71–80 of 269 posts
A systematic breakdown on how this affects all ISPs and phone providers across all of Canada would really clarify the issue!
Iv'e been following this debate, but it's been difficult to find actual facts. Right now with Telus (Canadian dsl ISP) i pay for 125gb transfer a month and $2/gb if I go over. Yes, the overage charge is insane but it's been like that for a long time. As far as I can tell, the issue is that the big ISPs (tells, Rogers, bell) all have caps/overage, but the smaller ISPs that piggyback on their network can offer unlimite…
Heck, open it up, and McDonald's might get out of selling soft drinks and start up a telco instead.
This really disturbs me. I just moved to Seattle where I signed up for Comcast internet. A couple of days later, my connection stopped working until I activated my account on comcast.com. I did, and the first thing I saw was High-Speed Internet Data Usage: 17% 43GB of 250GB They sure hide that fact when you signup, not that I have any options, as Comcast is the only provider where I live. This is a horrible direction…
The vast majority - more than 99% - of our customers will not be impacted by a 250 GB monthly data usage threshold. If you exceed more than 250 GB, you may receive a call from the Customer Security Assurance ("CSA") team to notify you of excessive use. At that time, we will tell you exactly how much data you used. When we call you, we try to help you identify the source of excessive use and ask you to moderate your usage, which the vast majority of our customers do voluntarily. If you exceed 250 GB again within six months of the first contact, your service will be subject to termination and you will not be eligible for either residential or commercial internet service for twelve (12) months. We know from experience that most customers curb their usage after our first call. If your account is terminated, after the twelve (12) month period expires, you may resume service by subscribing to a service plan appropriate to your needs.
Here's another reason why this is bullshit... this is an excerpt from an article I'm working on: The biggest problem with these caps is that they are, plain and simply, anticompetitive. Probably illegally so. Let’s take Bell’s internet service as an example. Bell recently rolled out their “Fibe” offerings, both for internet and IPTV. Their most accommodating plan, Fibe 25, has a ludicrously low cap of 75GB. It would…
The other bits that they are charging for are ones that go "outside" of their network.
Usage based charging will become the norm, just like with electricity, water, oil/natural gas, food. Some supermarkets carry loss leaders, why should Bell.ca not be allowed to too?
Ok, here is what is happening in India. It's even more sinister. The ISPs have made some sites free and everything else paid. So, facebook for instance is free while your "littlesite dot com" is charged. The regulators are sleeping.
Yet they've completely paved the way for competition to be swallowed into oblivion. They're standing aside saying "it wasn't us - it's not our fault" and yet snickering behind our backs while they rake in the dough.
Disgraceful.
I'll provide one data point of how this affects Canadian internet users. I currently have no caps with TekSavvy and pay $39 a month. Starting from March 1st, I will pay $31.95/mo with a 25 GB cap. Any gigabyte over the limit will cost about 2 bucks. Now, you can buy a block at discounted prices. According to TekSavvy, based on my internet usage, I will need to buy at least a 275 GB extra block. Believe it or not, I d…
EDIT: I just read in another comment that it's Bell Canada metering charges for bandwidth resellers. That's a bit more complicated. Hm.
Here's another reason why this is bullshit... this is an excerpt from an article I'm working on: The biggest problem with these caps is that they are, plain and simply, anticompetitive. Probably illegally so. Let’s take Bell’s internet service as an example. Bell recently rolled out their “Fibe” offerings, both for internet and IPTV. Their most accommodating plan, Fibe 25, has a ludicrously low cap of 75GB. It would…
But FibeTV is bits over their private infrastructure... they can choose how to charge that, no? The other bits that they are charging for are ones that go "outside" of their network. Usage based charging will become the norm, just like with electricity, water, oil/natural gas, food. Some supermarkets carry loss leaders, why should Bell.ca not be allowed to too?
But back to the issue at hand: it should not be allowed because it's anticompetitive and flies in the face of the entire idea of net neutrality. Can Netflix get around the caps? iTunes? No. But because Bell is both in the business of content and in the business of infrastructure, they are in a unique position to abuse their power. And they are doing so.
Further to that is the example of third-parties being forced to pass on Bell's usage-based-billing. They make use of the last mile infrastructure, graciously provided to Bell courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer, but are responsible for providing their own DSLAMs and peering arrangements. Why should Bell be able to dictate terms to third-party ISPs? How does that promote competition?
A lot of public money went into building out the infrastructure that Bell apparently believes it owns. Internet infrastructure, especially the last mile, greatly lends itself to a monopoly or at most duopoly. This is bad for Canada in a mindboggling number of ways - the internet is an economic necessity, and our digital economy is just barely starting to turn into something with real legs. Just like we regulate electricity, water, oil/natural gas, and food, we should be regulating this.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a reason why lots of technical people from Canada seek to find their fortune in the United States.
Is the US really much better? As we saw earlier in the week from Netflix, slower average bandwidth than Canada... hardly any competition and so on. If you want decent internet connectivity, move to Europe or Japan or something. They're rolling out 100mbps broadband in the UK.
Not quite yet. http://www.eclipse.net.uk/fibre-broadband/what-is-fttc-