Internet Usage Limit Enforced in Ontario

UBB or Usage Based Billing has finally been passed and will come into effect on March 1, 2011. This is absolutely horrible news for anyone who uses the internet as most will have usage capped to around the 25GB mark and pay for any additional usage. What is more devastating is the fact that online services like Steam and Netflix will no longer be a viable option as downloading a single game or watching one HD movie will now eat up a majority of your monthly allowance. Consumers are going to pay a lot more of the same level of service. More likely to happen is the fact that many users will simply start budgeting internet usage avoiding access to newer and more future friendly services (ie. buying games through Steam instead of purchasing a hard copy). We are turning back the clock and wasting a ton of money for what should be considered a basic service. For more info on UBB and what we can do to stop it, please visit here. (Update: February 1, 2011) This Usage Based Billing was approved by the CRTC or Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The CRTC has set overage rates to $1.90/GB after you hit the 25GB per month limit, unless you live in Quebec, where the overage charge is $2.35 per GB over the limit. Clearly the ony one who is getting anything is the ISP, who will line their pockets even more if the UBB is not overturned. If you would like to sign a petition to stop the UBB you can visit stopthemeter.ca

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