympatico added a wireless modem-router hardware upgrade and Microsoft's MSN Premium software to its portfolio. Anti-virus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify, thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (malware). ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... MSN (or The Microsoft Network) is a collection of Internet services provided by Microsoft. ...

Services

Sympatico offers five tiers of service: 56K dialup, 128K "DSL Basic Lite", 1024K "DSL Basic", 5 Mbit/s "High Speed" ADSL, and 5 Mbit/s "High Speed Ultra" ADSL. However, ADSL is not available for all customers. Dial-up access is a form of Internet access through which the client uses a modem connected to a computer and a telephone line to dial into an Internet service providers (ISP) node to establish a modem-to-modem link, which is then routed to the Internet. ... A megabit per second (Mbps or Mbit/s or Mb/s) is a unit of data transmission equal to 1,024 kilobits per second or 1048576 bits per second. ... Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional modem can provide. ... Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional modem can provide. ...

In order to differentiate between Standard High Speed and Ultra High Speed, it was decided that security software and home networking equipment would be included at no extra cost. Sympatico added access to MSN Premium to all High Speed customers and removed the web email by a lightly modified Hotmail.

Two other Sympatico-branded Internet services are also offered; Unplugged is a wireless service and Optimax is based on fibre optics.

ADSL Equipment

For services other than dial-up, Sympatico mandatorily provides its own modem equipment to its subscribers with a rental fee, which is waived on some plans and promotions. High Speed service was launched in late 1996.

During the original test trials in 1996, Sympatico provided Westell FlexCAP II modems to its High Speed subscribers. Since then, Sympatico has upgraded their modem rollout on a nearly yearly basis. Westell Technologies, Inc. ...

Over the years, Sympatico supplied the Alcatel A1000, the Nortel 1MM (running on the proprietary Nortel DBIC platform), and the Alcatel SpeedTouch Home. In late 2003, Sympatico standardized on the G.DMT ADSL platform and phased out support for the Nortel DBIC platform. Going forward, Sympatico has exclusively provided Efficient Networks' Speedstream DSL modems. Alcatel SA is a global company, headquartered in France that provides hardware, software and services to telecommunications service providers and enterprises. ... Northern Telecommunications Networks, commonly known as Nortel, is a telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Canada. ... In telecommunications, G.DMT, or G.992. ... Siemens AG (FWB:SIE, NYSE: SI) is the worlds largest electronics company. ...

As of 2004, Sympatico has been providing ADSL2-capable modems to their customers. These modems are backwards compatible with ADSL, and as such Sympatico shapes them at 5 Mbit/s like any other modem. However, they are capable of speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s, should Bell decide to take advantage of ADSL2 in the future.

Sympatico High Speed Unplugged

On March 31, 2006, Bell Canada began offering a wireless Internet solution under the Sympatico brand. The service relies on technology developed by Inukshuk Wireless Inc., a joint venture between Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. and has no affiliation to Sympatico's xDSL operations. March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Inukshuk Internet Inc. ... Rogers Communications Inc. ...

Sympatico Unplugged currently offers two tiers of service to both rural and urban users in ten provinces and one territory; 512kbps with a 2 GB usage threshold and 3Mbps with a 10GB threshold.

Unplugged is an OFDM Non-Line-of-Sight NLOS wireless service. The modem is a (RSU-2510-FV) NextNet Expedience Broadband Wireless Modem available as a mandatory equipment rental. Orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM, also called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) is a technique for the modulation of digital information onto an analog carrier electromagnetic (e. ... Near line of sight. ...

Sympatico Optimax

On July 5, 2006, Bell Canada began offering ADSL2+ based Internet access under the Sympatico brand. July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Optimax currently offers two tiers of service in select areas in Montreal: 10Mbps with a 50GB threshold ($1.25 /additional GB, billed in increments of 1GB), and 16Mbps with a 75GB threshold ($1.00 /additional GB, billed in increments of 1GB ). Upload rates are 1Mbps. $70 a month for the 10Mbps, and $100 a month for 16Mbps. Sympatico has since released the same service for select areas of Toronto. Motto: Concordia Salus Coordinates: Country Canada Province Québec Founded 1642 Established 1832 Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area    - City 366. ...

Etymology

The name Sympatico was chosen for its universal recognition by both English and French speakers, as both are official languages of Canada. Visually and phonetically it resembles the English and French words "sympathetic" and "sympathique" (meaning "kind"), respectively. The word is pronounced as in the Spanish "simpático" with the emphasis on the second syllable.Media:Example.ogg The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

External links

• Sympatico/MSN MSN-based portal site
• DSLReports Sympatico forum and FAQs
• Sympatico High Speed Unplugged
• Inukshuk Wireless
• Sympatico Optimax