Canada regulator OKs metered Internet billing

reply to post by vox2442

In Canada it was metered by time for dial-up, but I don't remember unlimited access not being an option after about 1993.

What can I say?

Some of us are ancient early pioneers. ...There's good reason I support Open Access to information. I remember how things used to be, how closed, small, limited, ignorant, expensive - and what a HUGE difference unlimited Internet access made to me, my life and everything.

I used the same ISP for 15 years. My last plan with them was of 10mbps. Then Carlos Slim bought that ISP and crapped all over it. One of the first things he did was to establish a 40gb bandwidth limit a month and charged for extras. That clause was in the original contract but the ISP never enforced it. Carlos Slim did and I told them goodbye! Now I am with GVT, which is a french company operating here in Brazil and they enforce no limits. So, if you have an option, just change ISPs. If they are all imposing limits and charging for extra, thqt sux, but it is only a matter of time till someone comes forward and says "ok, i wont charge any extras. Cme with me.".

Take away our buffets....but DO NOT touch our unlimited bandwidth!!

Hopefully in America we'd have enough dissent to prevent that. Bad precedent to set...they can always raise rates too in the future.

reply to post by vox2442


Back in those days, very little could be done with regards to traffic shaping, restrictions etc. The tech just didn't exist.

You were lucky to get the full 64Kpbs at the best of times too, so major downloading was not an issue. Times change, we've been riding the free ride for quite some time and it's only natural that there will be some charging for heavy use.

On the flip side, you may find other ISP's offer cheap deals for light users, so there will be a tiering available and you can choose.

Again, though, this depends on just how much competition exists in your markets and from what I see, very little exists.

reply to post by zcflint05

Yes, but do you really think that us non-power users will actually get the option to pay less if the power users are paying more?
No, you never get a break.

However, we here rarely go over the extra billed limit, it happened once due to someone here trying to download the complete multi-year episodes of some certain sitcom.

Funny how the ISPs say they do it because their system can't handle the bandwidth... so they encourage you to upgrade to a plan that uses more bandwidth then the one you originally had. What logic is that?

Seriously makes no sense. It's like a water plant running out of water so they not only charge more for water but pump it through your taps twice as fast. At the end of the day it's gunna use up more water.

To upgrade your bandwidth cap you usually have to upgrade your "speed" too. So if they weren't blatantly lying about how their infrastructure can't handle the current bandwidth. Then their system would have crashed by now from users like myself who have had to upgrade bandwidth and now are using even more bandwidth then we were capable of before, in less time.

It's all about money.. thats why the caps get smaller and smaller. The Rogers evil agenda, I mean *plan* I was on was 60GB a month.. then they downgraded it to 30GB. They'll continue this until people are used to going over the monthly cap and paying $5/GB. After that, they'll get rid of the cap completely and start charging $5/GB as the regular price. actually they'll probably cut the price to 4.99 to make us feel like were getting a deal.

I can't wait to see commercials advertising the "cheap low price of 1 dollar per Kilobyte"

Good old Harper and friends find another way to screw over Canadians and the tax payers in favor of large corporations and more corporate tax cuts. This has gone on long enough on both side of the borders we need to stand up as citizens like what is going on in the middle east we cannot afford to be so reckless and to allow these powers drive the citizens on the streets. Capitalism has hijacked democracy and we stand by idly waiting for some one else to fix it for us. We are losing our jobs the middle class in no longer needed as computers and technology have made most of the working class obsolete. And to get anywhere in this society is to be selfish ,unethical , just take advantage and exploit anyone just for a dollar. I am tired of being lied and disrespected as a human being where it is a privilege just to live , it is a privilege to pay for shelter, it is a privilege to buy food , buy if you have no money life is not a privilege.

This may seem a bit off-topic. But since there are three pages of posts here, it seems as though this is an important topic to Canadian and Americans alike, since it's probably coming our way next. Why is nobody Flagging or Starring the OP for this. I've been seeing this a lot lately. Good threads with no S&F's.

