• ISP's in Canada are struggling

    From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Al on Sat Apr 17 18:38:00 2021
    Hello Al!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 10:37, Al wrote to Vk3jed:

    ISP's in Canada are struggling now with who owns what and
    just what the cost of telecommunications should be. I hope
    it'll all shake out in a workable way for the guy at the end
    of the wire.

    What's the news on the struggle?

    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal of
    automatic overbilling after an established data quota was
    reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply throttle
    data users down, and promote data "unlimited".

    The three major players are doing that. The player' "discount"
    versions of their services (Chatr, Lucky, Public) do that too.

    But what would be nicer is lower prices overall. Topping-up
    with 200MB for $5 at a time is robbery.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Al@21:4/106.1 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 16:08:19 2021
    Re: ISP's in Canada are struggling
    By: Ogg to Al on Sat Apr 17 2021 07:38 pm

    ISP's in Canada are struggling now with who owns what and
    just what the cost of telecommunications should be. I hope
    it'll all shake out in a workable way for the guy at the end
    of the wire.

    What's the news on the struggle?

    Several newer upstart ISPs like mine, Teksavvy want to offer a lower cost internet service. Teksavvy gets their internet service from either Shaw or Telus here in the west and I think Bell and Rogers are also at play in the east.

    The big outfits of course want to keep prices high and keep these new upstarts from getting any kind of foothold in the marketplace.

    It's more complex than that but that's the gist of it.

    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal of
    automatic overbilling after an established data quota was
    reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply throttle
    data users down, and promote data "unlimited".

    Is that mobile data you speak of? I'm not a big consumer of mobile data so I'm not up on what is happening around that these days.

    The three major players are doing that. The player' "discount"
    versions of their services (Chatr, Lucky, Public) do that too.

    But what would be nicer is lower prices overall. Topping-up
    with 200MB for $5 at a time is robbery.

    Yes, it is. We need to get that out of the mix also.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    ... As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Al on Sat Apr 17 19:18:00 2021
    Hello Al!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 17:08, Al wrote to Ogg:

    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal
    of automatic overbilling after an established data quota
    was reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply
    throttle data users down, and promote data "unlimited".

    Is that mobile data you speak of? I'm not a big consumer of
    mobile data so I'm not up on what is happening around that
    these days.

    I've heard it applies to the hardwired domestic customers too.
    From what I've read, not all packages are truly unlimited at
    full speed. In the not too distant past, after a monthly quota
    was reached, either the service would stop or only provide
    sufficient speed to get mail. The satellite version for internet
    was/is notorious for that.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Al@21:4/106.1 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 17:08:10 2021
    Re: ISP's in Canada are struggling
    By: Ogg to Al on Sat Apr 17 2021 08:18 pm

    I've heard it applies to the hardwired domestic customers too.
    From what I've read, not all packages are truly unlimited at
    full speed. In the not too distant past, after a monthly quota
    was reached, either the service would stop or only provide
    sufficient speed to get mail. The satellite version for internet
    was/is notorious for that.

    My past Shaw and Telus accounts both had limits but I never reached them most of the time. One month I was trying out different distributions and went over the limit. I got an email that said there would be extra charges but I was never charged.

    My current account with Teksavvy is unlimited but generally speaking I am not a big consumer of bytes. If I look at my teksavvy account page the usage says 0, so I don't think they even track my usage.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    ... Scotty, beam me to the Bahamas.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Ogg on Mon Apr 19 06:16:00 2021
    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal of
    automatic overbilling after an established data quota was reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply throttle data users
    down, and promote data "unlimited".

    That used to be the default MO for ISP's here. Some time back now, might be as long as 5 years ago, they changed that to full boar and charge while you can. If you complained about the extra charges they'd offer throttled speeds.
    Sneaky little so and so's

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Al on Sat Apr 17 19:38:00 2021
    Hello Al!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 10:37, Al wrote to Vk3jed:

    ISP's in Canada are struggling now with who owns what and
    just what the cost of telecommunications should be. I hope
    it'll all shake out in a workable way for the guy at the end
    of the wire.

    What's the news on the struggle?

    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal of
    automatic overbilling after an established data quota was
    reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply throttle
    data users down, and promote data "unlimited".

    The three major players are doing that. The player' "discount"
    versions of their services (Chatr, Lucky, Public) do that too.

    But what would be nicer is lower prices overall. Topping-up
    with 200MB for $5 at a time is robbery.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Al@21:4/106.1 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 17:08:18 2021
    Re: ISP's in Canada are struggling
    By: Ogg to Al on Sat Apr 17 2021 07:38 pm

    ISP's in Canada are struggling now with who owns what and
    just what the cost of telecommunications should be. I hope
    it'll all shake out in a workable way for the guy at the end
    of the wire.

    What's the news on the struggle?

    Several newer upstart ISPs like mine, Teksavvy want to offer a lower cost internet service. Teksavvy gets their internet service from either Shaw or Telus here in the west and I think Bell and Rogers are also at play in the east.

    The big outfits of course want to keep prices high and keep these new upstarts from getting any kind of foothold in the marketplace.

    It's more complex than that but that's the gist of it.

    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal of
    automatic overbilling after an established data quota was
    reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply throttle
    data users down, and promote data "unlimited".

    Is that mobile data you speak of? I'm not a big consumer of mobile data so I'm not up on what is happening around that these days.

    The three major players are doing that. The player' "discount"
    versions of their services (Chatr, Lucky, Public) do that too.

    But what would be nicer is lower prices overall. Topping-up
    with 200MB for $5 at a time is robbery.

    Yes, it is. We need to get that out of the mix also.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    ... As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Al on Sat Apr 17 20:18:00 2021
    Hello Al!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 17:08, Al wrote to Ogg:

    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal
    of automatic overbilling after an established data quota
    was reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply
    throttle data users down, and promote data "unlimited".

    Is that mobile data you speak of? I'm not a big consumer of
    mobile data so I'm not up on what is happening around that
    these days.

    I've heard it applies to the hardwired domestic customers too.
    From what I've read, not all packages are truly unlimited at
    full speed. In the not too distant past, after a monthly quota
    was reached, either the service would stop or only provide
    sufficient speed to get mail. The satellite version for internet
    was/is notorious for that.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Al@21:4/106.1 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 18:08:10 2021
    Re: ISP's in Canada are struggling
    By: Ogg to Al on Sat Apr 17 2021 08:18 pm

    I've heard it applies to the hardwired domestic customers too.
    From what I've read, not all packages are truly unlimited at
    full speed. In the not too distant past, after a monthly quota
    was reached, either the service would stop or only provide
    sufficient speed to get mail. The satellite version for internet
    was/is notorious for that.

    My past Shaw and Telus accounts both had limits but I never reached them most of the time. One month I was trying out different distributions and went over the limit. I got an email that said there would be extra charges but I was never charged.

    My current account with Teksavvy is unlimited but generally speaking I am not a big consumer of bytes. If I look at my teksavvy account page the usage says 0, so I don't think they even track my usage.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    ... Scotty, beam me to the Bahamas.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Ogg on Mon Apr 19 07:16:00 2021
    The most recent thing that I learned about was the removal of
    automatic overbilling after an established data quota was reached. Instead, there emerged the approach to simply throttle data users
    down, and promote data "unlimited".

    That used to be the default MO for ISP's here. Some time back now, might be as long as 5 years ago, they changed that to full boar and charge while you can. If you complained about the extra charges they'd offer throttled speeds.
    Sneaky little so and so's

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)