|
Yeah, I'd just like to point out that pretty soon it will literally be cheaper and faster for me to take my PS3, unplug it, put it in my car, drive five to ten minutes to my office on campus, plug it in and download whatever game or demo I want than it will for me to do it at home.
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 18:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 20:10 |
|
|
It's time to revive dial-up BBSes! Break out the extra phone lines and modems, and set up some relays to the US. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 18:40
|
|
|
There's a slightly more active thread about this issue in GB. I don't like that there are two threads about this, but whatever. Cross-posting from there. http://www.liberal.ca/ubb/
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 19:10
|
|
TO UNDERAGE GYMNASTS
|
Kreez posted:Tony Clement is my MP, I just sent him a short email from my business (one he knows personally) address. Probably only a 1% chance someone actually reads it, but whatever. What is up fellow Muskokan! I've now sent a number of emails to MPs. For those who haven't, do it! You would be surprised to find out that MPs and MPPs do respond (or their staff) and act when a good number of people write to them. They may not always be able to change something, but you can at least have your say in an proactive democracy. I've been writing the CRTC and MPs cranky letters for over a decade about their lack of forward thinking and really representing consumers. Join me in my curmudgeon conquest!
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 19:53
|
|
|
My MP is Peter Kent, totes the company line pretty hard core. I've sent him a bunch of my concerns and the responses I get back are pretty much what you'd expect for someone toting the company line.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:08
|
|
|
Stanley Pain posted:My MP is Peter Kent, totes the company line pretty hard core. I've sent him a bunch of my concerns and the responses I get back are pretty much what you'd expect for someone toting the company line. I expect nothing less from David Sweet, but I'll be damned if I don't try 
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:13
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:I expect nothing less from David Sweet, but I'll be damned if I don't try On the bright side, they no longer send me all their junk mail propaganda. Small victory I guess 
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:15
|
|
|
My MP is an NDPer so I feel like I don't need to do anything, they got it in hand  Finally something those filthy hippies are good fer!  Anyone got a link for the GB discussion on this handy? I had a look at the front page and none of the clever thread titles jumped out at me as obvious but perhaps it has shuffled off a couple pages deep..
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:18
|
|
|
Ugh. Does anyone have a decent form letter I can expand on? Every time I start writing I just get angry and belligerent. I'm not even an angry guy, but I can't put two coherent sentences together without throwing in angry language.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:22
|
|
|
priznat posted:Anyone got a link for the GB discussion on this handy? I had a look at the front page and none of the clever thread titles jumped out at me as obvious but perhaps it has shuffled off a couple pages deep.. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3385801
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:24
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:Ugh. Does anyone have a decent form letter I can expand on? Every time I start writing I just get angry and belligerent. I'm not even an angry guy, but I can't put two coherent sentences together without throwing in angry language. I did the same thing. I started up cool and coherent, but ended in disaster.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:41
|
|
|
Found a half way decent one template Canadian ISPs have "just become a collection agency for the monopolies" according to the CEO of the Canadian Internet service provider TekSavvy Solutions. On January 25th, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) gave the go-ahead to allow Bell Canada to charge Usage-Based Billing (UBB) to local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as Mega-Quebec here in Quebec City. Starting in February any data over your cap will be charged extra. Despite being charged per gigabyte (GB) when you exceed your cap, if you use less than your cap you will not receive a discount. According to an employee of TekSavvy, bandwidth costs to your ISP are "1 to 3 pennies per gig". Your local ISP is now obligated to charge you $1-4 per GB, more than a 10000% markup, and pass that money directly to Bell. This is a disaster for everyone who is currently using the Internet; your Internet bill will almost certainly go up. It is trivially easy to pass the 25-50 GB caps that will come into effect next month. Watching a low-end HD movie on the Internet will set you back 4-6 GB, and a single episode of television could be as much as 1.5 GB. Downloading 2-3 games per month off Steam that will set you back 25 GB a month alone. Streaming just 30 minutes of 720p videos on YouTube every day could use over 30 GB. Even if you are already on a plan with a cap, this gives leeway to your current ISP to raise your prices in the absence of competition. So why the sudden push to impose UBB? The answer is Netflix Canada, an online DVD-rental and movie streaming service that recently became available, and Hulu, an online TV streaming service that is very popular in the united states. Bell is the owner of the CTV television network, as well as offering monthly television subscription services. Bell has decided that the best way to ensure that you cannot cancel your television service (and watch shows online at your convenience) is to make online streaming of TV shows and movies too costly by over-charging for bandwidth. And through the CRTC, to force competing ISPs to do the same. That the CRTC would ignore such a huge conflict of interest is surprising, until you realize that some of its members have previously worked at Bell or Rogers and are unfit to regulate an industry they are beholden to. There are three possible solutions that we can implement to stop our Internet access from dropping to third-world levels: 1. Disband the CRTC and replace it with an organization directly responsible to parliament, fill it with members who won't rubber-stamp every anti-competitive request made by our monopolies. 