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

ChefRamsay said:
You're mad about that?!?!?

Did you read the new caps and speeds? We should be applauding Shaw for their efforts, not mad about a temporary monthly bump if you exceed their very reasonable caps.
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I have two issues:

1. It's still UBB. There's no guarantee that these caps won't drop.
2. It automatically bumps you up to a higher service tier but doesn't tell you how much you'll pay. At the end of the month will you be paying old price + new tier, or old price + (new tier / days left), or the full new tier price?

After the whole "everyone we talked to totally loves UBB!" shit from a few weeks ago, I don't trust Shaw.
 
I've spent the last 5 years with cheap, unlimited bandwidth (at decent speeds) out west, so coming back to Ontario and shitty bandwidth caps is obnoxious as all hell. How is that Bell hasnt been sued for its anti-competitive behaviour?
 
Too bad they're not in Quebec, I'd probably bite at the Unlimited 250 considering the speed and that it includes TV so at 144.90$ it's not THAT bad. What's the difference between Personal and Legacy TV though?
 
Zombie James said:
I have two issues:

1. It's still UBB. There's no guarantee that these caps won't drop.
2. It automatically bumps you up to a higher service tier but doesn't tell you how much you'll pay. At the end of the month will you be paying old price + new tier, or old price + (new tier / days left), or the full new tier price?

After the whole "everyone we talked to totally loves UBB!" shit from a few weeks ago, I don't trust Shaw.
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100% completely valid concerns, no doubt.

However, Shaw has had caps on their data plans for God knows how long. As long as I can recall since I moved to my current location, and that's been 6 years now. While this isn't an excuse for this behavior, it's just noting that at least the caps are going up for these users.

The ambiguity of the pricing charges if you overshoot the data limit is awful and there's a lot of potential abuse there, let's hope it's not too shitty.

UBB is awful and I don't trust this shit either, but at least the plans laid out on that page of options is not nearly as shitty as initially feared.

Now can we get some transparency in how they track data usage please?
 
Although Shaw's packages are still UBB at the core, they offer more than enough flexibility that you don't have to be concerned about what you're doing online.
 
xanavi said:
Is it not constantly buffering for you?

Edit: It seems to have smoothed out. I just thought it would be pretty ironic if I couldn't even get the CRTC hearing to stream smoothly.
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I'm getting buffering issues, yeah.
 
Too true. However, the service providers will be able to provide better service with a reasonable pricing plan. I'm convinced they're properly preparing for the massively cloud-based computing future and they were being truthful when rebuffing claims that they're not at all concerned with competing data services (Netflix.)

When can I join the CRTC?
 
@mgeist said:
Bell questioning done. To wrap up: 1) No major consumer concerns with #UBB 2) Bell pricing based on market, not actual costs 3) Bell plan (AVP) driven by competition not congestion (eg ON v. Atlantic Can) 4) AVP deals w/aggregate use, not peak use #UBB
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It's becoming more and more clear that this is just a cash grab, but the CRTC will side with Bell in the end anyways.
 
This is beyond disgusting from the perspective of a consumer. From business standpoint it makes perfect sense given that Bell provides cable tele services and is not willing to lose to people downloading shows off of torrents.

Personally, I feel this monopoly has now come full circle to bite the people back in the ass and Canada has gone from being the leader in broadband tech to a forgetful backward tech slum. Caps like these are in violation with progress for the sake of profits.
 
Mindlog said:
Too true. However, the service providers will be able to provide better service with a reasonable pricing plan. I'm convinced they're properly preparing for the massively cloud-based computing future and they were being truthful when rebuffing claims that they're not at all concerned with competing data services (Netflix.)

When can I join the CRTC?
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Cloud based computing with the speeds we're getting would be a complete fucking failure.
 
Hearings continuing today. OpenMedia is getting grilled by this Pent guy:

@mgeist said:
Pent: You say you're representing public interest. Your interest is just as self-serving as anyone else, isn't it?

Pent: Isn't problem that deal so good ind ISPs can be tremendously profitable without investing? [I'm not making this up]

Pent: What is so undemocratic about allowing a few companies to control the Internet?
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:/

edit:

Another one:

@mgeist said:
Pent: What is basis for claim of 1 or 8 cent/GB? Do you want to take back claim? [NO - one is my study is.gd/kMglYj]
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WOW.
 
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/about/whoweare.htm

I'm guessing it's Tom Pentefountas, vice-chairman. This guy:

The prime minister's office is undermining the CRTC by appointing an "unqualified" vice-chair of broadcasting and easing regulations on broadcast standards, NDP heritage critic Charlie Angus says.

Tom Pentefountas, who was appointed on Friday, "failed on every count" of the vetting process, Angus said during question period in the House of Commons on Monday. "This appointment stinks."

Angus and NDP House leader Libby Davies charged that Pentefountas, a former president of Quebec's conservative ADQ party, does not meet several of the job's requirements, including an in-depth knowledge of the broadcasting industry and media convergence.
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2011/02/07/angus-crtc.html

The Harper Government™ at work.
 
Harper Government at work? More like your government at work. Being juvenile, lying and cheating is just part of the game. When you also consider the fact that Rogers and the others have probably boosted their pension funds a great amount, none of this is any big surprise.
 
This is what cable has to say:

The Cable Carriers submit that the aggregated usage model, proposed in our March comments, is the appropriate billing model for the provision of residential high-speed internet services to Wholesalers. Under this model, the monthly charge per end-user bundles the access service with approximately 25 Gigabytes of usage (for our most popular speed tier). In addition, the tariff will require the payment of an additional charge for usage over the monthly usage allowance. However, the Wholesaler will be allowed to aggregate the usage charges for its end-users. So if one end-user was away on vacation and used no GB that month and another user used 50 GB, the Wholesaler would not have to pay the overage charge for the customer that used more than the 25 GB. The monthly usage allowance will be based on each Cable Carrier’s average monthly usage and will be adjusted each year as traffic per end-user increases.

The monthly charge as well as any additional usage charge will be calculated at cost-based rates. The usage charge will be much lower than under the current tariff. The price per Gigabyte of additional traffic is based on our cost studies where the traffic sensitive costs are divided by the forecast traffic volume. The volumes are based on the “all carrier demand” principle so the Wholesalers gain the benefit of our economies of scale.
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In other words, slightly modified UBB of old.
 
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