Poll: About the new internet costs for Canadians.

[kek13]

Dear Canadian escapists it has come to my attention that the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Telecommunications commission)is imposing higher internet costs on Canadians, based on how much data you use much like cellphones.

It's my understanding that this will make online services such as Steam, PSN, XBL, Youtube, Online school courses and whatever else you guys do online much more expensive.

So my question is how are these costs going to affect your online activity?

Are your shenanigans going to be relatively unchanged or perhaps you will use the internet only when you absolutely have to?

Mine will be more limited yet not quite non-existent, but I'll be keeping my usage in check unless this somehow gets nixed which is unlikely from what I've seen thus far. *sigh

On a unrelated note my captcha is: dgediv towards

EDIT: False alarm guys, after a little more research I found that it's most likely not gonna happen anytime soon.

In the meantime before the next big government conspiracy, please enjoy this kitty (and your unaltered interwebz) http://www.myfacewhen.com/112/

 

[SilentCom]

I'm not from Canada but that sounds like its going to suck to play online games. I feel sort of bad for our Canadian escapists. =(

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

Also not from Canada, but tell me this: how much of a difference is it going to make? Is it a few pennies more per gigabyte? I really can't imagine they'd make it hugely different.

 

[The Abhorrent]

Dear Canadian escapists it has come to my attention that the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Telecommunications commission)is imposing higher internet costs on Canadians, based on how much data you use much like cellphones.

I'm pretty sure that proposal shot down (by the federal government no less) quite a while back, and not too long after it was first announced. It created quite a stir too, people did NOT like the idea; not to mention it was largely a nonsensical idea that would do more harm than anything else.

 

[NightHawk21]

Also not from Canada, but tell me this: how much of a difference is it going to make? Is it a few pennies more per gigabyte? I really can't imagine they'd make it hugely different.

Well gaming and videos are pretty big so if you log a lot of hours you'll probably would have seen a notable increase.

Are you talking about the proposal that was withdrawn in February?

If this is something new...link please.

Ya, I thought we had something like this early this year but it got shutdown due to public outcry or something.

 

[theloneassassin]

This is nothing new at all, this has been talked about for some time.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I thought the idea got shot down because that's more or less how ISPs charge anyway. What's the tariff for an unlimited account in Canadaland anyway? More importantly, are unlimited accounts actually unlimited?

 

[Jebusetti]

It's bad up here, REEEEEL bad. Example: I pay about $60 a month for my shitty internet, plus 30 for a phone I don't need because they (Northwestel, a division of Bell) won't hook up just the internets, saying I HAVE to pay for the phone as well due to their shitty outdated tech. 60 bucks gets me 30gb a month. overage charges? how does $10 a gb sound?

The Big Telecoms up here want to go to a Usage Based Billing system, where you will be billed $X per gb used. One problem with that is there is no legal or official standard of measurement for data. For example, you buy a litre of gas there are systems, checks, balances, laws etc in place to make sure that you are getting a litre of gas. No such thing for data, which leaves the telecoms with what amounts to the fucking Honour system, where they tell you how much you have used based on whatever number they want to pull out of there asses. A number of people I know have been running firmware mods/monitoring programs on their routers and have consistently shown that they use far less net than what they are charged for. Also, we have just fucked ourselves by "electing" in a corporate whore of a government so the odds of this getting fixed are slim to none, and even if the proposal that was killed in Feb is truly dead its just a matter of time before another one crops up. We have 4 years to go until the next election as well, so there is plenty of time for the majority Conservative party to fuck us over in favour of big business.

God dammit I want to move to Europe...

 

[fix-the-spade]

60 bucks gets me 30gb a month. overage charges? how does $10 a gb sound?

God dammit I want to move to Europe...

Holy shite.

My current download limit is 120GB, it could be unlimited* it used to be 40GB but I kept overshooting by a few GB at the grand old cost of £1 per GB, so I upgraded for £5 a month extra (£20-ish per month). Begs the question what exactly is going on in the US continents that means they can get away with such a poor service?

*Unlimited actually means unlimited in the UK, you can't sell a capped service and call it unlimited. As such true unlimited services tend to be quite pricey, but 120GB/month isn't exactly restricting and the price of broadband has been steadily dropping for the the last fifteen years as tech and competition improved

 

[Jebusetti]

Begs the question what exactly is going on in the US continents that means they can get away with such a poor service?

There is a good site about this topic here, I urge all Canadian escapists to sign the petition, maybe it will help... http://openmedia.ca/

It seems to me that over in N.A. there is a protective mentality when it comes to local businesses and corporations, which leads to favourable legislation for these companies and a massive increase in profitability. However, with corporations no longer being "tied" to one regional market/ having the ability to cheaply compete on a global level, this kinda seems a little backwards, and serves only to stifle growth and innovation.
An excellent example of this is the protectionist laws in place in the auto sector. During the 60s and 70s when a lot of foreign (ie not GM, Chrysler, or Ford) vehicles were being introduced over here the lobbyists of the big auto companies did everything possible to convince legislators to skew the playing field in their advantage, by way of increased tariffs and taxes etc on imported vehicles. Versions of these laws are still in place today, which is why you don't see many foreign trucks on the road, with the exceptions being the companies (Toyota, for example, who own the largest truck plant in the states) that build/assemble their vehicles here.

