(Feb. 01, 2011 10:53 PM)|Joe| Wrote: [ -> ]Your image didn't work Bey-Heart
Works fine for me. Try the link I added in the post.
It seems Canada may not have the developed world's worst internet. Due to an hugely negative response to a CRTC ruling that would make all but one DSL ISP in Eastern Canada enforce a bandwith cap (an online petition has raised over 250k signatures), and the double whammy of the potential spring elections has gotten all Canadian political parties very much interested in this matter. So much so that it appears the government will issue a report on the ruling that saw the Bell complain to the CRTC that companies who leased their phone lines (which actually were paid for by Canadian citizens via government funding) were charging too little for too much compared to what they were, and thus Bell saw it fit to tell the CRTC they should match their plans. Any logical person would fail to see the sense in that, since in a fair market, Bell should just match their competitors prices.
You foreigners may wonder how this was even possible to begin with. Well, the CRTC is a governing body over telecommunications industry in Canada whom are meant to protect the interests of the Canadian consumer. The problem is, the CRTC has had strong links to the various telecommunications companies in Canada, such as various members being former employees, or stock holders in the likes of Bell and Rogers. A huge conflict of interest that would be revealed had news of these dealings been made public, on say the television, or newspapers. Problem is, all of Canada's mainstream media outlets are owned by these telecommunication companies (the CBC is too afraid to talk since it would likely affect their funding, so I'm ignoring them), so suffice to say this issue wasn't one brought to the forefront of Canadian news.
Why doesn't another company come in and set up their own service in Canada, and take away customers from Bell, and Rogers if it's that bad? They simply can't, the CRTC won't allow a foreign company to set up shop in Canada. What about a home grown new alternative? Can't happen either thanks to the size of Canada and the costs it would bring. Even if a company were to try (and there actually is a tiny company trying to) to break through, there is a high likelihood that the big four would create new brands created with the sole purpose to destroy these upstarts like they do in the mobile space (see Wind Mobile vs. Chattr/Rogers). The government realizes this, and started to help pay for the production of phone lines and the such. In Canada, something like 90% of all the telecommunication lines (both telephone, and cable) are owned by Bell, Rogers, Shaw, and Telus (the other 10% is broken by the few provincial run service providers, and some really tiny indies - these 4 all have similar plans and deals as a part of their attacks). The thing is, like I mentioned before, Canadian citizens actually paid for the creation of these lines in return for the big 4 to lease these lines to smaller companies for a form of competition. This brings us back to the beginning. Bell complained to the CRTC that these leasing companies were creating too good of deals (Rogers also complained, and their decision was to be handed down in the summer) and thus wanted the companies to pay more for leasing, and start matching Bell's plans. All of Bell's plans have bandwith caps, and not only that, their fees for each GB after the cap is a huge mark up over their actual costs on the transfer (transfer of 1GB of data costs less than a cent, but Bell will charge you $2 a GB after you've reached your cap). Naturally, as this crippled internet service in Canada, there was a backlash, one that included 250,000 signatures (so far), an appeal to the CRTC's decision, and a government issued review.
I happen to use a Bell reseller, and because of the CRTC's decision my current plan, which costs my family $20 a month for unlimited data transfers would become $30/month for 25GB of data transfers. So not only would my family pay more per month, we would actually get considerably less, as 25GB isn't going to last a family a month.
Assuming this does get destroyed it will be a very important moment in Canada's history, since it would likely spark an entire reform of the CRTC, and hopefully a review of the other services these companies provide (like celluar, welcome to the highest billed cell-phone country in the world). If it doesn't get destroyed this is the beginning of the regression of Canada from the technological world. It would cripple services like Netflix (funny story about Netflix, on the day it launched in Canada Rogers lowered all their caps as an obvious attempt to deter people from using it, and instead using their VOD service), and cause companies to flee from this country.
I'm actually not against usage based billing, but I'm against it when it is used in conjuction with a fixed rate and the data transfers are sold no where near their actual cost. I'd sign up for a service that would be 5 cents for 2GB (which would still actually make money for Bell and friends), but that would never happen.
Bell's logic for implementing caps is that there are too many people putting stress on their infrastructure. Bell later went on to say Canadian's use an average of 16GB a month. How is that putting a stress on your infrastructure? Either their lying and want money (what a twist), or are the most poorly run company in Canada. I kind of doubt the last one since the company posts hundreds of millions of dollars in profit every quarter, and isn't the only one supporting a mix of UBB and fixed rates.
/wall of text
//I know there's some political stuff in there, but it's more pointed towards the actions of the telecoms, and I don't really think this would spark a debate.
Sorry. I did not get who the CRTC is.
(Feb. 02, 2011 12:22 AM)caststarman Wrote: [ -> ] Sorry. I did not get who the CRTC is.
Yeah, sorry about any confusion over the clarity of my writting. The CRTC, short for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission monitors the actions of the cable/telephone companies, and media companies to keep the interests of Canadian citizens in check. I try to explain it in the second paragraph.
Sounds a bit like what just happened in Philadelphia. PECo (Philadelphia Energy Company) used to have a monopoly over the energy industry in Philadelphia, but the mayor just banned monopolies and now a bunch of smaller energy industries are going around trying to get people to buy their services instead of PECo.
