Usage-Based Internet Billing in Canada
The CRTC has decided that Canadians don't actually need to keep up with growing demands on the Internet, nor do we need competition or diversity in a supposedly-capitalistic market. Metered and capped Internet is fine with them, and one style of undifferentiated Internet service offered by two (three if you're lucky, sometimes just one) companies is plenty of competition. And I can see where they're coming from. After all, it's a lot easier for Canadians to walk into the Rogers store or the Bell store (Telus or Shaw for my friends in Western Canada) and say "I want Internet access" than it is to ask truly competing companies what makes their Internet access the best deal around.
For a little while, there actually was some choice in some areas. Smaller ISPs, like [TekSavvy][teksavvy], were actually offering what worked out to be a better deal, even if it was a little slower. They offered unlimited and unthrottled access to the Internet, which made their service substantially different from the services of any of their larger competitors. Users had a choice. Technically they still do, since ISPs who have been renting network space from larger ISPs since before 1 February 2007 are grandfathered in with their current unlimited access plans, but the CRTC's decision also allows larger ISPs to put economic pressure on companies renting their networks to switch away to metered usage plans. Eventually, a business decision will have to be made, and the pro-user decision will either see companies like TekSavvy go out of business or be forced to raise their rates so much that even loyal users will eventually have to switch to a cheaper provider.
If you hear an odd flushing noise, that's our hopes for a fair, open and neutral platform for Internet-based services going down the sewer pipe. You can complain to the CRTC here, or find more general contact information here. Submitting a comment online may be the easiest thing to do, but I encourage you all to submit your comments via normal postal mail. It shows more concern to take the time to do the (little) extra work to put a physical piece of paper in the mail.
