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Internet in Canada: New Usage Based Billing

chemgirl

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
2,345
I am furious that this hasn't been getting more press in Canada.

Here's an article that explains everything in a nutshell: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars

Basically as of March 1st, third party internet providers will be required to adhere to Bell Canada's bandwidth caps on internet. That means that my current plan of 200 GB per month will now be 25 GB per month. The charge per additional GB will be around $2.00. This is mere months after Netflix has been introduced in Canada. Bell Canada also provides television services and movie on demand service. They own one of our major television companies. It seems like this move to cap bandwidth is their way of forcing people away from Netflix and back to their video on demand service.

Luckily my service provider is selling bandwidth insurance that I can use to get extra bandwidth, but Bell users aren't so lucky.

To top if all off, existing lines and infrastructure were heavily subsidized using tax dollars. Bell technically owns them, but infrastructure costs were partially payed for by taxpayers. Third party ISP's lease usage of these lines from Bell Canada. Its not really a competitive market.

Any other Canadians affected by this? Anybody taking any steps to let the CRTC know what they think of the new ruling?

I'm scared that this might be the first step towards even less bandwidth. I received a letter from Bell last week offering me a year of internet service for $16.95 per month. When I looked at the fine print the connection was their lite internet. It was 2 GB per month with a fee of $2.50 per additional GB. The monthly fee would jump to $31.95 after one year. The interesting thing here is that right now, the $31.95 package HAS A CAP OF 25 GB! So are they planning on dropping the cap even more over the next year? Will third party companies be forced to drop their caps as well?
 
It's so ridiculous, I honestly am so upset about it. The CRTC is a bloody joke. While the world moves forward, Canada continuously is in retrogade motion. We are so behind in technology. People in India have better cell phones and rates. Let me rephrase that, people UNDER the poverty line in India can afford cell phones in India - and I mean the newest cell phones with highly competitive rates. WTF Canada. WTF Bell. WTF Rogers.
 
Don't even get me started on cell phones. I think most Canadians don't know how much the rest of the world is paying for cellular service. I went to visit the inlaws in the UK over the summer and the first thing DH wanted to do was go buy phones to use during our trip. I thought he was crazy...I was thinking in Canadian pricing and figured he was going to spend $400+ on phones for a 3 week trip. I was shocked when we got to the cellular store and had a selection of phones starting from 4 pounds...with 100 pay-as-you-go minutes for 10 pounds!

Canadian prices are really out there.
 
WOW! This is the first I've heard about this, thanks for sharing. Being a Canadian who just got netflix we already had to upgrade our internet to the best package available as netflix just chews through GB's. We didn't want to end up like our friend who had a $350 bill at the end of his first month having netflix. We are soooo behind when it comes to data/internet/cell phones in Canada, it's pathetic.
 
Glitz|1296510437|2838518 said:
WOW! This is the first I've heard about this, thanks for sharing. Being a Canadian who just got netflix we already had to upgrade our internet to the best package available as netflix just chews through GB's. We didn't want to end up like our friend who had a $350 bill at the end of his first month having netflix. We are soooo behind when it comes to data/internet/cell phones in Canada, it's pathetic.

If you have DSL, Teksavvy is providing "bandwidth insurance" to their customers. Essentially the premium package now has 25 GB, and customers can buy 40 GB increments of monthly "insurance" for 4.74. Still can't get loads of bandwidth (maximum is around 300 GB I think), but I checked our average usage online and we are using 90 GB with fairly heavy Netflix use. So we will probably buy 80 GB worth of "insurance" on top of our 25 GB plan. Instead of just letting customers go over their limit, Netflix first offers banked GB's that customers buy upfront (so say 20 worth of bandwidth at around 2.0 per GB) that can be carried over from month to month. If you hit your maximum usage for the month, you are notified and will start using your banked bandwidth. If you use up all of your banked bandwidth, you will be asked if you want to buy more. If you don't buy more, your connection speed will drop significantly. Some people are saying this way of dealing with caps is annoying, but at least nobody is going to get stuck with a crazy bill at the end of the month.