(Jan. 31, 2011 8:27 PM)SK Wrote: [ -> ] (Jan. 31, 2011 6:15 PM)JÆMS Wrote: [ -> ] (Jan. 31, 2011 4:44 PM)SK Wrote: [ -> ]who are you to try to decide what he posts again? he didn't break any rules
By the way, in tone, what Thresher wrote was a compliment and I assume some happiness due to the lolpics that were posted by To.
Oh, i guess i took it the wrong way then
I'm not trying to decide what he posts. I was interester in where he got those amazingly awful pictures. I find the random stuff To posts intresting. BTW What do you mean by "again"?
I'm thinking every thread I make from now on should contain no information at all. It appears to increase traffic 3x my current style, and saves a bunch of searching, and typing on my end.
I know it's simply the stuff I choose to write about, not how I write it.
This is actually CRTC separate, since I honestly didn't expect anyone to read that, and only used that as a vessel to vent and attempt a thought provoking conversation.
SNOWSTORM!!!!!
snows blowin hard here in Newmarket. Grad Photos were supposed to be today, but because the buses are cancelled, the photos are rescheduled.
i guess I could go to school if i wanted though, because my school never has snow days :/
OMG I hope the Queenslanders are gonna be alright after Cyclone Yassie. Cyclone Tracy was 55km wide. The eye alone of Yassie is 75km wide with winds going at over 300kph. It'll hit soon. You guys hang in there! ãŒã‚“ã°ã£ã¦â€¼ Y'all are in my prayers tonight.
An historic event occured today - a snow day in Toronto.
^ ya, its snowing here to.
it must be really cold; i filled my carpy Super Vortex Stadium with water and put next to the door outside, ~10min later its frozen :/
schools wont close though :/
Stupid snow day. I wanted to go to school.
Snowing here too. Saddly, school is still up to it.
How sad.
(Feb. 02, 2011 2:12 PM)Daegor42 Wrote: [ -> ]I wanted to go to school.
Seriously, why are people so happy to get a day off? I'd much rather be in school right now.
(Feb. 02, 2011 2:50 PM)Daegor42 Wrote: [ -> ]Seriously, why are people so happy to get a day off? I'd much rather be in school right now.
It is because people prefer to stay in bed on a cold weather (like myself) and not have to get up and walk out of the house, otherwise others want to go out and play with their friends in the snow all day; I say have days off while you can because when you get to Uni you may not want to miss a seminar (even if you don't want to go in).
What a weak sauce storm. I swear we've still had school on days with worse storms.
this should go here as i am not talking about video games
so i got some games for my computer and my dvd?/cd drive says "disc not found" whenever i put the game in, its so frustrating, i want to play those games so bad
(Feb. 02, 2011 6:25 PM)lord Wolfblade Wrote: [ -> ]so i got some games for my computer and my dvd?/cd drive says "disc not found" whenever i put the game in, its so frustrating, i want to play those games so bad
That's computer gaming, for ya.
Enjoy not being able to play your games, pal.
(Feb. 02, 2011 2:50 PM)Daegor42 Wrote: [ -> ] (Feb. 02, 2011 2:12 PM)Daegor42 Wrote: [ -> ]I wanted to go to school.
Seriously, why are people so happy to get a day off? I'd much rather be in school right now.
Even if you have a head of year that wants to stab you and blame you for WW2.
I hate secondary school.
I wish it would snow in Oregon. It was really cold yesterday, but no snow. It always rains here, but no snow. I always want it to snow, but no snow. Get where I'm going here?
Well I got my new classes today. I'm pretty happy. I got some friends I know in my Gate way to tech. class. And my 6th period is P.E. I have ALOT of friends in that class to. Usually there are two P.E. classes for 8th grade, but 6th period doesn't have that. Almost all the guys know eachother. And a few of them play YGO.
Those are my random thoughts today (so far)
Man have I done alot of typing today!
(Feb. 03, 2011 1:22 AM)Nano Wrote: [ -> ]Well I got my new classes today. I'm pretty happy. I got some friends I know in my Gate way to tech. class. And my 6th period is P.E. I have ALOT of friends in that class to. Usually there are two P.E. classes for 8th grade, but 6th period doesn't have that. Almost all the guys know eachother. And a few of them play YGO.
Your only in 8th grade? Hah, i'm in 9th. I sorta get what you mean. Here in Maryland, we used to just get cold rain. No snow. Now, it snows quit a bit! Atleast enough to get off school a few times a year.
How are you in 8th grade and not 9th when we are the same age? Also, what happened to your Avatar? It's red! I think you have a whole folder on your computer full of that same exact Avatar but in different colors... XD
Haruhi Suzumiya added an SOS Brigade notice this post. (Feb 02 2011 07:31 PM)
The Haruhi Suzumiya movie comes out this spring!! (Can I get warned for this?)
HOLY...youtube was hacked haha: copy and pasted
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A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.
If you see them, show them this information:
Kai-V is being mean to me! She won't give me my face. Even though I have over 1000 post (some are SPAM and I know that, but I made up with having 50+ post).
Who thinks Kai-V should post her pic in the Pictures of yourself thread? I bet everyone wants her to!
