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

All the talk about Telus not charging for overage, well it's true for now...

Though there is a reason they can't charge,
Telus Optik TV comes through the same gateway for bandwidth.

Basically, what that means, is Telus can't read if you're using their TV or using internet.
Once they figure that out, they're going to start charging.
___________________________________________________________

For Shaw, if your billing cycle started on the 17th of January or after,
you are now being metered.

If you go over once, you get a warning, go over again, and you'll start getting charged.

So for Shaw, pretty much starting Mid February,
is the time you gotta start watching your bandwidth.

Though once you get the warning, they'll be watching you more closely than other users.
 
I've been with cogeco for 4 or five years and they started charging two years ago, 1.50 a gb over whatever your base is. Mine is 60 gb I have gone over a few times. I honestly don't mind them charging what I don't like is the ridiculous price its as bad as cell phone companies. I'd like them to actually sit down and justify 1.50 for essentially nothing, should be 25 cents or less.
 
I was under the impression that Cogeco is not owned by Rogers or Bell. I'm pretty sure they won't be affected by cable UBB. It may actually vary by area?
 
YYZ said:
I was under the impression that Cogeco is not owned by Rogers or Bell. I'm pretty sure they won't be affected by cable UBB. It may actually vary by area?
Click to expand...

The CRTC just gave ILECs enormous penises... You think that any of them are not going to want to stick theirs in as many orifices as possible?
 
Oh, that's right, silly me. For some reason I was thinking that Cogeco wouldn't do such a thing, but they've become the same garbage that Bell/Rogers are. I've had Cogeco in my house for 15 years and it has not improved except for speed, which isn't anything special since it's been 15 years. I just kept thinking that Bell is forcing everyone else to do the same thing, but if you own your own lines then of course you'd do it because being a corporation excuses all stupidity.

Sorry, that was a bit ranty.
 
sikkinixx said:
Sorry for being ignorant but is this mainly an Eastern Canadian problem? I realize it affects all of Canada but it seems like everyone is especially upset because of TekSaavy which I don't believe exists here in Vancouver. The Telus rep I spoke to today didn't seem to know too much about the whole CRTC ruling and told me that Telus enforcement of bandwidth caps was only really if you use peer-peer a lot and go WAY over your limits. I checked my usage online and it says I have used 0% of my usage for the half year straight. And for asking about it (and the xbox deal) I get 15mb down for $18 a month now, which makes me cringe at the price Bell is charging.
Click to expand...
I think the last ISP in Canada that offers unlimited internet on all of its packages is... Sasktel. Imagine that.
 
So Telus cannot separate their line content (TV phone net) at this time and the other companies can but are Rogers, Bell, and Shaw using the same lines for internet, cable and phone?
 
KiYTv.png
 
Grayman said:
So Telus cannot separate their line content (TV phone net) at this time and the other companies can but are Rogers, Bell, and Shaw using the same lines for internet, cable and phone?
Click to expand...

Rogers' services all use their cable network. I do not believe Bell has VOIP, so with the exception of home phone, all their services use ADSL/ADSL2+/VDSL2. Not sure about shaw, I'd assume they are the same as rogers.
 
TouchMyBox said:
Rogers' services all use their cable network. I do not believe Bell has VOIP, so with the exception of home phone, all their services use ADSL/ADSL2+/VDSL2. Not sure about shaw, I'd assume they are the same as rogers.
Click to expand...
so the cable box is using hundreds of gigabytes a month while not being watched but steaming netflix will cost per gigabyte. argh. I will try to research that a bit and put it in my letter when i write it.
 
Zombie James said:
KiYTv.png
Click to expand...

I'm glad people are noticing. Has anyone been following the reddit thread?

http://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/fbv3k/today_rcanada_we_write_letters_to_the_editor/&h=5690b

The one issue is the major newspapers, and TV stations touched upon this issue once last week at best; now it's old news. We need to keep getting the word out that these companies are raping their customers who basically built the infrastructure they use. And people need to know just how ass backwards our speeds, cost, and now caps are compared to the rest of the world.
 
Telus didn't have the means to monitor their VDSL2 or whatever lines even before they started offering TelusTV so I don't know if that TV bandwidth separation thing I keep seeing is true.
 
Grayman said:
so the cable box is using hundreds of gigabytes a month while not being watched but steaming netflix will cost per gigabyte. argh. I will try to research that a bit and put it in my letter when i write it.
Click to expand...

