[redeemed]

I was just on my daily cruise around Reddit, and I noticed some disappointing news, at least for Canadians in Ontario (for the meantime).

Excuse the language in the article's URL. Here's some copypasta from the main post on Reddit [emphasis mine]:

Quote

Recently, Bell Canada has had the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) make a decision that aims to take more money out of the pockets of Canadian consumers and ruin online services that are competitors to Bell Canada. This decision is called Usage Based Billing (UBB). Details for UBB can be found here: http://www.crtc.gc.c...011/2011-44.htm . To summarize it, the CRTC recently rendered a decision forcing all independent DSL and Cable Internet providers to substantially match incumbent (like Bell) usage rate caps. The data caps that Bell imposes are ridiculously small and would normally be avoided by switching services to another independent DSL Internet Service Provider (ISP). This will influence all internet service packages eventually, but DSL residential customers in Ontario and Quebec first, as of March 1. From March 1 on, users who purchase Internet packages in Ontario can expect a usage cap of 25GB (60GB in Quebec), substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals that these independent ISPs were able to offer before the CRTC’s decision to impose usage based billing.

More Reddit links:
http://www.reddit.co..._to_the_editor/
http://www.reddit.co...hardly_knew_ye/
http://www.reddit.co...n_do_to_oppose/
The Anti-UBB movement.

Worse than Australia, yo

As mentioned above, I guess it's only a matter of time before the effects of this decision reach further out in Canada.

Jonathan, Kenneth, Preston, Anthony, other Canadian APHers: Have you heard of this? What are your opinions? Please excuse my ignorance haha , but is this an effect of having lots of public/government control of resources in Canada as opposed to privatisation? (healthcare, etc)

This post has been edited by redeemed: 30 January 2011 - 08:28 PM

[chconline]

Yep, it's a load of crap and has been spreading like crazy on the internet. The CRTC is bring Canadian internet back to the stone age, and while we have (relatively) expensive internet, we have one of the best service in the world in my opinion. Unlike other places where companies offer crap service that the government has to step in and regulate minimums, here in Canada companies are offering decent service and the government wants to step in and make it worse. Just in time when Netflix hits Canada...

It wasn't until recently that Shaw Cable had no hard caps on usage. For example, they say they give you 60GB per month, but you can pretty much use as much as you want since they don't actually keep track. Now they actually do and will charge you for over use, like your cell phone. Not a big problem, I got 60GB and I never exceed this anyway. But this is just a load of crap.

[redeemed]

Oh right, so (some of) the caps were in place anyway, it's just that now the ISPs are being forced to charge overage fees. I don't think this has ever happened in Australia, not with broadband anyway. We do have speed shaping (which, depending on your plan, means that you're dropped down to 64/256/512 kbps when you reach the limit).

But now in major cities (in Aus), there's a resurgence of 1TB and even unlimited download allowance plans, all for ~AU$70/m. Users have reported downloading up to 2 and 3 TB of data on good ADSL2+ lines

It's a pity that the Canadian government is meddling with the telecoms industry, or at least in a negative way. I'm looking forward to seeing how (if?) this will be resolved.

[chconline]

Everyone is complaining about it lately. I don't see what the government has to do with this in my opinion. They should ensure a minimum service level, not maximum service level I mean, if they're ganging up with a triopoly to charge us $50 a month for 256K net and the CRTC makes it mandatory for at least 5Mbps connection, then yes, it's understandable in a mixed economy. But with all the ISPs lobbying to increase service price I think this is totally BS. I don't use a lot of bandwidth, but even I've gone past 44GB last month because I needed to get some games for benchmarking.

And with the popularity of digital content delivery, not everyone is using the internet to simply browse a couple pages and check their email anymore. Unlike what they think, there are legitimate reasons why lots of bandwidth is needed, and with technology progression, if they really want to have a hand in this, they should make ISPs upgrade their network to accommodate more traffic rather than less. But as someone who is more for market economy, I think the government is best to stay out of this issue.

[TL6MT]

ATT and Verizon are implementing caps as well - but I'm not sure if canada had REAL uncapped internet in the past? But yes North America is ****ed beyond times.

[shc-boomer]

These caps are terrible...

[CrashGordon]

TL6MT, on 01 February 2011 - 11:13 PM, said:

ATT and Verizon are implementing caps as well - but I'm not sure if canada had REAL uncapped internet in the past? But yes North America is ****ed beyond times.

Wonder what AT&T's cap will be, right now it's unlimited (one of teh main factors I'm still with them).

Saw this elsewhere and thought I'd pass it along:

Quote

In recent developments, the Canadian government has stepped-in to protect consumers and small businesses. According to The Globe and Mail, the CRTC must overturn their decision, or the Harper government will do it for them. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, posted a comment on Twitter yesterday to have the decision reviewed

[chconline]

Good news!

