Canadians Speak Out to Save the Internet!

MusicallyInspired

Canada is the first nation who is being forced by the CRTC and Bell to put a meter on our internet usage and charge by the byte. This means a lot of the stuff we have available right now won't be affordable because we'll have to pay through the nose for it. This is a cheap shot to force people to stop streaming movies and TV shows through innovative services like Netflix to go back to watching cable TV. The cap they are proposing is 25GB/month which is a fraction of what we currently have and we'll get charged for going over that limit. We'll be paying more for a lot less of what we have now.

Link to Article

Metered Internet usage (also called "Usage-Based Billing") is coming to Canada, and it's going to cost Internet users. While an advance guard of Canadians are expressing creative outrage at the prospect of having to pay inflated prices for Internet use charged by the gigabyte, the consequences probably haven't set in for most consumers. Now, however, independent Canadian ISPs are publishing their revised data plans, and they aren't pretty.

"Like our customers, and Canadian internet users everywhere, we are not happy with this new development," wrote the Ontario-based indie ISP TekSavvy in a recent e-mail message to its subscribers.

But like it or not, the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved UBB for the incumbent carrier Bell Canada in September. Competitive ISPs, which connect to Canada's top telco for last-mile copper connections to customers, will also be metered by Bell. Even though the CRTC gave these ISPs a 15 percent discount this month (TekSavvy asked for 50 percent), it's still going to mean a real adjustment for consumers.
This is going to hurt

Starting on March 1, Ontario TekSavvy members who subscribed to the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, "substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC's decision to impose usage based billing," the message added.

By way of comparison, Comcast here in the United States has a 250GB data cap. Looks like lots of Canadians can kiss that kind of high ceiling goodbye. And going over will cost you: according to TekSavvy, the CRTC put data overage rates at CAN $1.90 per gigabyte for most of Canada, and $2.35 for the country's French-speaking region.

Bottom line: no more unlimited buffet. TekSavvy users who bought the "High Speed Internet Premium" plan at $31.95 now get 175GB less per month.

"Extensive web surfing, sharing music, video streaming, downloading and playing games, online shopping and email," could put users over the 25GB cap, TekSavvy warns. Also, watch out "power users that use multiple computers, smartphones, and game consoles at the same time."

Sign the petition against Internet Metering!

MusicallyInspired

An interesting anecdote someone on the interwebs noted:

SHODANFreeman

Capping internet use is a terrible idea.

Avistew

I'm already charged by the byte, although I picked 60GB as my cap (can't remember what the lowest one was).

Friar

Well, that sucks, i guess. But i'm pretty sure other countries have caps. In the UK, we have multiple caps available, but even our so called unlimited policies have caps (or "fair use policies") attatched to them. They're probably not as bad as in canada though.

I'm afraid a petition won't do much. The best thing to do would be to organize a large boycott (along with some angry, letters), or to switch to a competitor who still offers the old pricing structure. Companies only listen to money.

jp-30

Always been capped here. Meh.

MusicallyInspired

Yeah, maybe it's been capped wherever you guys are, but it's coming down from 200GB here to 25! And we'll have to pay through the nose if we go over. And that's all on top of paying by the byte. Which means we're ultimately paying way more money for a lot less internet than we currently have. It's greed and a huge push against net neutrality.

The petition I linked to is not some useless online petition, it's being arranged by people in high places and sent to political parties who are actively fighting this. It will do something.

GuybrushWilco

This is a terrible idea. Maybe if Canadians stop this, it won't spread anywhere else!

Debbie82

There's an update, and it's coming from OpenMeter's website:

UPDATE: The Liberals and the NDP have now come out AGAINST Internet metering. We're winning, Canada - now onto the government in power!

doodo!

You can't win, they are the win.

Hayley the Hedgie

What is this, I don't even.

guitarsareboring

My cap WAS 30GB/month when I chose my ISP. As far as I know it still is.

MusicallyInspired

This is all apparently going to happen in the next couple months. Hasn't happened yet. That's why everyone is fighting it. Consumers and ISPs alike.

MusicallyInspired

Looks like it's been turned around:

Ottawa Threatens to Reverse CRTC Decision on Internet Billing

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.

Friar

That's good news i guess, but is still think that if the deal went through you wouldn't be that much worse off than we are in the Uk. The reason this proposal was probably made was as an alternative to hiking the prices up (which is a neccesity, due to rising energy costs etc.). I wouldn't be surprised if that happens now

Jeez i'm such a pessimist...

MusicallyInspired

The thing is, people are used to these high limits now and have been for a very long time. People do too much on the internet all at once to have such a ridiculous cap and metering system forced onto us. I don't mind regulating some kind of system but what they were proposing was far too extreme a difference for Canadians to adjust to and afford based on what we have right now.

Friar

MusicallyInspired wrote: »

The thing is, people are used to these high limits now and have been for a very long time. People do too much on the internet all at once to have such a ridiculous cap and metering system forced onto us. I don't mind regulating some kind of system but what they were proposing was far too extreme a difference for Canadians to adjust to and afford based on what we have right now.

I can understand where you are coming from. The same sort of thing is happening over here due to government cutbacks causing services which we are all used to using (but which are ultimately a luxury) to be scrapped or charged for.

Farlander

Here in Moldova we have 20 Mbps Interned with unlimited traffic for 7 bucks a month. 100 Mbps for 20 bucks a month. Unlimited. We're a small country and our economy is kind of meh, but the Internet is one of the best in the world - especially the cost/speed ratio.

But, anyway, this news kind of concerns me too, since just in 8 days I have a flight to Canada - going to learn there for a year (and, actually, want to find a job in Canada after that).