http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars

Apparently my country is going the way of metered internet. Being that I'm not exactly capable of dishing out wads of cash in accordance with my current download rates, my time in the digital world may be limited.

Are there any other users here who have metered internet? I don't fully understand the situation as I've just read through the article above at 6:00am and it's the first I've heard of it. Any assistance would be appreciated, and feel free to vent your frustrations (or at least that's the word used to describe a lot of people at the moment) regarding metered internet.

Wow... never heard of that, and I hope this is the last of it that I hear on the subject. 25GB per month is really harsh. This should not be allowed in the first place "/
I can use 5GB a day... so 5 days on internet per month?

My friend used to have a limit of 4GB for total internet traffic. after he downloaded 4 GB in 3 days haha, he had really slow internet(it worked still though), so i guess it's not an isolated case.

Here it depends on how much you pay for internet access. The really cheap connections have a data limit.

Sorry man. I though still think internet in Europe and America is still cheap compared to what we have here. From what i have read, generally, one is going to pay $1.9 per gigabyte. Ofcourse is alot more expensive(and for less internet even) than what you were originally accustomed to..

Am not sure how this would help but consider this;...for a package of 5Mbps/800kbps which has a cap of 2GB, here, I pay $36. For 10GB, One pays $60. And thats not even monthly because, in Uganda, once i have reached the 2GB cap which is usually in less than 2hrs, am disconnected and I have to fork out another $36. That said, the slower the speeds the higher the cap. Currently am using a 256kbps-512kbps which comes with no cap and am paying a flat monthly fee of $35...

How does the common man survive? Glad you asked
-Internet Cafes(heard of them?) Well, we have them here. They usually charge by the hour and not per internet speed. So for 1hr, one can use their computers and their speeds at the charge of less than $1
-About only 10% of my country's population is Computer Literate. Of those only 1/4 uses the internet quite heavily(downloads and all); and thats what guys like me bank on coz if and when that percentage decides rise, I might have to find myself another country to inhabit...

Written by Valentin B on 01.02.2011 at 15:00

My friend used to have a limit of 4GB for total internet traffic. after he downloaded 4 GB in 3 days haha, he had really slow internet(it worked still though), so i guess it's not an isolated case.

Some small local internet providers where i live give you the same deal. You have a traffic limit and when you go over it the provider wont give you the maximum speed that you payed for, but wont charge you any extra money for the traffic. On the other hand, the big national internet providers charge you for every GB over your limit, unless you have a flat rate connection. For example if I use a kilobyte over my traffic limit, I have to pay as if i spent an entire GB.


This article came as a bit of a surprise for me. I just guessed that metered internet was a world wide practice.

#1 http://openmedia.ca/meter sign this petition

#2 You should be fine because third party providers are giving you alternatives. For example Techsavvy lets you get internet for about $32 a month with the 25GB limit. Then depending on how much you need you can add on 40GB for about $5 80GB for about $10 and 120GB for about $15 or if you are insane you can add 300GB for $55.

I'm not sure if techsavvy has service in Kingston but I'm sure Cogeco will have some sort of similar plan. Hopefully enough people will sign the petition and something will be done about it CRTC are supposed to protect the people ... not Bell.

Otherwise we can always start doing this

http://i.imgur.com/M3G7f.png

Written by BaneConall on 01.02.2011 at 17:30


http://i.imgur.com/M3G7f.png

to the man who came up with this. Just imagine internet providers worldwide using the profit they get from us to buy out the worlds stock of portable data storage devices to prevent us from actually doing this

I can see this causing some major problems for users in the foreseeable future.

Written by ß on 01.02.2011 at 19:57

I can see this causing some major problems for users in the foreseeable future.

Sign the petition. Also post it on facebook/myspace/twitter/whateversocialmedianetworksyouareon so that more people sign it.

Im with Rogers and Im stuck with a 60gb limit...and lately I keep going over because Ive been downloading episodes of the TV show Top Gear (which I don't get on TV), music, doing some online gaming, skype convo's. So it all adds up. Im either going to have to cut back on how much I download or just pay more for a higher limit.

Definitely sucks.

Turns out, after all's said and done, my service (through Cogeco) doesn't change at all. :S

Written by Troy Killjoy on 10.02.2011 at 02:17

Turns out, after all's said and done, my service (through Cogeco) doesn't change at all. :S

How are Cogeco in terms of internet service? the only Cogeco related product my parents currently have is cable tv for our cottage in Niagara.

Written by ß on 10.02.2011 at 23:44

Written by Troy Killjoy on 10.02.2011 at 02:17

Turns out, after all's said and done, my service (through Cogeco) doesn't change at all. :S

How are Cogeco in terms of internet service? the only Cogeco related product my parents currently have is cable tv for our cottage in Niagara.

