Rogers Ordered to Stop Throttling Games

[xyrafhoan]

In BC we have Shaw as a third option, which I use. Never had any problems with them. I've used both Rogers and Telus in the past and had major issues with both of them, including frequent outages and terrible customer support.

Too bad if you read Shaw's fine print, even they have in the footnote of their plans their right to throttle your connection. It was better than Telus disallowing VPNs via port forwarding (making it impossible for me to host my online DND games on my own network), but they do have the "right" to rape your connection just like any other ISP does.

 

[arealperson]

To an extent, I can see the argument from both sides.  While I wish unlimited packages were offered, some of the higher cap limits, like 250 GB, are really quite reasonable (the only service I can get here has a cap of 30 GB? we didn't sign into that contract fortunately, but as soon as it expires, we may be home to some unhappy faces).

Their policy of 80 kbps doesn't appear to be affecting much (by definition, not YouTube or most online games), but it truly is a pittance for any peer to peer services beyond chat and mail.  If it was increased to 800 kbps I wouldn't have much problem with it at all.

The biggest issue I see is still from an advertisement side of things.  The main selling point of these services should be a guaranteed minimum rate (or perhaps average rate at a (reasonable) specified usage), not a near absolute top speed.  Limiting the oligopoly would be good too, unfortunately the only way I see of doing that is nationalizing the communications infrastructure.

 

[Chris646]

80 kb/s? That sounds reasonable; I mean, we're all running Netscape Navigator on our vacuum tube computers here, right?

 

[-Dragmire-]

We as Canadians need to really stand up to this. We had an option last election to vote for a party that wanted to end bandwidth caps and promote full on net-neutrality. Instead we elected the party that wanted the opposite, is pushing for DMCA style copyright law and is also going to be making it a law that all ISP's must have government installed data collection software so they can track all citizens (find out more here http://openmedia.ca/educate).


The telecom giants need to fall and the CRTC needs to either be dissolved or entirely reformed.

I like it here, I don't want to have to leave.

It's sad that the Conservatives were almost alone in not having a plan to end bandwidth caps... and now they have a majority government...



How long till we see another(and probably stricter) Bill C-32.

Oh, and...

Crime and law enforcement

The Conservatives have promised to re-introduce Internet surveillance legislation that they were not able to pass, and bundle it with the rest of their crime bills. They said they plan to fast track the legislation within 100 days after taking office.

"yay..."

 

[McShizzle]

For the record, however, I love the LCBO.

How can you utter those words Andy? Aside from maybe being cleaner than a gas station's fridge, and a free copy of Food and Drink magazine,When they have it in stock(Which is never).

They have a very rigid selection of brands, are only open government hours, are a fair distance away depending on where you live, and let us not forget...

Charge you insane mark up on all alcholic beverages sold because once again a monopoly has been issued over the sale of liquor in this province. Nanny state and tax arguements etc.

I lived in the U.S all of last summer, you could pick up a 24 of what would equate to Laker Lager here for 9.99 at Walmart open 24/7. Buying what would be a $70 top shelf bottle of Vodka for $15.(Taxes aside) What do we get for paying many times more than the drink costs nothing but inconvenience.

I suppose it depends on your point of view. Most of the things you listed are reasons for the LCBO in my view. I like booze as much as the next guy (more actually) but I think stringent controls and the "sin" tax are a good thing. In this province it's easier to buy pot than obtain liquor underage, already intoxicated, or in the middle of the night, and that's fine with me.

 

[FreakSheet]

We as Canadians need to really stand up to this. We had an option last election to vote for a party that wanted to end bandwidth caps and promote full on net-neutrality. Instead we elected the party that wanted the opposite, is pushing for DMCA style copyright law and is also going to be making it a law that all ISP's must have government installed data collection software so they can track all citizens (find out more here http://openmedia.ca/educate).


The telecom giants need to fall and the CRTC needs to either be dissolved or entirely reformed.

I like it here, I don't want to have to leave.

It's sad that the Conservatives were almost alone in not having a plan to end bandwidth caps... and now they have a majority government...



How long till we see another(and probably stricter) Bill C-32.

Oh, and...

Crime and law enforcement

The Conservatives have promised to re-introduce Internet surveillance legislation that they were not able to pass, and bundle it with the rest of their crime bills. They said they plan to fast track the legislation within 100 days after taking office.

"yay..."

When I'm old enough to vote, I don't care if the other party's policies are anti puppy, I wouldn't vote Conservative. EVER. I don't vote for school yard bullies, pushing people into the mud, and being a smug bastard to the teachers.

 

[ike42]

Wow, at least the Canadian Government is doing something. It just adds to the growing list of reasons for me to pick up and move north. The FCC is so toothless that companies like Comcast are able to shit all over Net Neutrality with impunity.

 

[Denamic]

80kbit?
What the hell is this, 1995?

Spoiler: jelly?

 

[SachielOne]

Very well put, and OpenMedia is definitely something that people interested in this issue should check out, but I don't agree that the major telecoms should "fall." They need to be brought to heel, but not brought down entirely. Same with the CRTC; it could stand an overhaul, but it serves (or could serve) a worthwhile purpose. Not going to happen in the current political climate, though. The Conservatives are possibly the most unprincipled and opportunistic bunch to ever hold power in this country, and if there aren't votes in it (and let's face it, this is not a huge populist issue), they're not interested.

