Canadians can't stand going without coffee. Even worse? Not having a team in the FIFA World Cup event for 2014. Absolutely unthinkable, say eight of ten Canadians.
But you know what they really hate? Metered Internet pricing, or Usage Based Billing (UBB) as they call it—letting the dominant Internet Service Providers charge broadband subscribers and smaller competitive ISPs by the quantity of data use.
That's a practice that the government regulator, the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), approved for Bell Canada in September. YouTube is now the place that Canadians go to vent their rage over the decision. Warning: Canadian-style expletive fest in T minus two seconds:
"Hi. I've been hearing a lot about this UBB thing," begins the video commentary of an at first glance mild mannered college student. "And frankly, it's f**king bulls**t!!"
"You can't charge us for using the Interne—" the young lady continues, then loses her composure. "Like, oh my God. I don't know how to say this," she claims, while clenching her fist.
Oh yes she does, it turns out.
"F**king... money... grubbing... a**holes are just f**king trying to put their hand in your pocket one more time!!!"
A free hand
The CRTC has heard from the public on the issue, and today it made a small change to help indie ISPs compete on pricing plans. (Some smaller ISPs want to differentiate themselves by offering flat-rate, unlimited Internet, but since the big ISPs can now impose UBB on the small ISPs, this is more difficult.)
The CRTC "received a large number of public comments, generally opposing UBB," the agency drily acknowledged on Tuesday. And so, to show what good listeners its Commissioners are, the agency has granted indie ISPs who buy broadband wholesale from the big networks a 15 percent discount on the metered rate that the big guys charge consumers.