S&F OP.

I think people outside of Canada are not fully aware of the situation here.

Here's one example of how bad it's getting with the big provider's...

Last year there were lawsuits and protests from independant broadcasters and channels(different service yes but...). The reason for them was that the large companies had been collecting a surcharge that was supposed to be going to these smaller groups to help keep local TV alive.

Problem was, the big providers weren't paying it out.

When the government stepped in to try and force them to pay out the money they had collected the response was that they would have to raise prices.

Come again?

Collect a fee, pocket it instead of paying it, then cry that having to actually pay it out like they were supposed to was going to require a price increase?

These companies are corrupt.

This move by the CRTC is nothing more than a sanctioned cash grab. Period.

There have been several proposed ideas for either taxing or charging for internet content that failed because the people wouldn't have it. Now they have found a way to do it based on usage.

One more straw....

Please help us in signing this electronic petition againts these provider

openmedia.ca...

Please share this with your friends and family

ISP's are becoming moronic these days.

They let droves of customers in promising "unlimited bandwith" plans.

They can't keep up with demand and instead of upgrading their existing infrastructure because that would cost money they go the cap route.

If bandwidth caps aren't specifically specified in your origional contract with your isp they cannot enforce this.

Originally posted by Klassified
This may seem a bit off-topic. But since there are three pages of posts here, it seems as though this is an important topic to Canadian and Americans alike, since it's probably coming our way next. Why is nobody Flagging or Starring the OP for this. I've been seeing this a lot lately. Good threads with no S&F's.

S&F OP.

Thanks this to me is a big a issue since i will show you what rogers plan i am using for TV & Internet


at the moment i am using the Extreme rogers package which gives you

Music, video streaming, downloading and playing games. Up to 1Mbps $1.50/GB

However the Monthly Fee is around $59.99 and it gives me a 80GB.


You would think they would charge me $59.99 ? wrong they charge me alot more then that.


With the new plan it will kill me and my family

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter




Welcome to Australia's internet model! We've had this since they got broadband. But the caps used to be 1-2gig. We've come a long way cap wise.

All i can suggest to you guys is... Get a plan where the isp DOES NOT CHARGE OR COUNT UPLOADS AS PART OF YOU'RE DOWNLOAD LIMIT. That is one thing you will find you're isp's will try to do now they've given the ok for metered downloads. Some ISP's will charge per meg over the limit, others will cap you're speeds.


Its crap. The whole system is setup entirely so they can reserve priority bandwidth to buisnesses by rationing it out to the home consumer. If you have an ABN and get a buisness plan which has the same "offerd speeds" as a residential plan - you will be beside yourself as to just how much faster the speeds are compared to you're home plan using the same equipment.


All i can say for you guys is - Boycott it as much as you can.


I am unsure if it will help - but perhaps you can relate Australia's ISP models' to you'rs and kick up one huge stink on the pricing.

You're infastructure is far superior to ours (Telstra blatantly refuzes to upgrade its infastructure. our government has had to step in and do it for them with this "NBN" crap) We're still sitting on very degraded copper lines, The fastest internet we can get here is actualy ASDL 2+ rather than Cable.

Why is Canda, a country with far superior infastructure - which is proven by the fact they've been able to give you unmetered internet for god knows how long - only able to offer inferior plans in comparison to a country with Inferior infastructure which has allways had metered internet as a ways of coping with the bad infastructure?

Here are some examples of our plans

go.bigpond.com...

www.internode.on.net...

personal.optus.com.au.../personal/internet/monthtomonth&site=personal

www.tpg.com.au.../pricing/adsl2plus


Take it to the media if you can - there is absolutely no excuse why their plans cost MORE for LESS in compared to ours. Make it a point - hell even make australia look 3rd worldish with its internet standard (because hell it is in comparison to the US etc) and make everyone think - why??

