Re: Canada gets first, bitter dose of metered Internet

On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 10:20 AM, Peter T. Chattaway
<petert-LOVM4QxV+tDq6eQxt3vRmLDks+cytr/[email protected]> wrote:
>> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars
>> 200GB to 25GB: Canada gets first, bitter dose of metered Internet
>
> FWIW, my cable provider (Shaw) currently gives me 70GB per month, and when I
> phoned them a few weeks ago to ask how much bandwidth we were using (after a
> couple months of Netflix streaming), I was told we had used something like
> 30GB in the previous 30 days -- so we're not even halfway to using up our
> bandwidth allotment.

I'm on Rogers Cable with 60GB/month.  I haven't used netflix yet and I
average around 40GB/month. My badwidth probably comes from watching TV
programs online at the official websites or downloading them via
bittorrent.  I rarely download movies via bittorrent as I prefer to
rent/buy and get better quality.  Bittorrent is essentially my VCR,
and I usually delete what I download.  The few times I've gone over my
60GB are when I've downloaded some purchased or free high quality
music or video (Radiohead), or when I started my online backups.

James & I have a system set up where my daily back-ups go to my server
in my house & his computer in Vancouver.  His back-ups do the same, as
do my parent's I think.  I'm guessing it uses around 10-20% of my
bandwidth, but when initially getting them started it pushed me over.

> Bell is our top telco?  Might be an Ontario thing; I'm not sure I've even
> heard of them out here.  Shaw and Telus are the two main cable providers in
> B.C., or at least they're the only ones who send me junk mail looking for my
> business.  (We already use Shaw for the internet, but we still get junk mail
> from them offering to give us TV and a phone line, as well.)

Bell is the largest due to Ontario (and I believe Quebec & eastern
Canada).  I'm not sure of all the history, but Telus is essentially
the Bell of the West (technology-wise).  They are separate companies,
but probably came across their relative geographical monopolies via
similar government regulations.  Generally I've head more positive
things about Telus than I've heard about Bell.

Rogers, Shaw, and Cogeco are the major cable providers in Canada,
along with Videotron in Quebec and a few regional providers.  Rogers,
Shaw, and Cogeco generally have some form of agreements not to operate
in each others regions.  Though some regions I know of have switched.

Jeremy

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