The internet is dead in canada... 25gb cap for everybody

[shabby]

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5711/125/ - Cable Companies on UBB: No Link Between Cost and Price
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5712/125/ - UBB is Dead. Long Live UBB
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-decision-on-bandwith-billing/article1892522/ - CRTC will rescind ‘unlimited use’ Internet decision – or Ottawa will overturn it
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...d&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=DTN+Canada: - CRTC head called before committee over usage-based billing
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/02/01/internet-usage-based-billing-clement.html?ref=rss - CRTC's internet billing decision faces review
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/...rnet-usage-based-billing-clement-garneau.html - Reverse internet billing decision, Liberals say
http://www.tonyclement.ca/EN/3413/124561 - STATEMENT FROM THE HONOURABLE TONY CLEMENT, MINISTER OF INDUSTRY
http://www.dslreports.com/r0/downlo...c32efe5/CRTC-2010-802-Vaxination-Petition.pdf - Petition to the Governor in Council against UBB
http://business.financialpost.com/2...ing-as-netflix-questions-its-canadian-future/ - CRTC petitioned to stop usage-based billing as Netflix doubts Canadian future
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ernet-is-a-regulatory-failure/article1881250/ - A metered Internet is a regulatory failure
http://www.jonlim.ca/2011/01/canada-where-innovation-comes-to-die/ - Canada: Where Innovation Comes To Die
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/01/25/tech-crtc-bandwidth.html - Internet groups criticize CRTC bandwidth ruling
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/CRTC-Finalizes-ISP-UsageBased-Billing-112406 - Canadian Broadband Gets Even More Expensive & Confusing
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...t-on-usage-based-billing-fees/article1882339/ - Usage-based Internet ruling draws fire
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/92025/canadian-isp-overage-fees-not-meant-to-recover-costs/ - Canadian ISP: Overage Fees “Not Meant to Recover Costs”
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Internet+usage+fees+draw+anger/4167732/story.html - Internet usage fees draw anger


Bell/crtc hit the final nail in the coffin today, im sure cable will follow soon.
One user got an email from his isp recently, the charges are as follow

Your existing High Speed Internet plan will now have 25GB (gigabytes) of monthly usage included
For the minority of customers who exceed this amount, additional usage up to 300GB will be charged at $2.00/GB to a maximum of $60.00/month. Usage in excess of 300GB per month will be charged an additional $1.10/GB.
Additional Usage Plans can be purchased starting at $5/month for an additional 40GB

So if you use between 55-300gb a month expect to pay almost $100 for internet access.
With these dsl/cable companies also offering tv services, how can a streaming company like netflix survive?



Some quotes from the petition linked above.

21. UBB is more about limiting growth of internet usage than about getting users to pay for what they use. It should be called Behaviour Based Billing.

45. However, when the regulator dictates that all ISPs should adopt the same billing paradigm, this prevents market forces from choosing what type of paradigm is best suited for the market. This is a clear violation of Telecom Act section 7(f) (As well as Policy Direction (i):
(f) to foster increased reliance on market forces for the provision of telecommunications services and to ensure that regulation, where required, is efficient and effective;
(i) rely on market forces to the maximum extent feasible as the means of achieving the telecommunications policy objectives, and

61. The government must prevent the Commission from using creative interpretation of the Policy Direction and Telecommunications Act to blatantly reduce the level of competition to please incumbents. A
"light regulatory touch" philosophy is meant to foster competition instead of re-instating an incumbent's monopoly by saying "yes" to all its requests

94. The regulator's job is not to choose which billing paradigm is best and impose it on everyone, its job is to ensure that the market has choices so it can choose which is best.

 

[Alone]

I have a 60GB cap on my cable line. Costs me about $60, though.

 

[Aquaman]

I have 120 GB cap with Telus.......... I never even hit that.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Ns1]

LOL

caps

 

[RavenSEAL]

That's a lot of porn...

 

[rcpratt]

That's a retardedly low cap.

 

[Aquaman]

I use it for watching streaming TV shows that I miss............ on Sidereal.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[yllus]

It'll make stuff like Netflix pretty much unusable, unfortunately. I doubt most people will take note, though, as I'm sure the average consumer uses < 5 GB a month.

