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Usage Based Billing approved, Canadian govt shoots it down, more developments to come

Firestorm said:
You live in Vancouver. Just switch to Telus for unlimited. If you are in BC or AB this doesn't affect you for the forseeable future.
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Yeah, I'll have to talk to my landlord about it.

Hopefully the complications mentioned previously will stop Telus from hopping on the UBB-train
 
Anony said:
i bit late

the UBB stuff has started like a year ago
where was everybody when this shit was incubating
it's too late now, and support is coming it
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The difference was there were options.
It's not that there is UBB with Bell... it's that Bell is forcing UBB on their customers too. That's the problem. That there's no* avoiding it.
 
Anony said:
i bit late

the UBB stuff has started like a year ago
where was everybody when this shit was incubating
it's too late now, and support is coming it
Click to expand...

It hasn't even begun. This is the first time many people are learning about this and I think this is the one time they're going to push back and make their politicians represent them for a change. Hopefully, this is the boiling point that teaches those mother fuckers on the CRTC that they better start putting what's good for the public ahead of what businesses want. To give these ISP providers free reign on what they can change if you go over your limit was just down right irresponsible. These old and pathetic imbeciles should be removed and replaced with people that get it.
 
Got an email from my ISP, I'm being brought down from unlimited to 300GB, and being charged $7 additional. Not too bad.
 
ionicbluebird said:
Is this going to be happening with Shaw or Telus? I was looking into switching from shaw to telus.
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Telus doesn't currently have the hardware to charge UBB on all it's customers (they've got some of it though). That kind of hardware costs money. They won't buy it until they're sure they want it.

Telus is officially behind Bell 100% on this, but they're willing to let Bell stick their neck out first. If Bell's neck gets chopped off, Telus will say "Hmm... interesting" and then go back to what they were doing before. If Bell starts looting and pillaging and nobody stops them, Telus will join in the fun.

Shaw and Rogers have all the equipment, and already have caps, and they already reduced their caps a little to try and choke Netflix out of Canada because it competes with cable TV, but the Bell situation will either embolden them or put some fear into them, depending on how it turns out.
 
Zombie James said:
You're being charged more for less. That's plenty bad.
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I've never gone past 250gb, so it won't affect me, for now. It's much ebtter than being sent down to 60GB or 25GB.
 
expy said:
Got an email from my ISP, I'm being brought down from unlimited to 300GB, and being charged $7 additional. Not too bad.
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64k is enough for everyone.

There are new opportunities for use of the internet everyday and you are being charged more for less.
 
Firestorm said:
Starting to see some artists speak out against this. A Simple Plan and Hot Hot Heat so far.
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I want to see someone who uses large amounts of bandwidth like Google, Netflix, Valve, make a statement. I want to see an independent media outlet(the CBC?) say what they would do with more bandwidth available to Canadians.
 
Grayman said:
I want to see someone who uses large amounts of bandwidth like Google, Netflix, Valve, make a statement. I want to see an independent media outlet(the CBC?) say what they would do with more bandwidth available to Canadians.
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Well, CBC uses bit torrent for their stuff so... I'm sure they're against the caps and the throttling.
 
throttling, does not even seem that irrational in the face of caps and fees. Look what they did. They argued to absurdity ($2 per gigabyte and no competition) and got me thinking that something less than dumb pipes is ok!
 
Grayman said:
I want to see someone who uses large amounts of bandwidth like Google, Netflix, Valve, make a statement. I want to see an independent media outlet(the CBC?) say what they would do with more bandwidth available to Canadians.
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Or someone like Sony or Microsoft, or even Apple. Some of those demos / downloadable games on PSN/XBLA are not small by any means, and core functionality provided by all 3 to consumers is being hit by this.
 
expy said:
Got an email from my ISP, I'm being brought down from unlimited to 300GB, and being charged $7 additional. Not too bad.
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things on the internet will only get bigger and bigger, you'll be hitting that cap eventually

the point is, any cap is a bad cap when there's no alternatives, dont just be happy that you're 'okay' with it because if they think stuff like this is okay, it will get spread to other stuff
 
M3d10n said:
NhNUo.jpg

Is this real? If so, it's absolutely disgusting and a prime example of why net neutrality is an important cause to fight for. This looks like a capitalist version of China's great firewall.
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It's not real... yet.

I really do think once the corporations have their way with bandwidth, this will be the end result.

At least you guys have better healthcare.
 
Diablos said:
It's not real... yet.

I really do think once the corporations have their way with bandwidth, this will be the end result.

At least you guys have better healthcare.
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See the trick with the bandwidth restrictions is that it eliminates the need for some of the net neutrality debate. Charging $2 dollars per gig eliminates other media and communication services in a "neutral" way.

