CRTC ruling allows Bell to implement usage-based internet billing

By on May 7, 2010 at 5:57 PM
General May 7, 2010

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Thursday turned out to be a nightmarish day for internet junkies across Canada, as the CRTC ruled that both Bell can proceed with plans to charge broadband customers per gigabyte of data consumed. Known as usage-based billing, the CRTC granted Bell permission to go ahead with the changes on the condition that it does not charge usage-based rates to wholesalers until all of its retail customers are switched over to usage-based plans. Bell did away with uncapped data allotments in 2006 and the vast majority of its retail customers are presently on usage-based plans. If and when all consumers are on the new plans, Bell will be able and willing to impose a cap of 2GB, 20GB and 60GB on its 512Kbps, 2 Mbps and 5Mbps services. Anyone who exceeds the cap will have to pay $1.12 per GB up to a maximum of $22.50. Exceed 300GB and pay an additional $0.75 per GB. Many wholesalers are crying foul over the ruling as it gives Bell an even greater advantage over its partners wholesales and significantly reduces competition in the broadband market as it will force rates to be raised. Bell has yet to comment on the ruling.

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  • Nick

    Looks like backwards progress in Canada. I feel sorry for consumers. Data is just 1′s and 0′s going through wires. They should not charge consumers as if they’re consuming some scarce resource like oil and gas. How come the wholesale cost of bandwidth continues to go down while ISPs salivate at the opportunity to nickel & dime customers with per byte billing? Greed? Say it ain’t so! This actually encourages people to use less internet. It’s the very definition of backwards progress.

    • Invid

      The whole point is to discourage use. That way they can continue to oversubscribe their lines without having to spend on infrastructure enhancements.

      God I hate the CRTC. It’s time they were disbanded if they aren’t going to look out for consumers as is their mandate.

      • Ron

        It’s not the lines. That’s BS. They are offering IPTV in many places in Toronto. If there lines were full they wouldn’t be offering IPTV. They just want more money and they are achieving this by charging people that use more bandwidth. People also need to understand there is no extra cost for the provider between a person who is using 1gb a month and one using 1tb a month.

      • Invid

        Oversubscribing their lines and protecting their TV interests (IP and satellite both) are not mutually exclusive. They can do both at the same time.

        Gaining an advantage over iTunes is a bonus. Killing streaming from CTV is a bonus. Making sure that a Hulu or Netflix never gets popular here is a bonus.

        I think I’m going to become a single issue voter betweeen this blatant corporate rubberstamping and ACTA. If I wanted to be an American, I would move there.

  • Chris

    Anyone who uses more than 60gigs of data per month is likely downloading illegal shit anyway.

    • Andrew

      Or they’re streaming music, purchasing movies over iTunes, and downloading the latest demos to their PS3 or Xbox 360. All pretty legit ways to easily jump past 60GB.

    • Ron

      Not that many things in Canada are illegal to download. Downloading copyrighted material in Canada is perfectly legal. Uploading copyrighted material is illegal. Never mind that I guess you have never heard of Youtube 1080p videos and IPTV. I have IPTV through Bell Canada and they gave me a 60gb limit for internet usage. TVs in my house stream many terrabites of data for (legally paying for it) from Bell a month but Bell only allows me to use 60gb of data online. I also have a webserver and an ftp server which uses up a good amount of data.

      Also when you have the speeds I have you use a lot more data. http://www.speedtest.net/result/708550951.png

    • arkeetek

      I got Netflix this month and busted my cap of 60gig to 96gig, just from streaming. A service that is cheap and is an answer to discourage people to download pirated content. Thanks to Bell I won’t use it.

  • Jarrett

    Sorry Canada, you still have Hockey though.

  • inc

    this is fc*ing bullshit..

    CRTC and Bell are freaking screwing people left right center

    damn you both

  • fuku

    “Wholesalers” Does that mean companies that simply Re-sell bell DSL service? Or does this apply to 3rd party providers who provide everything but the wire to home?

    If the first, makes sense, if its just a company that re-sells a service,,, however if it applies to the second, it is complete bullshat.

    I was about to switch to teksavvy, an indenpendant provider that of course rents the wire to home provided by bell, but otherwise is independent. no limits, and supports Tomato/MLPPP to circumvent the throttling on bell’s part of the connection

    • Invid

      The ruling applies to companies like Teksavvy (my ISP) that rent the lines to the home.