Quote

OTTAWA—A controversial CRTC decision that effectively imposed usage-based Internet billing on small service providers will be reversed, the Toronto Star has learned.

“The CRTC should be under no illusion — the Prime Minister and minister of Industry will reverse this decision unless the CRTC does it itself,” a senior Conservative government official said Wednesday.

“If they don’t reconsider we will reverse their decision.”

The promise to reverse the ruling comes as CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein is scheduled to explain the decision Thursday before the House of Commons industry committee.

While the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is an independent agency, its decision can be overturned by cabinet. The Star was told that could happen as early as next week.

The CRTC decision has sparked outrage across the country with Canadians rushing to sign petitions asking the Conservative government to reverse it. Industry Minister Tony Clement has received tens of thousands of emails requesting that it be struck down.

“Frankly, a decision like this is clearly not in the best interest of consumers,” the senior official said.

“This is a bread-and-butter issue.”

The CRTC’s ruling affects the wholesale business of the major Internet service providers, who sell capacity to smaller resellers. To encourage competition, major telecom operators that have spent heavily on infrastructure are required to lease bandwidth on their networks to small providers.

Major providers charge customers extra if they download more than the monthly limits they set, typically between 20 and 60 gigabytes. Small providers, however, offer plans with 200 gigabyte ceilings and even unlimited use.

The issue came to a head last week, when the CRTC denied independent service providers the right to continue offering unlimited Internet plans.

Although critics say the CRTC ruling will lead to lower download limits and higher rates, major Internet service providers say usage-based billing based is fair because it means heavy users pay more than those who just surf the web and use email.

As it invests billions in new broadband capacity, Bell says old pricing structures need to be brought in line with the huge amount of growth in Internet usage. Businesses and consumers are increasingly relying on the Internet to download videos, documents and even software. Rogers says its customers are using about 40 per cent more data each year.

Consumers’ Association of Canada president Bruce Cran said the CRTC decision is nothing but corporate gouging by Canada’s monopolistic communications companies.

John Reid, president of CATA Alliance, a group that advocates for innovation in Canada, said, “This has to be a decision that Canada makes — that it wants to be the best in the world in the provision of high-speed Internet.”

He added, however, that usage-based billing is not the answer.

“You don’t want to stifle the sort of richness that comes from using high-speed Internet,” says Reid.

http://www.thestar.c...nternet-billing

Stephen Harper = FTW

[redeemed]

chconline, on 03 February 2011 - 09:18 AM, said:

Good news!



http://www.thestar.c...nternet-billing

Stephen Harper = FTW

Sweet! You Canadians don't have it too bad after all lol.

Quote

And with the popularity of digital content delivery, not everyone is using the internet to simply browse a couple pages and check their email anymore. Unlike what they think, there are legitimate reasons why lots of bandwidth is needed, and with technology progression, if they really want to have a hand in this, they should make ISPs upgrade their network to accommodate more traffic rather than less. But as someone who is more for market economy, I think the government is best to stay out of this issue.

I totally agree mang. Unfortunately that's what you get when clueless (or even clued-up and really selfish) people trying to meddle with things they wouldn't have a clue about. However, it's awesome that it's turned out well!

BTW nice infographic you got there, Kenneth.

[TL6MT]

lol @ Picture.

Hey at least your government actually cares, unlike here in the USA.

[shc-boomer]

TL6MT, on 05 February 2011 - 12:09 AM, said:

lol @ Picture.

Hey at least your government actually cares, unlike here in the USA.

True that, hope the FTC actually gets authority from government to do the things needed.

[chconline]

So does the CRTC

Well at least Harper is doing the right thing in case of an impending election. I voted for him in 2008 (First time voting after turning 18) and I will vote for him again.

[Big Bang]

Interesting. But unlike here in USA where the Govt don't give a **** about anything but stupid Healthcare **** your Prime Minister is actually doing his Job.

[TL6MT]

Big Bang, on 07 February 2011 - 01:04 AM, said:

Interesting. But unlike here in USA where the Govt don't give a **** about anything but stupid Healthcare **** your Prime Minister is actually doing his Job.

Let's not bring US politics into this.

But I agree Canadas govt actually does stuff.

[shc-boomer]

TL6MT, on 08 February 2011 - 03:34 PM, said:

Let's not bring US politics into this.

But I agree Canadas govt actually does stuff.

I agree with both statements here, kind of sad when Canada has more progress in this field than USA with all its money and people.

[chconline]

The Canadian government has pretty ridiculous crap going along that you Americans would never think of. But again, let's not bring politics into this. I'm glad this is resolved, and the CRTC can just go home.

[chconline]

Haha more good news: Shaw has suspended its usage based billing policy for going over the bandwidth caps. Back to the good old days (for now) guys