Usage Based Internet Billing

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Hashime

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Jan 13, 2010
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Here is the latest ruling from Canada's own CRTC (From CBC):
The CRTC has approved Bell Canada's request to bill internet customers, both retail and wholesale, based on how much they download each month.

The plan, known as usage-based billing, will apply to people who buy their internet connection from Bell, or from smaller service providers that rent lines from the company, such as Teksavvy or Acanac.
Under the plan, Bell will charge wholesale ISPs a flat fee for connecting to its network, and for a set monthly usage limit per customer. Beyond that set limit, users will be charged per gigabyte, depending on the speed of their connections.

Customers using the fastest connections of five-megabits per second, for example, will have a monthly allotment of 60 gigabytes, beyond which Bell will charge $1.12 per GB to a maximum of $22.50.

If a customer uses more than 300 GB a month, Bell will also be able to implement an additional charge of 75 cents per gigabyte.

The CRTC is also requiring Bell to make any "usage insurance plans," which give its own retail customers extra monthly usage for a small fee, available to wholesale ISPs.

Small ISPs took the CRTC's approval of Bell's plan as an inevitability, but weren't pleased with some of the details.

"The rates are absolutely atrocious. How the hell are we doing above one dollar for extra usage?" said Rocky Gaudrault, president of Chatham, Ont.-based Teksavvy. "It's in the thousands of multiples beyond what the costs are."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/06/crtc-usage-based-billing-internet.html#socialcomments#ixzz0nT3kWoX7


This means that Bell and all of the small ISP's that use Bell's infrastructure will no longer be allowed to offer unlimited bandwidth, the opposite of what ISPs in other countries are doing, and to make is worse this ruling will kill the smaller ISP.

This website best explains the situation: http://stopusagebasedbilling.wordpress.com/

Sign this petition too if you can: http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/

What is you opinion?
 

Hashime

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Jan 13, 2010
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There is almost no extra cost for internet usage, which gets me the most, the speed is the most expensive part due to the required infrastructure, the CRTC has once again screwed the consumers.
 

demoman_chaos

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May 25, 2009
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I call it poetic justice. We Americans get unlimited internet, you Canadians get free healthcare.
 

Hashime

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demoman_chaos said:
I call it poetic justice. We Americans get unlimited internet, you Canadians get free healthcare.
And the Brits get it both!
 

Rynozeros

I'm on a boat
May 13, 2009
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yay for the brits :)

it is pretty unfair though

my girlfriend lives in canada (long distance) and we need the interwebs to stay in contact and talk to each other

:(
 

JLML

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Feb 18, 2010
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Hashime said:
demoman_chaos said:
I call it poetic justice. We Americans get unlimited internet, you Canadians get free healthcare.
And the Brits get it both!
And the Swedes too! Europe really is the best place, isn't it? :D
 

Charli

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Nov 23, 2008
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Canada, you are getting screwed up the arse. I'm very sorry, but it's true.
 

Spy_Guy

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Mar 16, 2010
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Go Sweden! Whoo!
Health care, internet, and hotter girls than what can be found on the Canary Islands (scientifically proven!).
 

mokes310

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Oct 13, 2008
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I'm going to break my ban on using the F-word in forums by saying that use-based billing is a FUCKING DISGRACE, yet that is the trend providers want to see continued. Forget NetNeutrality because if this becomes the norm, the world wide web will no longer be the very thing that makes it the 8th wonder of the world.
 

AWAR

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Nov 15, 2009
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That reminds me of 3G prices here. But thats for telephones n' shit..
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
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I've never liked Bell or the CRTC, this just reenforces that. Thankfully I'm getting the hell out of Canada before the iron curtain goes up.
 

unoleian

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demoman_chaos said:
I call it poetic justice. We Americans get unlimited internet, you Canadians get free healthcare.
Don't let it go to your head. If it shows any inclination of being a more profitable scenario for ISPs than the current status-quo, you better believe that the American providers won't hesitate to screw you as soon as fiscally possible...
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The big question on my head is how does this affect those invested in the practice of online gaming? Doesn't it eat up an incredible amount of available maximum download limit rather quickly? What about uploading of data? Will some sort of visible metering system be provided to the customer, or will they just be a victim of monthly bill-shock?
 

zombiesinc

One day, we'll wake the zombies
Mar 29, 2010
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Ai... to be Canadian. Well, at the very least I've signed the petition. It'll be interesting/disappointing to see what happens.
 

demoman_chaos

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unoleian said:
The big question on my head is how does this affect those invested in the practice of online gaming? Doesn't it eat up an incredible amount of available maximum download limit rather quickly? What about uploading of data? Will some sort of visible metering system be provided to the customer, or will they just be a victim of monthly bill-shock?
Online games don't actually take very much to play, they just need a quick connection to fight lag.
 

Calgetorix

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hudsonzero said:
and yet no government
Haha, good one.

OT: Out of curiosity, what's the average use of GB for, say, browing the various topics here on the Escapist? I've always been reluctant to trust those that charge per MB or GB. I tend to think it's way too expensive but I've never actually done the maths.