Digital Home Thoughts: Expensive Internet is Expensive

"Charlie Angus, the NDP's digital affairs critic, said the telecommunications regulator's decision to allow usage-based internet billing won't just affect the so-called bandwidth hogs but could hit many Canadians financially."

Last year, the CRTC decided to approve Bell's proposal for Usage Based Billing for its wholesale customers. That decision also outlined what costs Bell could charge for customers who went above certain thresholds for usage. Independent ISPs cried foul. Some Internet users expressed outrage. Now it looks like politicians are getting into the foray. Personally, while I can understand the idea of UBB, I disagree with have it is going to be implemented. Bell is going to be able to charge on a per user basis instead of in aggregate to its wholesale customers. The charges are also extremely high.

The rates will punish those who make most use of the Internet and only serve to guarantee higher profit margins for what is in effect, a government enforced oligopoly. Sure, not everyone needs a terrabyte of data transfer (at least at present) but with people watching their meters, ideas like YouTube and Hulu would likely never have taken off. People might ignore updating their OS or programs because that uses up data. If you were stuck with a data transfer cap, what would you be willing to sacrifice?