For rogers, their digital tv service is not IP based, but you would be correct about Rogers Home Phone service not being GB capped. On the other hand, Bell's "Fibe TV" is an IPTV service, which would normally count against your cap, but since it's bell's own service, it gets an exemption.
 
Got this from reddit, apparently they're laying down their own network in Barrie and some parts of Toronto.

http://yak.ca/high-speed-internet

Other Internet providers now employ Usage-Based Billing [UBB] which is a charge to their customers that corresponds to how much data they use for downloads each month. Typically, Internet service specifies a monthly download limit and any time that limit is exceeded, the usage-based charge is applied. The charges range from $2/GB -$4/GB. BUT, with Yak High Speed Internet, you can still enjoy unlimited downloads and no usage-based billing in our Ontario service areas.
Click to expand...
 
Jesus

C3LM3R 1266 points1267 points1268 points 6 hours ago[-]

I'm sorry to hear about you losing Steam and I don't want to piss in your Timmy's, but this goes a little bit further than making you have to walk to buy videogames.

I'm in the US military and my wife's Canadian. During my last deployment, one of the easiest ways for her and I to keep in contact while she finished up her University degree in Ontario was webcam. She had Roger's internet and they've had this bullshit implemented for some time. So, she had some crap 25 Gb max rate and we hit that most every goddamn month just trying to stay in contact. (Yes, in hindsight we should have switched and whatever. That was then, this is now)

Now that I hear everyone in Ontario is going to have to deal with garbage like this is bullshit. Netflix/Steam users have my sympathy, but all those Canadian Forces guys out there, or people separated from their families who stay in touch via webcam/streaming methods are going to take this hit the hardest. I really, REALLY encourage you guys to fight this shit the best you can. It goes farther than movies, music, and video games.
Click to expand...
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/fbvje/good_bye_steam_i_hardly_knew_ye/c1es3ll
 
Firestorm said:
Telus didn't have the means to monitor their VDSL2 or whatever lines even before they started offering TelusTV so I don't know if that TV bandwidth separation thing I keep seeing is true.
Click to expand...
Last year a professor told me that he he stressed tested his telus services and they all degraded in relation to each others use with a priority of phone > tv > internet.

I have not noticed the same trend on shaw. If it is on the same infrastructure it is a big anti competitive move to charge users for their "bandwidth" based on whose content goes over it.
 
Zombie James said:
Got this from reddit, apparently they're laying down their own network in Barrie and some parts of Toronto.

http://yak.ca/high-speed-internet
Click to expand...
Sounds VERY "too good to be true" ish.

Zombie James said:
So I did a bit of research and it seems Yak is owned by Globalive, the same group behind WIND.
Click to expand...
Interesting, would be nice if these dudes ushered in some sort of telecom revolution with their mindset with all of this.
 
I'm already paying $40/month for unlimited EVERYTHING on my android phone with WIND. I already know that I'm not fully appreciating that fact because this is my first smart phone (happens to be a Nexus S as well).
 
YYZ said:
I'm already paying $40/month for unlimited EVERYTHING on my android phone with WIND. I already know that I'm not fully appreciating that fact because this is my first smart phone (happens to be a Nexus S as well).
Click to expand...

Where'd you find a Nexus S? Thought it wasn't supposed to launch here until March.
 
It's a GSM phone so it works with WIND and Moblicity. I got it from Bestbuy.com and technically, it's a T-Mobile phone. I had to import it.
 
enzo_gt said:
Sounds VERY "too good to be true" ish.


Interesting, would be nice if these dudes ushered in some sort of telecom revolution with their mindset with all of this.
Click to expand...

What YAK is doing (and what TSI is planning on doing) is setting up their own DSLAMs in the bell COs. This means that you can get whatever profile you want with no throttling with no caps. Only problem is that you have to live close to a CO.

This will be a way out of this, but it won't be an option for many.

Zombie James said:
Where'd you find a Nexus S? Thought it wasn't supposed to launch here until March.
Click to expand...

I also heard that the USA is really far away. ;)

YYZ said:
It's a GSM phone so it works with WIND and Moblicity. I got it from Bestbuy.com and technically, it's a T-Mobile phone. I had to import it.
Click to expand...

Does the MMS work and the Wind Home/Wind Away names, or does it still show 60211whatever and rogers wireless?
 