ETA: I've looked in to this a lot because I was scared of getting a $300 internet bill!
 
Glitz|1296510437|2838518 said:
WOW! This is the first I've heard about this, thanks for sharing. Being a Canadian who just got netflix we already had to upgrade our internet to the best package available as netflix just chews through GB's. We didn't want to end up like our friend who had a $350 bill at the end of his first month having netflix. We are soooo behind when it comes to data/internet/cell phones in Canada, it's pathetic.

I agree with you there. Its even worse though than being behind, we're actually taking steps backwards. My limit is currently 200 GB, but will be reduced to 25 GB. I could have had unlimited from my third party provider for under $50 per month before this ruling. Still not as good as some countries, but definitely better than what we will have in the future.
 
I'm dumbfounded. In America, we pay for "speed" not for usage. I pay 33 dollars a month, and use my internet constantly - for watching movies and TV shows, reading, banking, email, etc. - without any idea of how many GB I use. I can't imagine being nickel and dimed up to hundreds of dollars like a cell phone bill. sorry, that stinks! :(sad
 
This is what they want to do in the US.

It's disgusting.

I'm surprised they were able to pull it off in Canada first.
 
I'm in western canada, and as far as I know Shaw cable (our ISP) isn't lowering monthy download amount (100gb/month) but they do have a $1/GB charge if we go over our set amount.

I think Shaw owns their own infrastructure, so they are not at the mercy of Bell.
 
HopeDream|1296540585|2839044 said:
Here's the petition about it :

http://openmedia.ca/meter


Thanks! Already signed it and glad people are starting to learn about the issue!

Its really disturbing that this isn't making the news more (conspiracy theory!). It seems like there is such a huge conflict of interest here, that Bell shouldn't be allowed to force customers to use their television and video-on-demand services by cutting internet bandwidth. We are already forced to use them for telephone if we want a traditional phoneline. The way the system is set up, other companies can't compete.

I'm extra annoyed because I don't qualify to be grandfathered in to my current plan with Teksavvy. Why? Because they can only grandfather a client if their name appears on a list provided by Bell! In order to be grandfathered, you have to have had the same DSL service for 4 years, associated with the same Bell telephone number. I moved earlier this year and my phone number changed. I never had a halt in my service from either company, and I didn't change anything other than the phone number and my address. Teksavvy knows this, Bell knows this, but Teksavvy can't get my name on the list. The girl seemed to feel really badly about it since I've been a customer since day one. She said the list was provided by Bell and it was a one time only thing. Teksavvy can't have names added. I tried taking it up with Bell, but they outsource their customer service and nobody knows about the CRTC and third party internet providers when I call.

I'm just so frustrated. I know in my case its only an extra $10-15 per month, but I'm sure Bell won't like Teksavvy's insurance and will try to put a stop to it. Then I'll either have to switch to cable (with a lower limit and metering) or pay for Bell's new "fibe" service (that still doesn't offer much of a limit).


GAAAAAHHHHHHH


I also think internet customers in the US should take notice. If Bell gets away with this without opposition, I'm sure US internet providers will take notice and some might start with similar rate plans.
 
This is how it works in the UK. I was shocked when I moved here as I was used to having extra fast internet in the US.
 
Guilty Pleasure|1296536243|2838993 said:
I'm dumbfounded. In America, we pay for "speed" not for usage. I pay 33 dollars a month, and use my internet constantly - for watching movies and TV shows, reading, banking, email, etc. - without any idea of how many GB I use. I can't imagine being nickel and dimed up to hundreds of dollars like a cell phone bill. sorry, that stinks! :(sad

Yeah, I can't imagine paying for usage. That's insane.

We have a phone, cable, and Internet "bundle" through our cable company. We don't use our land line though because we only use our cell phones. We still pay an arm and a leg, in my opinion, but our bill would skyrocket even more if we had to pay for usage. We're ALWAYS online.
 
