Bell Internet

Bell Internet, originally and frequently still called Sympatico, is the residential Internet service provider (ISP) division of Bell Canada. As of May 3, 2012, Bell Internet has over 3 million subscribers in Ontario and Quebec, making it the largest ISP in Canada.

History

1990s: Early years

Sympatico was launched on November 29, 1995. 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 (including Aliant) have since retreated to their own brands.

2000s: Value-added services and rebranding

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.