I heard on the CBC, some guy on The Current was suggesting average usage by Canadian was 15-20 Gigs and that 'heavy users' are 250-500Gigs, he did not want to subsidize them. That's a huge range, and this plant was obviously laying groundwork for the telco and cableco's to charge inordinately for those that use 20-100Gigs.
This is also laying the groundwork to stop people, i.e., YOU, the consumer, from choice of entertainment (youtube, Apple iTunes, and Netflix), so that you have to pay the telco/cableco to make up for their lost TV revenue.
The telco's and cableco's in Canada are like an extension of Revenue Canada. No matter what, they'll find a way to charge (tax) you, (screw you), for fees above and beyond what the rest of the Western world pays. Basically, whereever a competitor emerges (like Wind, or Yak) offering true value service, they get squashed. Can't fight the oligopoly.
But alas, we can try. Sign this petition, and there is another one, from an MP I saw lobbying to have cell phone companies let people unlock their phones. About time.
Please review and if you agree, visit the web site to sign the petition. Don't take it anymore, we pay enough in Canada without getting screwed more by the big cable and telco providers.
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Make a donation to help us stop the meter at http://openmedia.ca/drive (Donating to us will be less expensive than paying punitive fees.)
- The OpenMedia.ca Team
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The CRTC just decided to let your Internet Service Provider put a meter on your Internet!
Bell Canada and other big telecom companies can now freely impose usage-based billing on independent Internet Service Providers (indie ISPs) and YOU. Big Telecom companies are obviously trying to gouge consumers, control the Internet market, and ensure that consumers continue to subscribe to their television services.
This means we're looking at a future where ISPs will charge per byte, the way they do with smart phones. If we allow this to happen, Canadians will have no choice but to pay more for less Internet.
This will crush innovative services, Canada's digital competitiveness, and your wallet.
We need to stand up for the Internet.
Sign the Stop The Meter petition at: http://StopTheMeter.ca
Want to know more? Here’s the lowdown:
This decision is a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to free expression. Independent Internet service providers (ISPs), such as TekSavvy, pay incumbent telecoms like Bell for access points in their networks. In applying usage-based billing (UBB) to these indie ISPs, the CRTC has allowed Bell to determine and limit how many gigabytes of usage their independent competitors can provide to their customers.
- This severely limits competition in the telecommunications market, which is bad for innovation and diversity of content.
- This also means that the cost will necessarily be passed down to you, the consumer.
- Usage-based billing or metering discriminates against certain forms of information insofar as it charges consumers more for content that requires the use of a large amount of gigabytes, such as audio and video.
- This also means that those who produce media-based art, and depend on the Internet to show the world their work, are less able to produce and disseminate their content freely. This means less innovation and more control of art, film, music, and other forms we may not yet know of!
Sign the petition and save the freest medium we have ever known (again!). Stop the Meter and save our net!
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Read more at SaveOurNet.ca: http://saveournet.ca/content/what-does-usage-based-billing-mean-net-neutrality
Read more at OpenMedia.ca: http://openmedia.ca/blog/crtc-decision-all-bell-and-usage-based-billing-all
Read TV Versus The Internet by Steve Anderson: http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/10/06/TVversusInternet/
Read more at CBC.ca: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/10/28/crtc-usage-based-billing-internet.html
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