TouchMyBox said:
Does the MMS work and the Wind Home/Wind Away names, or does it still show 60211whatever and rogers wireless?
Click to expand...
MMS works (you mean texting?). WIND Home is called 302490 (I guess you're not in the GTA) and Rogers shows up as Rogers.
 
enzo_gt said:
Interesting, would be nice if these dudes ushered in some sort of telecom revolution with their mindset with all of this.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately that's going to mean the only ones to see the benefits will be in large metropolitan areas or even the GTA specifically and everyone else gets screwed. I'd rather regulate Bell / Rogers / Shaw than have competition satisfy some markets and kill the noise.
 
Firestorm said:
Unfortunately that's going to mean the only ones to see the benefits will be in large metropolitan areas or even the GTA specifically and everyone else gets screwed. I'd rather regulate Bell / Rogers / Shaw than have competition satisfy some markets and kill the noise.
Click to expand...
Say if they grew large enough, couldn't they expand their infrastructure to Rogers/Bell levels? I know it sounds like a small company going against titans, and the majority of Canada would be left out in the time it takes them to get to that level, but one can dream of a country where we don't get taxed for shit we were never taxed extra for in the first place.

TouchMyBox said:
What YAK is doing (and what TSI is planning on doing) is setting up their own DSLAMs in the bell COs. This means that you can get whatever profile you want with no throttling with no caps. Only problem is that you have to live close to a CO.

This will be a way out of this, but it won't be an option for many.
Click to expand...
Could you explain what DSLAMs and COs are? I'm still kinda confuzzled on how Yak is circumventing this, if they're still going through bell lines. Ideally, couldn't they grow their infrastructure to reach other parts of Canada from those DSLAMs? Kinda the same thing I'm asking up there ^.
 
Say if they grew large enough, couldn't they expand their infrastructure to Rogers/Bell levels? I know it sounds like a small company going against titans, and the majority of Canada would be left out in the time it takes them to get to that level, but one can dream of a country where we don't get taxed for shit we were never taxed extra for in the first place.
Click to expand...
The only reason Rogers / Bell / Telus / Bell are in some places is because they're forced to. Wind is just as cutthroat as them. A publically-traded company will not go into regions that aren't profitable enough.
 
Zombie James said:
Got this from reddit, apparently they're laying down their own network in Barrie and some parts of Toronto.

http://yak.ca/high-speed-internet
Click to expand...

But just like WIND, they appear to be a nightmare to deal with Customer Service wise. Their speeds tend to be hit, or miss as well, even on the same block. I'll do some more research on DSL Reports later.. but right now I'm stick with TSI and the 145gb.
 
If anyone wants to read the petition made to the federal government, here it is (pdf). It rips Bell's logic apart, piece by piece. If the government doesn't overrule the decision after reading this document, they're as corrupt as the CRTC.
 
I got a laugh out of this one:

74 This statement is best explained with chocolate chip cookies. Competing cookie makers would use different amounts of chocolate chips in their recipes, some use more chips and advertise their product as a premium quality, while others may wish to offer low cost cookies with just one chip per cookie. They can differentiate their products and target different consumers. As long as the bakers pay for the amount of chocolate chips they use, there is absolutely nothing wrong with one buying twice as many chocolate chips as another to make the same number of cookies. Forcing all bakers to use the same number of chocolate chips in their cookies would go against basic competitive principles.
Click to expand...

Hope it works.
 
Zombie James said:
If anyone wants to read the petition made to the federal government, here it is (pdf). It rips Bell's logic apart, piece by piece. If the government doesn't overrule the decision after reading this document, they're as corrupt as the CRTC.
Click to expand...
It just keeps going... and going... and going. It's like Bell got 1500000 lashings or something.

Paragraph 109 on pg 17 though says form instead of from D:

"Bell Canada is free to remove UBB form its retail..."
 
WEGGLES said:
It just keeps going... and going... and going. It's like Bell got 1500000 lashings or something.

Paragraph 109 on pg 17 though says form instead of from D:

"Bell Canada is free to remove UBB form its retail..."
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are a couple of typos. The guy had to rush it in order to meet the deadline.
 
This reminds me of how it was living in Australia... I would always hit my bandwidth cap and the last week of each month sucked ass. It was throttled down to like 56k speeds, so any type of video streaming was useless. I feel bad for you guys.

I don't think it will happen here in the US... one of the few advantages of an almost completely capitalistic society... (as long as you have money).
 
Firestorm said:
I think there were less than a dozen when I signed. It's nice to see it has finally exploded.
Click to expand...
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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