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New Internet Billing?

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Just saw on the news the MTS wants to change the way the bill their customers.

They say people are downloading to much. they want to add to your bill ,depending on much you download. Not sure if this is just movies and stuff. or like stuff on youtube,as well........ The CRTC Is looking into this. I do not like this idead at all. for me having a disability really limits the stuff I can do. I use the internet a lot during the day, and could not afford an increase to my bill.

 

Your Thoughts........

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From what I understand it won't really change...like for me I can download 60g a month...and after that each gig is 2$...from what I understand it wont really change...

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I wouldn't worry about it, it's likely that they are only going to impose a penalty upon those users who abuse the service. There's probably a cap that you will have to adhere to and unless you download more than 2 GB a day (which is a lot), you should be ok.

 

If they tried doing it purely on a usage based model where you get billed for everything on top of what you pay, they will lose every customer they have or get laughed at severely.

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not only do we in Canada have one of the slowest and most antique system...now they want to charge us more for it.....go figure

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I seriously doubt that they can do this except if the internet service being used is through the 3G network via a network stick.

 

As for DSL/Cable service, the usual routine is that they give you a cap/quota (usually 60GB, 75GB, 90GB or 125GB)depending how how fast the service is (although still the service is always throttled till the middle of the night for certain hours)

 

Once the cap is reached then they charge you about $1 per GB or there about until it reaches $30 for which you wont be charged any extra for whatever is downloaded.

 

 

The only way to have circumvented these kind of costs was to use a private ISP which use the DSL lines that Bell use. But due to a court ruling last year, there isnt much saving anymore going that route.

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I have a Rodgers Rocket stick and the first month things were great. I hardly had any use.

 

flash forward: I am charged double my usual monthly fee.

 

The usage graph always shows how much I have used from a 5GB total.

 

Thing is, I have a 2 GB limit. So I kept looking at the graph and thinking I had so much room left to use.

 

If you go over they bump you up to the next plan.

 

I don't usually use more than 500-800MB. I don't know what happened:)

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My family is going to change internet providers because of how Bell is going to screw us. We routinely download 60+ GB a month based on streaming sports, using netflix, and gaming. I believe Telus has a more reasonable pricing system for high GB usage but don't quote me on that, I haven't done my own research yet.

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Hate to let you know this BUT....the CRTC has ruled in favour of the big guys. The bad news? The big guys sell the little guys wholesale bandwidth, so the eventuality is that Usage Based Billing (UBB) is here to stay....

 

here's the article:

 

The CRTC, Canada's communication regulator, has ruled that Bell can charge smaller ISPs based on usage, essentially forcing the small ISPs to stop offering unlimited internet packages and to bill based on usage, just as Bell, Rogers and Shaw do.

 

One ISP, Tekksavvy, has already slashed the amount of data its customers can download in a month, in some cases almost 90 per cent.

 

Jean-François Mezei, a Montreal-based computer consultant, appealed the usage-based billing (UBB) decision, saying it impedes the ability of internet service providers to provide different choices of service for their customers.

 

"Without choice, there is no competition, and incumbents can then raise prices and lower service limits knowing customer have nowhere to go," said Mezei's petition to the Governor in Council.

 

NDP MP Charlie Angus said the decision could hit many Canadians financially. "Allowing the internet service providers to ding you every time you download is a ripoff. Canada is already falling behind other countries in terms of choice, accessibility and pricing for the internet," he said.

 

Michael Hlinka, business commentator for CBC Toronto's Metro Morning, said usage-based billing would be fairer for light internet users.

 

"Right now with, under the current system, somebody like me who doesn't use his internet very much at home is subsidizing heavy users," he said.

 

"I don't understand why people don't think that you should pay for what you use."

 

CBC Radio's Spark devoted much of its Jan. 30 show to UBB, and featured interviews with Mirko Bibic from Bell Canada and Steve Anderson, the founder and National Coordinator of OpenMedia.ca, a group that's put together a petition against UBB called "Stop The Meter."

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Yes unless the CRTC has a change of heart and flip flops on thier decission again we are stuck with this. Befor you run out and spend a bunch of time looking for a different ISP keep in mind that if you get your High Speed Internet connaction through a phone line you get it from bell adn the same can be said for Cable as Rogers owns the tech nology there regardless who you are actually paying.

