Sci/Tech Usage-Based Billing Hits Canada: Say Goodbye To Internet Innovation

sqrage

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O, Canada, what have you done? The country’s Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the CRTC, has passed sweeping new regulations that will force Internet Service Providers to switch to so-called usage-based billing—metered pricing, in less flowery language. That means ISPs there will charge customers by the gigabyte for Internet access, and that’s on top of a flat service fee. There’s nothing particularly new about metered pricing, but the fact that it’s being implemented on a country-wide basis surely merits a quick discussion.

It should be obvious that the only “winners” here are the ISPs (and even then, only the big ISPs who have established, old methods of content delivery to protect) who now stand to make a cool mint as a result of the new fees. Data caps have been drastically lowered—one small, independent ISP was forced to slash its cap from 200GB per month to 25GB per month—and the CRTC has set overage rates at CAD$1.90 per gigabyte over the cap. (Heaven forbid you live in the French-speaking region of the country, as you’ll be expected to cough up CAD$2.35 per gigabyte.) All that means is that you’re free to browse the Internet to the tune of 25GB per month, but the second you break through that barrier you’ll have to pay through the nose. Not fun.

The move couldn’t possibly come at a worse time for companies like Netlix and Apple, or for the everyday people who rely on them.

 
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Slayer4000X2008

That guy from Canada
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Well, that's going to cost me. Why should it be enforced, it should be an option. That way the people that use it alot don't pay more and the people that use it less can pay less.
 

Slapshot136

Divide et impera
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what's the price like in Canadian for 25GB?

here in the U.S. im paying about $40/month for 250gb/month for basic cable (it used to be unlimited bandwidth..) and I (well my family) normally uses ~200 GB of it (mostly streaming YT/hulu/netflix/etc.)
 

Icyculyr

I'm a Mac
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In Australia, I pay 90 for cable with a 200GB allowance at 1Mbps/30Mbps up/down and unlimited at 128Kbps up/down after the 200GB.
 

The Helper

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http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/fd7nt/canada_is_lucky/

3p4Xl.jpg
 

Ninja_sheep

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I assume the CRTC is a federal organisation.
And a federal organisation has to justify itself.

How do they justify their decision?
 

Jedimindtrixxx

┻━┻ ︵ ¯\(ツ)/¯ ︵ ┻━┻
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In the words of Peter Griffin:
Canada sucks.

you arnt seriously hating on a bunch of stoner polar bears who live in igloos doing nothing but watching hockey and eating maple syrup and drinking beer are you...?
 

Lobster

Old Fogey ofthe site
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you arnt seriously hating on a bunch of stoner polar bears who live in igloos doing nothing but watching hockey and eating maple syrup and drinking beer are you...?

I live in alaska, which is like the american version of canada, and I can say its true.

Serious note: would this set a precedent in america?
either way I hope this doesn't happen.
 

sqrage

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Blackveiled

Formerly, Ban-Lord
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If we even get Metered Internet, I would start a protest group. Fuck that shit. That limits progression, communication, and advancements of the country overall.
 
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