The hollywood pack won't exist because the ISPs lock customers into their expensive television packages.
 
lupin23rd said:
Or someone like Sony or Microsoft, or even Apple. Some of those demos / downloadable games on PSN/XBLA are not small by any means, and core functionality provided by all 3 to consumers is being hit by this.
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Sony would be a good party to complain given their push for digital content on the NGP. Games there will be a couple of GB in size, and with a 25GB cap I can't see myself buying them off of PSN.
 
Zombie James said:
The petition's nearing 150K, btw.
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i hope UBB gets its face kicked in but im worried it wont do anything. about 100 people complained about the use of the word f-----t on tv and now it gets censored. 150,000+ people complain about horrible interenet services and we get ignored.



im going to have to write whiskeymedia and ask if they'll make some ultra low quality videos for canadians. i cant afford the bandwidth.
 
big_z said:
i hope UBB gets its face kicked in but im worried it wont do anything. about 100 people complained about the use of the word f-----t on tv and now it gets censored. 150,000+ people complain about horrible interenet services and we get ignored.



im going to have to write whiskeymedia and ask if they'll make some ultra low quality videos for canadians. i cant afford the bandwidth.
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Ask them to do a joke video podcast about how they are actually going to do this for their strong contingent of Canadian fans because of this bullshit.
 
Anony said:
things on the internet will only get bigger and bigger, you'll be hitting that cap eventually

the point is, any cap is a bad cap when there's no alternatives, dont just be happy that you're 'okay' with it because if they think stuff like this is okay, it will get spread to other stuff
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I really don't see where I stated that I was happy about all this. If we can reverse the decision GREAT; otherwise I'll take a larger cap over an incredibly tiny one any day.
 
expy said:
I really don't see where I stated that I was happy about all this. If we can reverse the decision GREAT; otherwise I'll take a larger cap over an incredibly tiny one any day.
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id be fine if we got caps of 250GB a month on all plans 15Mbps and less. 400GB for higher plans.

or 150GB and 275GB but from 10pm to 8am downloading doesnt affect your monthly total.
 
Tellus said:
Why do you call your service unlimited, when my monthly usage is limited?

We refer to TELUS High Speed as being unlimited because you get unlimited hours of monthly access.
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Haha, holy shit! By that definition, all service providers are unlimited :-D
 
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/01/31/technology-internet-usage-based-billing.html

Copeland said the new usage-based billing decision affect tens of thousands of DSL internet customers in Ontario and Quebec, where Bell sells its services wholesale.

However, he expects the decision to soon result in similar bandwidth caps from wholesale ISPs in other provinces, such as Telus in western Canada and Bell Aliant in Atlantic Canada.

"In the marketplace here in Canada, it's monkey see, monkey do," he said.
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Zombie James said:
Sasktel is a great telecom company from what I hear. Probably not surprising it's a Crown corporation.
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It's too bad I'm not in Saskatchewan.

Btw, petition is closing in on 200,000. It's only taken a few days the number to triple.
 
TheRagnCajun said:
I can't believe I'll be voting for NDP if no other party takes a stance on this.
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This kind of ticks me off. The NDP has always had positions in favour of average, everyday people instead of large corporations (bank fees, credit card fees, public auto insurance, etc), I don't get how people are only realizing this now.
 
A bunch of us at work got replies back from our MP's, first day back on the job I guess :)

Also there is a rumor of the following: "got it on good authority that the govt is either going to accept this petition or reject it and launch its own ubb review." - http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25387782-Petition-to-the-Governor-in-Council-against-UBB~start=800

Take it for what you will. Someone doing something somewhere. Lets hope for the best.

EDIT: http://speedtest.net/global.php#0 Oh Canada... so far behind.
 
Zombie James said:
This kind of ticks me off. The NDP has always had positions in favour of average, everyday people instead of large corporations (bank fees, credit card fees, public auto insurance, etc), I don't get how people are only realizing this now.
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Probably because I don't feel so much like my wallet is being raped on those issues. I like a lot of what NDP says but not everything, and Jack Layton is not my idea of a leader.
 
Jinaar said:
A bunch of us at work got replies back from our MP's, first day back on the job I guess :)

Also there is a rumor of the following: "got it on good authority that the govt is either going to accept this petition or reject it and launch its own ubb review." - http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25387782-Petition-to-the-Governor-in-Council-against-UBB~start=800

Take it for what you will. Someone doing something somewhere. Lets hope for the best.

EDIT: http://speedtest.net/global.php#0 Oh Canada... so far behind.
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really hope that guy isn't bullshitting.
 
I liked this part of an email I got from OpenMedia today.

We think the Liberals are on the verge of coming out with a position on Internet metering and there can be little doubt that they’re facing a barrage telecom lobbyists at the moment. In response, we’ve made it so each petition signature triggers an email message to Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Digital Critic Pablo Rodriguez. The best way to stop the meter is to get as many petition signatures as possible today.
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Entropia said:
The article reads as if its new - but look at the publish date - August 14, 2009??
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I was just going to say. That's pretty fucking sad and hillarious that I didn't notice it was from 18 months ago until I reached near the end and had to check the date.
 
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