Basically the same types of laws are in place in favour of the big telecoms, making it economically retarded for new/smaller companies to compete. This needs to change. We like to think of ourselves as world leaders, progressive, on the cutting edge, but this just makes us look like the Luddite assclown fools we are allowing ourselves to be.

 

[kek13]

Also not from Canada, but tell me this: how much of a difference is it going to make? Is it a few pennies more per gigabyte? I really can't imagine they'd make it hugely different.

From what I read, it will be bumping our costs up from $31.25 for 200GB or unlimited depending on the company your getting it from.

But now I'll be paying that much for just 25 GB, At least that's what the materiel I read said.

Link to said materiel: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars
Not sure how reliable this is, It was one of the first things that came up on google.

Dear Canadian escapists it has come to my attention that the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Telecommunications commission)is imposing higher internet costs on Canadians, based on how much data you use much like cellphones.

I'm pretty sure that proposal shot down (by the federal government no less) quite a while back, and not too long after it was first announced. It created quite a stir too, people did NOT like the idea; not to mention it was largely a nonsensical idea that would do more harm than anything else.

I don't know what happened to that then because I just saw something about it just a week ago on a news station I watch and it sounds like they're going ahead with it.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I have 20Mb/s download speed with like 300 Gb cap and it costs $52.95/month (but I get it free as an employee). I have no idea how that compares to Canadian/European providers. Oh, I'm in Washington state in the US.

 

[Biodeamon]

I will fight until my last breath.

For sparta-er, internet!

 

[Waaghpowa]

I have 20Mb/s download speed with like 300 Gb cap and it costs $52.95/month (but I get it free as an employee). I have no idea how that compares to Canadian/European providers. Oh, I'm in Washington state in the US.

Just to give you an idea, I get 1 mb/s 180 gigs a month for 60 dollars.

Considering how close I get to cap every month WHILE trying to ration it, I swear I'm going to shoot someone if they put in that Pay per use, or up the cost.

 

[Quaxar]

And here I thought Canada was a nice land where everyone lived in peace in their igloos, fighting moose for food and getting their moose-fighting wounds treated for free due to public healthcare... but your internet dictatorship is outrageous!

 

[back pain]

Dear Canadian escapists it has come to my attention that the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Telecommunications commission)is imposing higher internet costs on Canadians, based on how much data you use much like cellphones.

You're incorrect, the CRTC is allowing internet service providers to charge based on usage, they are not forcing anyone to do anything. Essentially this means your internet bill might end up working like a utility bill (based mostly on usage) rather then a cable/satellite TV bill (single fee for access to service). Communication prices in Canada are higher then those in the US for two reasons: lower population density and lack of competition. If the Harper conservatives allowed US communication companies to set up operations in Canada competition would increase and thus prices would decrease.

 

[kek13]

I will fight until my last breath.

For sparta-er, internet!

TO ARMS BROTHERS! FOR THE GLORY OF THE INTERWEBZ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibmTy0pn7z4&feature=related

Dear Canadian escapists it has come to my attention that the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Telecommunications commission)is imposing higher internet costs on Canadians, based on how much data you use much like cellphones.

You're incorrect, the CRTC is allowing internet service providers to charge based on usage, they are not forcing anyone to do anything. Essentially this means your internet bill might end up working like a utility bill (based mostly on usage) rather then a cable/satellite TV bill (single fee for access to service). Communication prices in Canada are higher then those in the US for two reasons: lower population density and lack of competition. If the Harper conservatives allowed US communication companies to set up operations in Canada competition would increase and thus prices would decrease.

I agree, and thanks for enlightening me about that (not sarcasm, I genuinely didn't know that) and I agree with you about the US companies, I'm afraid I don't know much about the issue except that it'll make my current lifestyle far too expensive.
In the immortal words of Lando Calarissian "this deal's getting worse all the time."

 

[kek13]

Dear Canadian escapists it has come to my attention that the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Telecommunications commission)is imposing higher internet costs on Canadians, based on how much data you use much like cellphones.

You're incorrect, the CRTC is allowing internet service providers to charge based on usage, they are not forcing anyone to do anything. Essentially this means your internet bill might end up working like a utility bill (based mostly on usage) rather then a cable/satellite TV bill (single fee for access to service). Communication prices in Canada are higher then those in the US for two reasons: lower population density and lack of competition. If the Harper conservatives allowed US communication companies to set up operations in Canada competition would increase and thus prices would decrease.

Oh, Thanks for enlightening me (not sarcasm, I genuinely didn't know that) I agree with your point on our federal government and the US companies, I'm afraid I don't actually know that much about this issue except that it'll make my current lifestyle far too expensive.

In the immortal words of Lando Calarissian "this deal's getting worse all the time."