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It was bound to happen, these big players like raping us for every cent we try to earn, as they say "Nothing is free now a days"

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Guest m***2

Unbelievable that people will let the CRTC do this. Ask yourself exactly who will benifit from this???? I will tell you who will benifit NO ONE other than big business. Major telcom wins (aka Bell), Canada takes a step backwards in the technological advancement and ultimately we pay more for less. Bell sent in their fleet of lawyers and made things go their way as usual. In the end we lose as the consumer, small business's get screwed over as this was an edge they offered over that of the co-opolys and their collusion. Your rights are getting squashed. DONT JUST SIT THERE AND TAKE IT - YOU CAN HELP - THERE IS STILL A CHANCE - PLEASE TAKE TWO MINUTES AND SIGN THIS ONLINE PETITION.

 

www.stopthemeter.ca

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It seems to me there are two issues.

 

The first is net neutrality. This is when the carrier alters the speed allocated to the traffic depending on what is being sent through the pipe. I don't believe this issue has really been addressed by the CRTC.

 

The second issue is the caps on how much data is being down loaded. The CRTC decision last week clearly reinforces the right of the large providers billing for usage. They have had this right since 2006. As we are now seeing such apps as Netflix and Apple TV come on stream this is problematic. Old Dog is right that the smaller provides will be forced to eliminate their unlimited packages and pass along these charges.

 

There is an article in the Globe this morning about this issue. The point of the article is that Tony Clement is getting a ton of complaints on this issue from both the consummer and small and medium size business, and there is a good possability that he may intervene or refer it back to the CRTC to take a new look at it based on factors that they may not have considered i.e competition, comsumer choice and the stiffling of innovation. Remember he was the minister that overturned the CRTC decision and allowed Globalive to enter the wireless market.

 

I believe the FCC has ruled more liberally in the US.

 

So if you want to make a change send the minister an email to complain.

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Yes unless the CRTC has a change of heart and flip flops on thier decission again we are stuck with this. Befor you run out and spend a bunch of time looking for a different ISP keep in mind that if you get your High Speed Internet connaction through a phone line you get it from bell adn the same can be said for Cable as Rogers owns the tech nology there regardless who you are actually paying.

 

That is true...I use a cell phone for my phone (no landline) but to hook up to the internet I still needed to hook to a phone jack...what the internet provider calls dry loop...cost me $10.00 month just to plug into the jack to get internet

RG

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So Tuesday non other than the Prime Minister Steven Harper sends out a tweet calling for a review of the CRTC decision on internet usage-based billing.

 

Looks like the presure is building to reverse the decision.

 

Go to StopTheMeter at openmedia.ca/meter and make you voice heard.

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Yes! the only way sometimes is signing up on these petitions to be heard!! please do so folks if you have not done so yet.

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I noticed a big difference in price on internet between Montreal and Halifax... Halifax being much cheaper..Videotron here in Montreal charges for everything you download..be it a you tube video or movie..we have to remember to shut off all our programs we have running...fringing bandwith...sucks!

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We've already paid $$BIGMILLIONS to support the Bell infrastructure. To bill us for bandwidth is like an additional convenience tax. Just who the hell does the CRTC represent?? It certainly ain't us!

 

Keep the pressure on the Conservative Gov't to keep the CRTC in line.

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Guest pe*****0

from what i understand by reading the following article http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars?comments=1&start=40#comments-bar

 

they are reducind service by 88%(from 200gb to 25 gb) and trying to keep their price at the same level while charging you extra for every other gb you use of internet, and as some have said we have the slowest and oldest internet system any where . i for one highly doubt this is anything other then a cash grab and i believe rogers has said the increase in price would be to make their systems better through innovation(sorry but thats not going to happen). i might not know too much about internet but from my understanding it won't be only for downloads since when you load a webpage you move information from the web to you computer, same for chatting, games, streaming and a bunch of other things. and if i trust what the article tells me according to it it costs isps less then one cent to move a gb why should we pay 100-300 times that for passing the cap. if im wrong i am sorry for providing this info. but if im right lets all protest this idiotic reform to our internet system.

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