2. Create a provincial crown corporation here in Quebec, similar to Sasktel, which has pledged to keep providing the citizens of Saskatchewan with unlimited Internet access at affordable rates. 3. Adopt a system similar to the one in Japan, where the owner of last mile infrastructure (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) was broken up into competing companies. They were also forced to lease their lines to smaller competitors at wholesale rates. Thanks to government regulations mandating competition, Japanese citizens now enjoy un-capped 160 Mbps Internet speeds for $60 a month, speeds unheard of here in Canada, at any price. http://www.antiubb.com/why-should-we-oppose-ubb/ also has a lot of great key points that could be easily copy/pasted into an email.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:49
|
|
|
Not too shabby, although the letters probably need customization for specific MPs and relevant info for the letter to make sense (e.g. find a small ISP like Teksavvy with a presence in the appropriate provice). Anything sent within Quebec or to a francophone MP should REALLY lean on the whole discrimination-against-francophones angle, too. Also, if anyone has a use for them, enjoy these unedited Steam install pics.   For the record, I got both of these games on sale for $10 if memory serves (definitely for Star Wars, I'm about 90% sure for Age of Conan) and Steam has no problem feeding me either game hundreds of times at no extra cost. univbee fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Feb 1, 2011 |
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 20:56
|
|
|
The kicker is that the CDN used to send those over to you is probably nextdoor and costs your ISP NOTHING to send to you. In fact, having worked for a certain large ISP I can assure you that most peering contracts within North America are in fact cost neutral.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 21:06
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:Ugh. Does anyone have a decent form letter I can expand on? Every time I start writing I just get angry and belligerent. I'm not even an angry guy, but I can't put two coherent sentences together without throwing in angry language. Sorry if this has been posted already, but this is a short and sweet form email. This is a good start, and I see others have posted some good letters too. This website also has a lot of good information/news regarding this whole issue: http://openmedia.ca/meter
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 21:10
|
|
|
quote:The federal government will decide by March 1 whether to reject a CRTC decision on internet billing that has outraged Canadian internet users. Looks like we've got some direction for our feedback.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 21:17
|
|
|
I actually ran into my MP in town today(Dean Allison) but he gave me the usual glad handing that politicians do when they aren't informed about something but know that they should pretend to care. I did tell him that it was one of the few things that make me feel ashamed to be a Conservative(I love most of the platform though not always its execution) if we let it stand and that seemed to hit home though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 21:42
|
|
|
Stanley Pain posted:My MP is Peter Kent, totes the company line pretty hard core. I've sent him a bunch of my concerns and the responses I get back are pretty much what you'd expect for someone toting the company line. I know it may be a futile effort, but I'm still planning to write a letter to him this week, and a good friend of mine is going to try calling him on the phone. In the odd chance he actually reads what I write about this, I hope my two main arguments of the ruling being anti-competitive, and how this will further set Canada back in terms of quality internet being available will appeal to him. Don't be discouraged, apathy is perhaps what got us all into this situation in the first place.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 21:53
|
|
|
Sashimi posted:Sup fellow Thornhillian. His office is always good at getting back to you, I'll give 'em that. I just sent him a quick email with an "I'll keep it short this time, What's your stance on UBB". We'll see how he reponds. So far he's 0/4 with concerns I've needed adressed. I'm not expecting a reply until March 1st :p
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 22:04
|
|
|
I think the higher ups are definitely backpedaling a bit on this, I just got an email from the party about the review saying it was being carefully examined and blah blah blah. I just hope it isn't the usual "leave it for a month and hope they forget" approach that so many politicians take.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 22:11
|
|
|
Well, this is one way to get around this issue: http://www.crtcrazy.com/
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 22:36
|
|
|
The Gunslinger posted:I did tell him that it was one of the few things that make me feel ashamed to be a Conservative(I love most of the platform though not always its execution) if we let it stand and that seemed to hit home though. Maybe you can teach some of us how to talk to a Conservative then, my MP still believes man lived with dinosaurs like on the Flintstones. (Stockwell Day  ) Trying to convince myself a letter isn't completely futile. I guess go heavy on the "stifles innovation/bad for small business" stuff to start?
