Stanley Pain posted:

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.

quote:

Les fournisseurs internet viennent juste de devenir agence de collection pour les monopoles, selon Teksavvy, un fournisseur internet qui est maintenant obligé de réduire le service qu’ils peuvent offrir à leurs clients. Ce 25 janvier, la CRTC a accordé à Bell Canada de droit d’imposer un tarif. Dès février, tout excès du montant de giga-octets (go) accordés chaque mois seront facturés à $2.50 par go. Selon Teksavvy, le coutant d’envoyer ce giga serait, au max, 3 cents. Ceci donne à Bell plus de 5000% de profits, que tout fournisseur d’internet doit maintenant charger à leurs clients pour ensuite donner à Bell. Pire encore, les frais supplémentaires sont moins cher en Ontario qu’au Québec, les québécois payant 2.5x le montant des ontariens.

Ceci est un désastre pour tous utilisateurs d’internet, garantissant une augmentation de facture dans la majorité des cas. Il est très facile de dépasser les maximums qui s’imposeront le mois prochain. Un film en HD prend entre 4 et 6 go, et un épisode de télé peut en prendre 1.5. Deux ou trois jeux PC à travers le service Steam peuvent totaliser plus de 30go. Rien que 30 minutes en HD sur YouTube chaque jour utilise plus de 30go en un mois.

Alors pourquoi l’intérêt soudain? La réponse est Netflix Canada, un service permettant l’écoute de films et séries télés en ligne, qui est très populaire aux États-Unis. Bell, qui est maintenant propriétaire de CTV et qui revend le service télé satellite, a décidé que le meilleur moyen d’éviter l’annulation de services télé est de rendre le service télé en ligne trop cher pour les consommateurs, et de forcer les autres fournisseurs d’internet de le faire aussi à travers cette décision. Que la CRTC puisse ignorer ce conflit d’intérêt flagrant semble difficile à croire, avant de réaliser que certains de ses membres sont d’anciens employés de chez Bell.

Trois solutions possibles existent qui éviteront que notre internet deviennent dépasser par les services offert au pays du tiers-monde : 1. Élimination de la CRTC, la remplaçant par une organisation qui répond directement au parlement, remplis de membres qui n’approuveront pas ces demandes anti-compétitives faites par Bell et d’autres monopoles. 2 : La création d’une corporation couronne au Québec, semblable à Sasktel en Saskatchewan, qui a promis de continuer à fournir les citoyens de la Saskatchewan avec un service internet sans limites à des prix abordables. 3. L’adoption d’un système semblable au Japon, où NT&T, la compagnie qui posséda l’infrastructure téléphonique, a été séparé en plus petites compagnies en concurrence. Ils furent aussi obligé de revendre le service à d’autres compétiteurs à de bas prix. Cette décision qui força la competition a donné aux japonais un service internet de 160 mégabits par seconde pour $60 par mois, vitesse impossible à obtenir aux résidences canadiens.

Hirez posted:

*I don't know the calculation off-hand, but I think it's something like that? Someone who knows what they're doing should probably give an accurate figure if you go with this

Parachute Underwear posted:

"Per gigahertz cap"

- dude from the CRTC

Parachute Underwear posted:

- Figuring Bell/Rogers would do the responsible thing and overhaul their networks rather than filling their pockets (maybe if they got a mandate, but otherwise? gently caress no)

asmallrabbit posted:

I posted something similar in the other thread but basically, we need somone who actually knows what they are talking about to represent the general public. It's pretty clear that these guys are horribly misinformed or just don't have a clue when it comes to the internet and issues like these.

Dudebro posted:

Unlimited internet has been shown to work in other countries with way more population density than Canada. It is not some kind of fantasy world.

Dudebro posted:

Yeah but if you have a higher density then there's more chance for congestion. Are they constantly overcongested in those high-density broadband-minded countries?

Sashimi posted:

Haven't the Japanese been doing most of their internet usage on phones for quite a few years now, by which I mean long before smartphones became all the rage over here. This of course would place much less stress on their land based broadband infrastructure compared to other nations.

Powershift posted:

If anybody has the bandwidth to spare after streaming the questioning earlier, here's an interview with tony clement from tonight. http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Politics/1244504890/ID=1779426903

less than three posted:

EST.

George Burger and the dude from Vaxination are part of the panel this time.

http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/ParlVu/ContentEntityDetailView.aspx?ContentEntityId=7272

TrueChaos posted:

Is there any way to switch away from bell and maintain the @sympatico email address? My parents would love to switch, but my mom is consulting and uses the @sympatico email address for work, which is currently preventing them from switching.

Scaramouche posted:

Null Set posted:

Global has the most recent House episodes up for streaming on their site.

StealthArcher posted:

What exactly is the legality of this? I'm assuming it fits a loophole as they're a registered business and all.

TrueChaos posted:

In the same situation, and I haven't been able to find anything concrete on how long the sympatico email will hang around for. If you get a concrete answer on that from anywhere, could you post it here?

thexerox123 posted:

Are you getting DSL, or Cable? Because it probably wasn't a TekSavvy technician who hosed things up for you, since they usually have to send out a technician from whichever company runs the lines that you need to use.

Lone Rogue posted:

You will probably get a credit on your account for the errors. No idea how much, that really has to do with how you treated the CSRs on the phone and how you speak to the supervisor. As for the errors, I know some people might find this totally stupid, but people should always call and check up on their orders and confirm all details with the CSR. Mistakes happen and it's best to catch them early.

I just sent you a PM if you want me to follow your account from now on until it gets properly processed.

EDIT: Ah, so you did make calls. Unless you had an absent minded CSR every time, it sounds like it might have been Bell's fault.

Migishu posted:

So apparently I'm unable to get DSL2 in my area, but about 4 or 5 blocks from me, my friend is. I'm in downtown Montreal (the Pepsi Forum at Atwater), she's down near the Atwater Market.

What the gently caress? Is there a way to find out which areas have been updated to DSL2?

Lone Rogue posted:

I'm trying not to post as much as I once did, but there's going to be changes within Teksavvy pricing in the very near future.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r26720225-TekSavvy-pricing-update

If you have any questions, I'll answer them as I get more information myself.

The Gunslinger posted:

It's too bad things like Steam don't have that functionality yet.

priznat posted:

It varies on a video to video basis if they have CC/subtitles. Most don't seem to have it in my experience, though.

Masako posted:

Just moved from Vancouver to Montreal and signed up with Teksavvy Ultimate Cable 30. It's April 22nd, and they may not be able to get me up and running until May 9th? They said Videotron has a huge backlog. This seems insane to me. I work from home and now have to pick up a usb internet stick in the mean time I guess. I'm trying to support the little guy, but sometimes it's tough.

iv46vi posted:

Canadian Netflix: 870 titles http://instantwatcher.com/genres/523
Netflix: 14110 titles http://instantwatcher.com/titles/all?canada_filter=0