 

[mmntech]

Bell wants this for two reasons. First because high speed infrastructure here is piss poor, and they can't be bothered upgrading it. Second so IPTV services don't infringe on Bell TV. In other words so the networks can't just bypass their gouging. It benefits them but everyone else looses out. Its incredibly ass backwards thinking.

Just another reason why the CRTC should have been shut down ages ago. All they seem to do is prop up Bell's telecom monopoly. The company is reviled for its anti-consumer behaviour but foreign competitors are kept out. This leaves little in the way of choice. Not a single government, Liberal or Conservative, has really addressed this problem.

 

[ShawnD1]

It'll make stuff like Netflix pretty much unusable, unfortunately. I doubt most people will take note, though, as I'm sure the average consumer uses < 5 GB a month.

Watching youtube for 1 hour consumes over 1gb.

 

[TridenT]

LOL

caps

That's a very ATOT response.

Anyway, SUCKS FOR YOU GUIZE LOLOLOLOLOLOOLOOLO

 

[Chaotic42]

Wow. I have an 11GB/day cap after which my speed gets cut in half until the next cycle.

I tend to be anti-government interference, but something needs to be done here. Maybe regulate the internet like a utility.

 

[thescreensavers]

The 250 gb cap on comcast is not seeming so bad. lol

 

[dennilfloss]

Here's my plan at the moment. Nothing's changed.

My Internet service: Bell Internet Performance

Usage included in plan: 25.00 GB

Additional usage allowance: 40.00 GB (I pay $5 per month for this)

Total usage allowance: 65.00 GB

Billing rate for additional usage (over that 65GB): $2.00 /GB (up to a max. of $30.00)

 

[postmortemIA]

for one who is loling, check your provider's TOS.. this is becoming more and more common.

 

[techs]

Wow. From what I have read many countries have speeds 5-10 times that in the US and Canada with no caps.

Sadly, I blame the power of corporations in both countries.

 

[sdifox]

no cap on mine.

 

[Bateluer]

Bell wants this for two reasons. First because high speed infrastructure here is piss poor, and they can't be bothered upgrading it. Second so IPTV services don't infringe on Bell TV. In other words so the networks can't just bypass their gouging. It benefits them but everyone else looses out. Its incredibly ass backwards thinking.

Just another reason why the CRTC should have been shut down ages ago. All they seem to do is prop up Bell's telecom monopoly. The company is reviled for its anti-consumer behaviour but foreign competitors are kept out. This leaves little in the way of choice. Not a single government, Liberal or Conservative, has really addressed this problem.

This. We see the same crap in the US too. Most DSL/Cable providers also offer TV services and loathe the cord cutters.

 

[Nintendesert]

This kind of shit should fall under some sort of anti-trust laws with internet providers being the cable providers. This is an attempt to push Netflix out of the market and destroy things like Hulu and other online video medias.

 

[imported_Champ]

I live in a house with 4 other people, 2 are WoW heads. This month we have used 120GB down and 11GB up. Were screwed.

This is after I told everyone to lay off the downloading.

Last month we were over 300GB

 

[pcguru78]

So far this month our total bandwidth usage is 576GB

 

[silverpig]

There are a few other MAJOR issues with this.

1. Bell is heavily invested in network TV content and satellite TV. This is a direct push at killing streaming content and an attempt to get people back in front of the TV to pay for other Bell services and get content from Bell producers.

2. Small ISP resellers can no longer buy "bulk" bandwidth (dear God that'll go over well here) and re-sell it easily. They will be forced to pass on metered bandwidth to their consumers. Bell owns a ton of long range infrastructure in Canada (AFAIK some was paid for with grants/tax credits from the federal government). It sucks that smaller ISPs are at Bell's whim on this.

There isn't really anything wrong with the CRTC as an idea so much as there is with its current implementation. They pander to Bell/Telus/Rogers too much and it takes some hardline politics and overrulings by Tony Clement to get the CRTC to open up the landscape for competitors.

 

[Modelworks]

I could see 100GB but 25GB ? That is seriously low. Mine right now is 250GB and each GB over that is .15 cents but it is a business line.

 

[zerocool84]

You can't download a game off Steam and watch Netflix at all with a 25GB cap. It's ridiculously low. Just like the wireless companies that are keeping caps low, it hampers all this new great technology we've had.

 

[Rifter]

If my cable provider tries to pull this crap on me i'll sue, im under contract for another year with no cap.