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 22:38
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:Ugh. Does anyone have a decent form letter I can expand on? Every time I start writing I just get angry and belligerent. I'm not even an angry guy, but I can't put two coherent sentences together without throwing in angry language. I'll be voting NDP anyway (since I can't vote bloc anymore ), but whatever.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 23:17
|
|
|
Stanley Pain posted:My MP is Peter Kent, totes the company line pretty hard core. I've sent him a bunch of my concerns and the responses I get back are pretty much what you'd expect for someone toting the company line. (Though, again, the only two orgs that really matter here are the PMO and Industry Canada. MPs don't know or do poo poo.)
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 23:44
|
|
|
I am so goddamn sick of the CRTC. The Bell lawyers gave them a hokey 'series of tubes' snowjob and the dottering old fossils bought it hook line and sinker. The CTRC has effectively ruled it is now 1998 again. What the gently caress are they going to do for an encore, let them charge different rates for ones than zeros? Why the haven't the big digital delivery companies weighed in on this bullshit? Apple usually jumps at a chance to mind somebody else's business. gently caress it, I'm looking for jobs in the States. Edit: mwarkentin posted:Well, this is one way to get around this issue: http://www.crtcrazy.com/ This actually looks like a good idea, and that is the saddest thing I've heard all week. Vergeh fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Feb 1, 2011 |
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 23:46
|
|
|
ZShakespeare posted:Rather than spending $5 for an extra GB of internet I could get a Hahaha goddamn I laughed way too hard at this.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2011 23:51
|
|
|
Can you imagine having to be the staffer that has to explain how ISPs work to a dinosaur CPC politician? Even the young ones are retards that can probably barely work a computer.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 01:13
|
|
|
Does anyone know if Telus is getting in on the cap fun? I have had several people tell me that they have no caps, and I can't find anything on their website that says either way.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 01:57
|
|
|
Demon_Corsair posted:Does anyone know if Telus is getting in on the cap fun? I have had several people tell me that they have no caps, and I can't find anything on their website that says either way. http://telus.com/content/internet/highspeed/compare.jsp On their website they have it there, but they've had it there. It was there a few weeks ago when switched to them, but everything that I had heard is that its a soft cap and they never really charge at all. Even my install tech said that they dont do anything, but if you go over crazy amounts, they may call you and let you know your going over the limit, and the below article seems to say that. Ive added the Optik Turbo, so its 250g, but the actual tv viewing is part of that. Apparently, they may not have a way to differentiate between the two yet, but im not absolutely sure about that. That being said, I'll probably go over this first month, just for funzies, and see what happens. http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Worried+about+extra+Internet+data+fees+know+what/4173947/story.html Vancouver Sun circa Jan 28th! posted:"Telus — Shaw’s main Internet competitor in Vancouver — also has monthly data caps. Those caps tend to be a bit higher than Shaw’s — for example, 75 GB for Telus’s second-cheapest plan compared to 60 GB for Shaw.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 02:31
|
|
|
Wafulz posted:Hahaha goddamn I laughed way too hard at this. Yeah I did too  Got a response from Mr. Kent, looks like it was sent from his BB (or his assistant, or assistant's assistant) because the formatting got all messed up. P. Kentizzie posted:
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 02:32
|
|
|
You'd think losing access to online porn videos would send throngs of formerly polite Canadians into the streets to protest... maybe that's your solution 
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 02:38
|
|
|