The service is great! ... Once you get it. Whether or not you're aware, I was essentially absent from this site for almost 6 full months because of Cogeco (and my location in the city). They had a lot of technological issues with their new modems (which turned out was a beta version) and we had to cancel/renew several times with them. The cable and phone have never been an issue, but the internet service was damn near impossible to get.

Now that I have it though... man. I can download 60GB/month for something like 42.95/month and my average download speed is about 400kbps. It's fast and reliable, depending on how hard you need to fight to get it. haha

I don't get it. I have a flat service, and I can download whatever amount I choose for a fixed price per month.

Written by Kennoth on 11.02.2011 at 03:30

I don't get it. I have a flat service, and I can download whatever amount I choose for a fixed price per month.

Same here. And also a lot quicker than the 400kbps mentioned by Troy. Currently the lowest offer here is about 10MB/s

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.02.2011 at 15:34

Written by Kennoth on 11.02.2011 at 03:30

I don't get it. I have a flat service, and I can download whatever amount I choose for a fixed price per month.

Same here. And also a lot quicker than the 400kbps mentioned by Troy. Currently the lowest offer here is about 10MB/s

Well the 400kbps I mentioned is the speed at which I'm capable of downloading your average torrent (with appropriate seeding); if I download files through blogspots or images from websites, etc. my speed is probably closer to your 10mbps.

I have saw a lot of change...download time is a lot slower and I can barely download torrents now...it sucks...everything just shuts down...and it's not because my computer doesn't work properly...I can assure you...

Written by Guest on 13.02.2011 at 08:41

I have saw a lot of change...download time is a lot slower and I can barely download torrents now...it sucks...everything just shuts down...and it's not because my computer doesn't work properly...I can assure you...

That sucks, maybe change your ISP. Who are you with?

Written by Guest on 13.02.2011 at 08:41

I have saw a lot of change...download time is a lot slower and I can barely download torrents now...it sucks...everything just shuts down...and it's not because my computer doesn't work properly...I can assure you...

Mhmm, I'm having similar problems. A couple of months ago I could download torrents up to 600kb/s+. Now anything I try is just... too slow. In some cases, its almost not worth it.

If this is real I'm fighting cops and throwing things at the government!! It's the last thing we need.

Written by Mattybu on 08.11.2011 at 05:44
If this is real I'm fighting cops and throwing things at the government!! It's the last thing we need.

It was real but thankfully nothing came of it.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 08.11.2011 at 07:11

Written by Mattybu on 08.11.2011 at 05:44
If this is real I'm fighting cops and throwing things at the government!! It's the last thing we need.

It was real but thankfully nothing came of it.

Alright good cause these are the things that just create anger inside of me. Glad nothing came of it.

That's crazy, we don't pay for anything like that here..

Written by Sweetou on 21.12.2011 at 06:51
That's crazy, we don't pay for anything like that here..

Thankfully this all didn't pan out.

Although it would have been a good excuse for me to get a life IRL.

The ssd shipping idea could have lead to an interesting business model though....

Yeah.

Right now, Canadian ISP's are bullshit. Just a suggestion, we're with Rogers and my dad regularly calls in and complains to get them to cut pointless fees and increase our data rates and the likes. Sign petitions, call and complain, etc, show them you dont care for metered internet. It's really stupid and is in my opinion infringing on freedoms.

Dont be fooled by lies the ISP's tell you. An internet server doesnt care how much data goes through. If more people are using the internet, that means more people are paying for it, thus meaning more servers can be purchased, thus meaning everyone has internet and ISP's make money like they desire. There should not be a cap .

If they continue to impose of rights like this, I might very well join like minded people and violently riot about it if a peaceful solution cant be met. Fuck them for trying to tell me that there should be a limit to my monthly use when their reasons are entirely bullshit.

Seriously though, CALL AND COMPLAIN. Dont talk to the first guy on the phone, demand the managers or the head people. If they refuse, refuse their refusal and continue to demand speaking to the top guys. Tell them it is extremely unprofessional and practically criminal in nature.

Written by Zealot644 on 07.01.2012 at 22:38
Yeah.

Where do you live? Because between Ontario and Alberta in the past year, this is no longer an issue. :/

Right outside of Toronto.

We have some sort of 260GB bandwidth cap and I live in a house of gaming, netflix, youtube videos, etc. We were until a few months ago paying far too much for 'fees' that served no particular purpose until my dad called them repeatedly. I still feel it is wrong for people to be stuck with bandwidth caps even if they are paying for higher end internet.

That's weird. I lived in Kingston, had Cogeco for a year, and it cost me 39.95 a month for unlimited downloads. :/