SaskTel internet bills could go up or down in December price shakeup
Prices range from $54 to $144 a month under new pricing plans
Fees for some SaskTel internet packages will go up next month in a price hike that also increases internet speeds.
The price shakeup, which will also see some bills go down, comes into effect on Dec. 4.
Subscribers to the infiNET High Speed Classic, will see their bills go up by $5 when their existing package is replaced by the infiNET 5 plan. Internet speeds for those customers will also increase from two megabits (mbps) per second to up to five mbps.
SaskTel's external communications manager Greg Jacobs said if customers were to downgrade from that package, their speeds would go back to a comparable speed to the one they had prior to the change.
SaskTel says price change is not forced upgrade
Jacobs said it was not a forced upgrade.
"That's one way to look at it however it's not the way we look at it," Jacobs said on Tuesday.
"When we make price increases like this we typically try to add in some type of additional value for customers so that it's not a simple, straight price increase."
He said anyone who contacts SaskTel customer service can change their plan if they wish.
Prices for the infiNET High Speed Extreme plan will go down by $5 when it is replaced by the infiNET 20 plan.
In the case of the most expensive plan available, the infiNET High Speed Mach II, download speeds will increase by 40 mbps to 300 and upload speeds will increase by 10 mbps to 40.
The cost for that plan will change from $139.95 to $144.95.
Increases are for investment
Jacobs said city-dwelling customers are more likely to see their bills go up, while residents of rural areas might see their prices drop.
He said the price increases allowed SaskTel to invest more into its network.
"So that we can continue to upgrade our service, so that we can continue to offer our customers the level of, in this case, internet speeds that they've become accustomed to or that they're going to need into the future," said Jacobs.
Only two of the plans listed by SaskTel will see no changes: the interNET Connected 5 plan and the High Speed Classic Plan.
A full list of the changes can be found online.