CRTC implements internets usage cap

[geForce]

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... story.html

Short story, internet usage is capped at 20GB per month and then will be $10 per GB on anything above that.

I thought we were getting more progressive in our technology, but this move is a total backwards move. There are less technologically advanced countries that are on the per usage internets model, but there are no countries that have gone back to this model from an unlimited model.

[nature boy]

we actually were never unlimited, these rules were always in play. it's just that no one ever enforced them.

there are different levels of usage you can pay for, i think 20gb a month is the second lowest with the highest at 50 or 100? i'm not sure.
these caps shouldn't affect the average user anyway.

[geForce]

There were always caps, but not pay per use after the cap was reached. Plus, yeah, they were never enforced... just ask Tys, haha.

The average user is now using more bandwidth than before now with things like cloud gaming and movie streaming like Netflix, etc.

[supersuk]

I'm suprised nobody tossed around the term "revenue neutral".

[Wetundies]

20gb is the lowest for shaw anyways, next one up is 60gb. Telus has 165gb on their regular service, not the lite.

[se7entse7en]

[nature boy]

i heard that bell was behind it all so they could get a piece of the action (they were overshadowed by shaw and telus).

a lot of people aren't happy especially companies like netflix that rely on internet traffic.

but is this thing actually set now? i thought they were still talking about it as from what i read somewhere the whole city of vancouver is strongly against it. although we have only like half a dozen major companies that provide bandwidth in canada, they supply a whole bunch of smaller companies that need their bandwidth to survive. with these caps they all might be going under.

[geForce]

[nature boy]

actually, i think other parts of the world (like australia) pay something like 10 bucks per gb period (not over a cap, each gb used).
or so i hear at least. i was following a discussion on this on my vw site.

[geForce]

Yeah, there are a lot of places that do per usage billing for internet, but none have gone back from a (virtually) unlimited model to a per usage model. A per usage model will just make us go backwards in our technology advancements like Netflix, game downloads and even that online storage website that you like to use.

I saw a study saying that, it's cheaper to buy an external hard drive, fill it up with data and then courier the drive to the recipient than it is upload the data on one end and download it on the other based on the per usage fees.

[geForce]

Okay, that was fast... Stephen Harper has overturned the CRTC's regulation on usage based internet charging.

[Wetundies]

That's cuz he's always downloading "stuff" and doesn't want to pay more.

[nature boy]

well, it makes sense to turn it down if you think about it.
the caps only help the big guns and the little guns go out of business. the rich get richer, so they say.

i honestly didn't think that it'd last anyway.

[geForce]

Al Bundy likes Bigguns

[Duncan]

i think it has to be mentioned that the "big guns" are for the cap mostly for the reason that the big guns also provide tv cable services. Bell/Telus/Shaw/Rogers etc all provide internet and tv. With the cap they can stifle on demand with no commercials services like Netflix from eating into their share of their tv viewing market. If internet caps are issued, Netflix kinda gets rendered useless. It's like putting a pay meter on your tv.

If it's true about Harper lifting the cap, then it's one of the few things he's done right