Cooptel Reviews and Plans

Cooptel is a Quebec-based telecommunications provider. The company’s headquarters are in Valcourt, Quebec. They also have offices in Montreal, Quebec, and Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Interestingly, the company’s webpage states the company was founded in 1944 – making it one of the older telecommunications providers in Canada.

The company was originally known as the ‘Cooperative Union Valcourt Telephone’ before changing its name to the ‘Valcourt Telephone Cooperative Association’.

In 1979, again the name was changed to the ‘Valcourt Telephone Co-Op’. Now the company is known simply as ‘Cooptel’ and their website states they are the only telecommunications cooperative in Quebec. There are only a few in Canada overall such as Mornington and Hay Communications.

This is, therefore, a very interesting company to review as we rarely see the cooperative model applied to telecommunications providers, as at least 90% of Canadian firms (if not more) are privately owned non-cooperative firms.

If you are unaware of the exact definition of the cooperative, it is defined as a legal entity, in which persons or companies that have common economic and social needs and which combine to operate a business in accordance with the rules of cooperative action.

But enough with the history and definitions. What pricing does Cooptel offer?

In our review of Cooptel, we will not only look at pricing and features but attempt to get a handle on how the cooperative aspect changes the dynamic for the consumer.

Quite simply, you must pay a $10 membership fee to be able to have the option of using Cooptel’s Internet. The membership fee gets you a share, which gives you annual dividends and perhaps, more importantly, voting rights.

Once you have purchased your share, you now have access to their Internet plans. Cooptel has six main plans which are nameless.

• 20 Mbps Down, 5 Mbps Up
• 30 Mbps Down, 10 Mbps Up
• 60 Mbps Down, 20 Mbps Up
• 150 Mbps Down, 30 Mbps Up
• 500 Mbps Down, 50 Mbps Up
• 1 Gbps Down, 100 Mbps Up

All plans are unlimited, unfortunately Cooptel does not shows the pricing information upfront.

In our review of Cooptel, we love a telecommunications cooperative company as a concept. But we hope that if you are paying a membership fee we feel that the membership benefits don’t quite outweigh the costs. Obviously, membership grants you a vote on how the company is run and dividend payments which come up your Internet costs, but those costs are very high. That may equate to higher dividend payments which make it all worth it but we are not quite convinced yet. Cooptel is definitely worth exploring though.

Features

Web Email Access:
Online Chat Support:
Feature 24x7 Support:
Unlimited Bandwidth:
Own Modem:
Rent Modem:
Combo Wireless Modem:
Fixed IP Available
DHCP IP
Extra Protection Plan
DSL
Cable
Email Accounts