I just finished e-mailing Steam / Valve about this issue. Netflix is already on-board, and I might try Amazon next. Even in these dark times I'm hesitant to ask Apple to come to the rescue. They'll just want a 30% cut off any bandwidth charges resulting from iTunes purchases.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 02:45
|
|
|
Funny that you mentioned Steam, because I just came across this on Reddit:quote: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. If we can get footage of (justifiably) Sad Soldier's Wife on the teevee, the CPC probably won't even wait until march to kill this. Edit: He's resisting because he's American and she's Canadian, but hell with that. Nobody's gonna care that he's a yank.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:04
|
|
|
There is a Canadian parent with one (soon to be two) children in Afghanistan who posted on one of either CBC or the Globe's stories. He was complaining about the potential high cost of Skype with UBB imposed. Find him.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:18
|
|
|
I just heard about Distrubtel ISP today. Called customer service (called, someone answered directly) and they said they're absorbing the cost of this UBB business for now. Cable 15Mbps/800kbps for $50/month. 10mbps for $43. DSL price in line with Acanac and TekSavvy. They say they're absorbing costs for now, but it's only been a week since the decision.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:19
|
|
|
The idea of these "skype will be more expensive now" stories ALMOST seems sort of disingenuous, or at least off the mark. If the spouse in question had a lovely 25gb cap then the ISP could have just cut her off altogether since she was technically going over her allocation. The fact that she's going to have to pay more now is valid, but before she was running the risk of just being cut off entirely. So her story really would be more of a "hey, ISPs are charging too much for low bitcaps" which is a good complaint but it's not really focused on UBB. I know the idea of bitcaps and UBB are so closely entwined that you can't really rail against one without seemingly railing against the other, but are we complaining about the excessive price of overlimit bandwidth or are we complaining about lovely low bitcaps. Both are valid complaints, but I can't help but feel that the message is getting muddled. It's something that's kind of bothered me from day one of this UBB thing. I'm having a lot of trouble articulating what I'm trying to say so hopefully someone can follow where I'm trying to take this.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:36
|
|
|
The fact remains that anyone in the Canadian Forces complaining about their families paying double or triple to stay in touch will have the PMO kill this tomorrow.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:42
|
|
|
Oh I don't doubt the effects, and I want this as dead as everyone else so I wouldn't cry if they went with this angle, but I'm trying to bring some attention to the fact that I think there are two valid complaints to be made, and they're getting really confused with each other. 1. There is a problem because Canadian ISPs give us lovely unrealistic bitcaps 2. ISPs are using UBB to charge Canadians unfair prices for overage, compared to what it costs to deliver that overage service. I mean if I had to pay a penny per gig delivered like the ISP does I wouldn't even be batting an eye right now. Hell, five cents even. Again, I'm not trying to take a stand for UBB or anything, and I still don't think I'm articulating it properly. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Feb 2, 2011 |
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:45
|
|
|
To be honest I hope the line between lovely caps and UBB gets blurred to the point that they not only reverse UBB but force ISPs to either abolish caps, or charge the actual cost of bandwidth (~ $0.12/GB).
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 20:10 |
|
|
Stanley Pain posted:To be honest I hope the line between lovely caps and UBB gets blurred to the point that they not only reverse UBB but force ISPs to either abolish caps, or charge the actual cost of bandwidth (~ $0.12/GB). Didn't Netflix say the actual cost of bandwidth to the home was a penny per gigabyte?
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2011 03:59
|
|