Slashdot Mirror
CTRC Orders Big ISPs To Provide Matching Speeds For Resellers
Meshach writes "In Canada there has been a regulatory decision rendered by the CRTC ordering ISPs to provide the same speed to resellers as they do for their own customers. 'Smaller internet providers such as Teksavvy and Execulink had argued that without requirements to offer matching speeds, the big companies would put them out of business. Bell and Telus are selling internet connections of up to 25 and 15 megabits per second respectively over newer fibre-based networks, but smaller providers can typically offer speeds of no more than five megabits per second over older copper-based infrastructure. After holding a public hearing earlier this year, the CRTC now says it will allow phone companies to charge smaller providers an extra 10-per-cent mark-up to use their newer infrastructure in order to recoup the costs of their investments. The regulator also said it would require cable companies to modify their existing internet access services to make it easier for smaller, "alternative" providers to connect to them.'"
The CRTC did something reasonable for a change! Woo!
That's a step in the right direction, however the lines are still owned by the monopolies, and they still set the base prices.
The summary left out the "up to..." with regard to speeds.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
For those foreign readers one must realize that in Canada we have very little competition in that the competitors don't really try and compete. I doubt they conspire but they just like things as they are. With each other cut throat is just not in their nature. But for newcomers cut throat does not even begin to describe the environment. The cards have been traditionally stacked against anyone new. If a newcomer does somehow make it then they are usually bought out by one of the monsters.
But there has been a sea change. The CRTC(our FCC) that seems to have supported this anti consumer situation is no longer friends with the government and thus the big players have lost their biggest weapon to stop annoying things like pro-consumer companies. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Interestingly enough this is not part of an anti-big-business campaign like the Democrats in the US but a pro level playing fields campaign.
If the government continues on this path we might have a chance to have one of the greatest internet systems at low cost that is found on earth. As a heavy user of this sort of technology I can't wait.
CTRC should read CRTC..messed up banner
when in doubt press enter and we'll figure it out later..
If only they would do that here. There's a local ISP here called Cloud 9 Internet which has EXCELLENT service. I'd much rather use them. However I'm forced to deal with Verizon (who don't even know how to route a CIDR block to me) to get my 35Mbps symmetric connection. It' infuriating.
This is separate from the 60GB UBB cap. So now you can run into a wall faster.
That will surely result in cheaper access for everyone!
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
what!? (fist pound ala shawn spencer..)
As an employee of a local ISP providing DSL on Qwest lines, I'd like to take a moment to ask the FCC to take a similar course of action here in the US.
Maybe it's just me, but if you're using copper lines, you're hopelessly outdated and deserve to be kicked out of the market, like horse carriages and floppy disks.
They should rule against Bell Canada for pretending to have fiber services with their DSL "Fibe" network
I don't know about you guys, I'm on the high/highest end internet connection and have been for the last 10 years. Over that time my bandwidth has increased about 6X down and 16X up for roughly the same price. So 10% premium is roughly 10 years to recoup costs but will they really be able to sell there 25Mbps connection for anything like the same price 10 years from now? It will be the discount bin $20/mth "highspeed" by then. That is the problem, network gear lasts a bit longer than servers but I'd say its half life is less than 10 years now.
I'm not sure on the government subsidies, haven't heard of them but it doesn't mean they didn't exist. The problem is if the government said something like "it doesn't make sense to wire the country, but if you do it we'll help so that it will give you a good profit" and I went out and wired the country I would expect to own that stuff I just laid. Similar to a subsidy on purchasing a car say, once I bought the car I claim the subsidy, but I still expect to own the car. I don't want the government to come next year and say "we are starting a carpool and you need to lend your car for 5 hrs a day since we helped pay for it".
For comparison to those outside of Canada:
My current ISP is Rogers Inc and I'm using their 15mbit/1mbit package which costs about $54 and comes with about 90GB cap (that's not a misprint).
Since I'm a heavy user, I always end up using upwards of 300gb/month, which they charge extra for. My total monthly bill is always $102.
Now, I can get the same speed service with NO bandwidth cap from "Montreal-DSL" for $54 flat. The two big ISP's Rogers and Bell will now be losing half of the money I was giving to them each month just for being total dicks, and I'm calling to start the switch over tomorrow morning.
The magical number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
You just forced 3rd party ISP's to charge more for their services then Bell customers for the same service. At first I was happy that you forced Bell to offer resellers the same speeds that Bell customers can get, but now I am just aware you approved a way for Bell to maintain their monopoly by charging more for their reseller lines forcing 3rd party ISP users to want to switch to Bell.
The CRTC stands for "Canadian Repressed Technology Committee" and the CRTC is responsible for keeping Canada at least 10 years behind other countries for services and cost of services.
Just to clarify something from the summary....Bell does not over fibre internet, they offer "fibe" which is DSL in disguise. I signed up for it when they said the 8,12 and 16Mbps packages were available but canceled the same day when the tech told him his connection would not do more then 5Mbps as I was too far from the central office. Watching the tech install it also, they installed DSL filters on the phone lines and gave me a DSL modem even after I specifically asked if they run fibre to the house before signing up. I then asked the tech where the fibre line was, and the tech laughed saying they don't do that even though that's what they explained to me on the phone ( I was very specific making sure my lawn wouldn't be too affected). If the CRTC was still a valid entity, they could prevent Bell from taking advantage of their less technical customers. I wonder how many ppl are using this "fibe" right now not realizing it is just the same slow DSL?