      So Bell gets to charge a flat rate for access, and charge again for usage, even though Teksavvy provides their own backbone connections.

      Bell still doesn’t have to share their high speed lines either. Bell throttles & caps their own customers to encourage TV subscriptions and discourage IP video, and the CRTC has just handed them the ability to throttle & cap their competitors to the same crap levels of service.

  • Sadiq Shaikh

    How do us canadians go around opposing such idiotic rulings… HOW????? Not only they are throttling internet through packet sniffing but also imposing usage based fees. I would rather go to library or starbucks to do downloading because apparantly there is no limit.

  • jcutner

    hasn’t rogers been doing this for ages anyways though?

    • Ron

      Rogers didn’t have it’s infrastructure built with Tax Payers money as Bell did.

  • ag101

    Bell and the CRTC are complete jokes..
    Canadians get screwed again.

  • bell

    These CRTC rulings are a joke. If they don’t make stupid decisions on new carriers entering the market then it’s on screwing small isps over. Makes me wonder if their all about corruption or if they even know what internet and bandwith is.

  • Jay

    La vie est Bell?

    Shame on you Bell

  • Chris

    Well, there go my plans for moving to Canada. Along with Australia’s absurd telephony charges, it’s looking pretty bleak.

  • Mrwirez

    Not a good precedent.. I would owe Verizon
    ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!

  • Joe

    @invid: a voice of reason sir.

    Canadian consumers will vote with their wallets until this is changed. A byte is a byte is a byte. A total backwards movement. Good analogy. HDTV takes over in late 90′s and 2000′s. Large tvs become affordable. We are now all watching movies on our low res 3 inch phone screens…

    Its all a move to procrastinate network upgrades. Bell gets their wish and the crtc gets a fat backroom paycheck. The only ones left to suffer are the consumer. I suggest if your on this network to immediatly call, complain, and switch providers

  • Chris

    Anyone who downloads more than 60 gigs a month needs to get a life anyway. This is just a polite way of the CRTC telling you to get a life.

    • Ron

      Do you know how much data is used by your TV? Well some people have IPTV which simply means the TV signal comes from your internet connection. IPTV just so you know uses terabytes of data a month. 1000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte

  • sam tom

    If I’m not mistaken this sounds like its just for home internet? If so it doesn’t really effect many people living in the western canada since Shaw and Telus are the major home internet providers here its more so in the East that Rogers and Bell that have a strong hold on home internet

  • sam tom

    If I’m not mistaken this sounds like its just for home internet? If so it doesn’t really effect many people living in the western canada since Shaw and Telus are the major home internet providers here its more so in the East that Rogers and Bell that have a strong hold on home internet.

  • sam tom

    If I’m not mistaken this sounds like its just for home internet? If so it doesn’t really effect many people living in the western canada since Shaw and Telus are the major home internet providers here its more so in the East that Rogers and Bell that have a strong hold on home internet. Shaw already does have a cap on their internet so I’m not entirely sure if this is new or not however I could be mistaken and not really understand it

  • mi_canuck

    Sadly… Won’t be long before this type of billing model gets used by the cell carriers… Even in the US… It IS coming… Just a metter of when, NOT if….

    • Invid

      THIS IS WHAT NETWORK NEUTRALITY MEANS.

      All I see online is Americans complaining about government interference in the internet. That’s not what network neutrality is.

      Mark my words, with Comcast trying to buy NBC you guys will have the exact same problems if you don’t set down strong rules today! Do you think Comcast won’t try to reduce your caps when doing so will force people to stay with expensive cable subscriptions?

      Comcast already doesn’t want you using Hulu when you could be paying for cable TV. If they buy NBC, they have even more reason not to let you use those services. Their cable distribution deals make them more money than Hulu does.

      Never mind Netflix. Those are movies you “should” be renting from Comcast PPV. If they can cut your caps low enough, all of a sudden you have to decide between surfing at the end of the month or watching a HD movie.

      Cellular is a little different, but the principles are the same.

  • Brendan

    so i’m guessing the ruling only applies to people on grandfathered unlimited plans? and possibly people using bell’s line with a smaller isp?

  • Derek

    well folks of the GTA to hamilton – if we can keep pumping up WIND mobile, wait for about 10 years; then we’ll show them other b$%tards! oops – the crtc will mandate that wind be disbanded and sold to rogers and bell once consumers get too good of a deal. cmon wind!! stick with it!!

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