No, their principles just don't happen to be YOURS. That said, I do find the new surveillance bill to be, at best, sinister.

Also, OpenMedia can suck it. For a group ostensibly about a free and open media, they sure went insane when SunTV was applying for its broadcast license. How can airing a different viewpoint be a bad thing?

But that is not what I came here to say. No, there is a major inaccuracy in your article. The 80 kilobit limit only applies to Peer-to-Peer UPLOADS. Downloads are unaffected. I just had a torrent running at a 500 kilobytes per second download speed. Far be it for me to defend Rogers, but I figure I'd best point this out before Rogers' lawyers/PR department does.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I lived in the U.S all of last summer, you could pick up a 24 of what would equate to Laker Lager here for 9.99 at Walmart open 24/7. Buying what would be a $70 top shelf bottle of Vodka for $15.(Taxes aside) What do we get for paying many times more than the drink costs nothing but inconvenience.

Actually, I'm kind of happy that I live in a country where people can't buy squares of Laker at Walmart.

LCBO stores are everywhere. They provide access to a wide range of alcohols that in many cases wouldn't be available otherwise. Think anybody's going to stock St. Ambroise or Innis and Gunn when they can just move truckloads of Blue and Coors? I doubt it. And anyone who wants to convince me that privatization will bring about reduced prices through competition can first explain to me just what the hell's going on with my electricity bills, because that sure as shit hasn't worked out very well, has it?

And now, back to bashing Rogers.

 

[Andy Chalk]

But that is not what I came here to say. No, there is a major inaccuracy in your article. The 80 kilobit limit only applies to Peer-to-Peer UPLOADS. Downloads are unaffected. I just had a torrent running at a 500 kilobytes per second download speed. Far be it for me to defend Rogers, but I figure I'd best point this out before Rogers' lawyers/PR department does.

You are correct, sir. The CBC indicated that the total combined bandwidth is 80kb but the Rogers traffic management policy backs you up - the cap is on upload speeds, download speeds are supposed to be left untouched regardless of the application. Which of course leads to the obvious question - why are download speeds being affected?

As far as principles go, you can pretend that the Conservative Party of Canada has a few but you're not fooling anyone. It shouldn't come as any surprise; the entire party was founded on an abandoned principle, after all. (Peter McKay vows no merger if he's leader, etc.) Its principles aren't my principles because it has no principles. It acts purely tactically and has since the first day it took power.

But seriously - matter at hand, people! Let's focus!

 

[Mrsoupcup]

[HEADING=2]GAMERS ARE YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS?! INCREASE YOUR CAPS AND WE'LL TALK, OTHERWISE USING STEAM AND LARGE UPDATES ARE A PAIN.[/HEADING]

*tries to contain her rage and the bloated corporate giant*

OT: The CRTC, taking the side of the consumer... Gee, a bit late, don't you think?

I love how the ISPs here charge you for downloading to much.

As is bandwidth is some precious limited substance.

*RAGE*

 

[Antari]

I've never been and never will be a Rogers/Bell customer. Mainly because they treat you like a criminal. Just like some game companies I know. Either way its bad way to do business, good to see the CRTC is actually alive and doing something. All be it not very well.

 

[Tomany2]

All i have to say is Telus... No Cap! woot!

 

[robert01]

I lived in the U.S all of last summer, you could pick up a 24 of what would equate to Laker Lager here for 9.99 at Walmart open 24/7. Buying what would be a $70 top shelf bottle of Vodka for $15.(Taxes aside) What do we get for paying many times more than the drink costs nothing but inconvenience.

Actually, I'm kind of happy that I live in a country where people can't buy squares of Laker at Walmart.

LCBO stores are everywhere. They provide access to a wide range of alcohols that in many cases wouldn't be available otherwise. Think anybody's going to stock St. Ambroise or Innis and Gunn when they can just move truckloads of Blue and Coors? I doubt it. And anyone who wants to convince me that privatization will bring about reduced prices through competition can first explain to me just what the hell's going on with my electricity bills, because that sure as shit hasn't worked out very well, has it?

And now, back to bashing Rogers.

What they LCBO won't provide me with is this [http://crystalheadvodka.com/welcome], because the bottle wasn't appropriate. Who the fuck cares.

OT: Rogers is just a bad as the rest, lucky for me they aren't available in my area yet. You either have Cogeco, Bell, or a stream of bullshit little companies that all have questionable billing practices. It's all fucking retarded crap, and the governments do nothing at all to control the feeding frenzy.
I get ass raped each month for the internet, and all I get is a shitty 10Mb/s connection(downstream only, the upstream is a fucking JOKE), and a 75GB/month cap, which I could easily chew up with Steam, and modding games. OH than I have to deal with this SHITTY fucking router, yeah Bell users you know that White one that only has wireless shit/shit/not n connections, and a user interface as friendly as a war vet turned prostitute.
Also Bell throttles P2P connections too. My MMO experience was never effected, but holy shit my Ventrillo latency was fucking retarded. It would hit 20000+ms and I would be 5 minutes behind. I called tech, and I got asked what my operating system was, and all the other bullshit questions. Than I was told they were 'enhancing my connection for increases performance'. LOL.

In short: Fuck you Canadian Internet companies. Fuck You. Don't gloat about your 'insane high speed fiber optics network that can have blazing fast speeds' when I know my neighbours to the south are running at 3x+ those speeds for LESS.