Zoe|1296579210|2839432 said:
Guilty Pleasure|1296536243|2838993 said:
I'm dumbfounded. In America, we pay for "speed" not for usage. I pay 33 dollars a month, and use my internet constantly - for watching movies and TV shows, reading, banking, email, etc. - without any idea of how many GB I use. I can't imagine being nickel and dimed up to hundreds of dollars like a cell phone bill. sorry, that stinks! :(sad

Yeah, I can't imagine paying for usage. That's insane.

We have a phone, cable, and Internet "bundle" through our cable company. We don't use our land line though because we only use our cell phones. We still pay an arm and a leg, in my opinion, but our bill would skyrocket even more if we had to pay for usage. We're ALWAYS online.

We have bundling from our major providers as well. I used to have a Bell bundle for phone, tv, and internet, but have dropped everything but the phone because of issues with service. Last month, their internet packages had usage caps in the 100's of GB's. This week its 25 GB. Its scary how a company can just change everything like that. I'm worried that cable internet providers may be next. I'm saving for a downpayment, can't have $300 internet bills!
 
HopeDream|1296540036|2839039 said:
I'm in western canada, and as far as I know Shaw cable (our ISP) isn't lowering monthy download amount (100gb/month) but they do have a $1/GB charge if we go over our set amount.

I think Shaw owns their own infrastructure, so they are not at the mercy of Bell.

And that's the issue here. Teksavvy is using Bell's infrastructure without paying anything to Bell - hence it can afford to offer lower prices. Meanwhile, Bell is stuck with paying for all maintainence etc, and thus charging a lot for their internet.

Personally, there are two things that can be done. Move the lines back to a governement control like it used to be before (technically, that is how Bell came into place) OR let CRTC negotiate a different bandwidth-cap which is still reasonable but does not have to be the same as that provided by Bell.

There is obvious monopoly going on, but it's hard to avoid it if the competing companies are depending on Bell for infrastructure.
 
kama_s|1296580866|2839470 said:
HopeDream|1296540036|2839039 said:
I'm in western canada, and as far as I know Shaw cable (our ISP) isn't lowering monthy download amount (100gb/month) but they do have a $1/GB charge if we go over our set amount.

I think Shaw owns their own infrastructure, so they are not at the mercy of Bell.

And that's the issue here. Teksavvy is using Bell's infrastructure without paying anything to Bell - hence it can afford to offer lower prices. Meanwhile, Bell is stuck with paying for all maintainence etc, and thus charging a lot for their internet.

Personally, there are two things that can be done. Move the lines back to a governement control like it used to be before (technically, that is how Bell came into place) OR let CRTC negotiate a different bandwidth-cap which is still reasonable but does not have to be the same as that provided by Bell.

There is obvious monopoly going on, but it's hard to avoid it if the competing companies are depending on Bell for infrastructure.

I didn't realize that Teksavvy wasn't paying Bell for use of the infrastructure. I thought Bell was collecting a lease fee. Good to know.

I agree that your two options are probably the best solutions to the issue.
 
They might have been paying a small lease fee, but not on par to usage. My biggest issue is with letting Bell have full monopoly on the lines. When Bell first came into being, the govt helped them a LOT with the understanding that their lines will be sold to other competitors at cost, or close to it. But that hasn't happened. I am sure Teksavvy and other DSL providers will be more than happy to own and care for their share of the lines.

Have you head the Liberals have started a petition against this absurd ruling by the CRTC? Let's hope something comes off that.
 
I heard that there's going to be in an inquiry about it. Happy that something seems to be happening. I suppose it was coming after the 200 000 signature petition and the people who posted instructions on how to file a government complaint online.
 
chemgirl|1296608720|2840059 said:
I heard that there's going to be in an inquiry about it. Happy that something seems to be happening. I suppose it was coming after the 200 000 signature petition and the people who posted instructions on how to file a government complaint online.

Yeah, we signed it a few days ago!
 
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