The Toronto-based company is rolling out its new dial-up and DSL services in Ontario and Quebec, targeting families, schools and businesses with price points that are competitive with nonfiltered services currently available in Canada.
According to its website, "PurePages is the only Internet service provider in the nation that offers proxy-free, server-based filtering to allow you to enjoy a full Internet experience without having to sacrifice either your values or productivity."
It does this by filtering out what cofounder Al Rehmtulla calls "the downside of technology — the smut, the spam and the websites parents want to protect their families from and which schools and businesses do not want available."
The new service offers virus protection and boasts growing spam-filtering capabilities.
"While some spam can slip through our filters," Rehmtulla said, "our engineers are working daily to reduce and hopefully eliminate spam in the future email service."
It's the server-based adult and "objectionable" content filtering, however, that will likely bring many home and business customers into the fold, both for the "enhanced" surfing experience as well as to support PurePages' mission.
"[There is] a worldwide epidemic of Internet smut and spam," Rehmtulla said. "This is a battle very much worth fighting, helping parents protect their children and helping businesses and offices to be more productive by ending personal use of the Internet for nonessential purposes while at work."