We have always paid for the amount of data for upload and download.. whats the big deal.. haha oh and to the guy who is screeming rebel rebel? go back to yoru corner, you know We Canadians DONT protest... were too damn cold...hahah just sayin! off to my igloo now

Originally posted by stumason

Currently, I have "unlimited" (fair use) 50Mps from Virgin and I want that speed available to me all the time, as I'm paying for it and quite a bit too. If others in my street are using their full bandwidth all the time to torrent dodgy films, games and the like then what do you think will happen to my speed and is that fair? The only other recourse ISP's could do is major network overhauls to increase backbone capacity which costs money, which will be passed on to everyone in higher bills.

Blaming the wrong people. You want that speed available all the time? Well so does everyone else paying for their service. What they do with that service should be of no consiquence to you. Fact of the matter is, Virgin along with every single other provider, over sell capacity. They are unable to provide everyone with the service they pay for and actually rely on people not using what they pay for in order to keep the network ticking over. Virgin specifically target their higher teirs towards heavy users and downloaders then have the gaul to whine about their usage. Those who do attempt to get their moneys worth are punished severely. Fair use policies exist for no other reason than to ensure providers can continue oversubscribing already saturated networks. I would much rather have a truely unlimited/uncapped 10mbit than an halfarsed 50mbit.

BTW, I started with them back in the early days of Blueyonder, through the NTL merger and then Virgin rebranding and all the while the service has gotten worse the more they have increased network speeds to attract new customers. Along with those speed increases has come several incarnations of traffic management where there was none before. All ISPs take the michael, none of them are capable of delivering a service to all of their customers all of the time. Now there should be laws against that!

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter


Thanks for bringing this to light!

I currently have Shaw as my internet provider and I had no idea that this was taking place. We have 4 active computers on this one account and 2 download loads of games from steam and movies from netflix. The other one streams TV shows and the last one plays online games on yahoo and such.

We currently pay $50 per month for internet and we haven't went over yet. But I am sure we have more than 60gigs per month combined, easily.

I just signed the petition at stopthemeter.ca, I think most Canadians should sign it.

Leave it to some big American company to come here and screw everything up. Of course our companies are greedy too. They just want to raise prices, that's all. And they're mad at the CRTC for helping small competitors to stay afloat. Screw them!

Originally posted by dereks

Originally posted by zcflint05
I don't understand why this is such a problem.

Simply the problem is the heavy leechers want everyone else to subsidise what they leech.

&(*)(%#$^&*
Its rich vs poor. Elite vs Commoner
You will never get it.
They are shearing your coat.
You will freeze in your Canada.
While worshiping the rich.

Originally posted by Agent_USA_Supporter

Originally posted by Klassified
This may seem a bit off-topic. But since there are three pages of posts here, it seems as though this is an important topic to Canadian and Americans alike, since it's probably coming our way next. Why is nobody Flagging or Starring the OP for this. I've been seeing this a lot lately. Good threads with no S&F's.

S&F OP.

Thanks this to me is a big a issue since i will show you what rogers plan i am using for TV & Internet


at the moment i am using the Extreme rogers package which gives you

Music, video streaming, downloading and playing games. Up to 1Mbps $1.50/GB

However the Monthly Fee is around $59.99 and it gives me a 80GB.


You would think they would charge me $59.99 ? wrong they charge me alot more then that.


With the new plan it will kill me and my family

No problem. To me, if a thread is worth discussing, it's worth giving the OP either a star, a flag, or both in your case. I'm not sure what's up with that lately.

Anyway, I pay 39.99 a month plus tax. And that's for unlimited. I've never had them complain yet about my usage, but then I'm not constantly downloading either. But this whole scam they're pulling on Canada isn't about bandwidth anyway. They've got the infrastructure to handle several times over what you guys are using. This is simply about control, money, and conditioning of the masses. And I'm figuring this will get to the USA in the next year or so. Though I hope not.

Originally posted by wingsfan
...
soon we all will literally be paying the utillity companies to bend us over.
...

...too funny!