Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

CRTC Approves Usage Based Billing In Canada

Posted by timothy on from the weigh-your-bits-at-the-counter dept.

qvatch writes with this from CBC News: "The CRTC has approved Bell Canada's request to bill Internet customers, both retail and wholesale, based on how much they download each month. The plan, known as usage-based billing, will apply to people who buy their Internet connection from Bell, or from smaller service providers that rent lines from the company, such as Teksavvy or Acanac. ... Customers using the fastest connections of five megabits per second, for example, will have a monthly allotment of 60 gigabytes, beyond which Bell will charge $1.12 per GB to a maximum of $22.50. If a customer uses more than 300 GB a month, Bell will also be able to implement an additional charge of 75 cents per gigabyte."

3 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. Re:People are going to whine and bitch, but... by cowwoc2001 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You're wrong. If Bell was a utility then it would sell the infrastructure, not the service. Bell sells its internet service at the same cost as its competitors, but then turns around and says "If you order extra services, your internet bill will drop by $10/month". This gives them an unfair advantage over smaller companies.

    Bell should be split into two companies: one providing infrastructure and one selling services on that infrastructure. Bundling should not be allowed.

  2. Good concept, bad rates by davidwr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What it is:

    1st bit = $X, presumably $CAN
    2nd bit through 60GB = free
    60GB - 80GB = $1.12/GB
    80GB-300GB = free
    300GB+ = $0.75/GB

    What it should be:
    First bit = $X
    2nd bit through 60GB = free
    Each GB thereafter = less than $X/60.

    In other words: consistent per-GB charge with a monthly minimum and possibly a small fixed charge, meaning your initial allowance per-GB cost is more than your per-GB cost for usage beyond your allowance.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  3. Re:Got it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you look at bandwidth costs at most hosting facilities in North America it costs about $0.10/GB. The hosting providers undoubtedly make a nice profit selling bandwidth which means Bell Canada is charging over an order of magnitude more than the service costs. They also have no incentive to reduce the price.