net neutrality – rgbFilter

Usage based billing debates are wrong… and here’s why

February 3, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, Jean-François Mezei, legal, net neutrality, Primus, Tony Clement, UBB, Usage Based Billing8 Comments

[Ed Note: this article was updated with new information] The Canadian government has once again promised to overturn a CRTC decision if the CRTC doesn’t do so itself. This time around, it’s the the contentious Usage Based Billing ruling that would have crippled 3rd party ISPs from differentiating themselves in the marketplace. It’s rare for the government to step into CRTC affairs, but with the UBB issue growing in public awareness and a deadline looming less than a month away, they’ve pulled out the big guns. After all, it was…

What the CRTC taketh, the CRTC giveth (to Bell)

November 3, 2010November 12, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, net neutrality, Teksavvy, throttling, UBB, Usage Based Billing2 Comments

It was only two months ago that the CRTC made a surprisingly positive ruling in helping innovation in the Canadian internet marketplace, though I was somewhat skeptical. In August they announced that incumbent DSL and cable providers, aka the big guys (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Videotron), had to provide 3rd party ISPs with access to their networks, at a price level of 10% above cost. Part of this reasoning was in the ruling itself… Agreed that a duopoly of telephone and cable retail Internet access services is insufficient, and that…

Canadian telcos to share high speed networks with 3rd party providers

September 1, 2010August 31, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, ISP, net neutrality, ruling, Teksavvy, Telus2 Comments

Back in 2008, the CRTC ruled that internet wholesalers should have fair access to higher speed data networks controlled by incumbents such as Bell and Telus. Partly due to growth in high speed cable internet, the incumbent telcos haves have been resisting providing the high speed access to 3rd party wholesalers, to maintain a competitive edge with their cable counterparts. The original 2008 ruling was challenged and sent to federal cabinet, which sent it back to the CRTC. On Monday, the CRTC reaffirmed its position, which with means independents will…

CRTC decision already having effect?

October 26, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, net neutrality, throttling7 Comments

Last week, the CRTC released it’s initial net neutrality decision, which was quickly followed by a wide range of opinions, from pie-in-the-sky to “The sky is falling“. More reasonable responses suggested that the ruling wasn’t bad, and the head of a 3rd party ISP or two even said it was pretty good overall, with some problems. That being said, one of the major issues was bandwidth throttling, and there were guidelines put in place that would restrict how and when ISPs could do so. Less than a week after the…

The Canadian Broadband Wars Heat Up

September 24, 2009September 24, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, broadband, CRTC, net neutrality, online rights, Telus2 Comments

A new initiative was recently launched to battle the CRTC rulings regarding Bell and Telus and access to network infrastructure. Competitivebroadband.com, which is comprised of a wide range of independent ISPs and coalitions, is aiming squarely at making the consumer aware of, and getting them involved with, the proceedings. From their mission statement… Following the decision by the CRTC, which was released on 11 December 2008, MTS Allstream decided to petition the federal Cabinet, which has the power to reverse this decision. Others have also made their views known in…

Net Neutrality In Canada: An Update

July 14, 2009July 14, 2009 Doug Groves CRTC, net neutrality, throttling0 comment

Last week, the CRTC began conducting its hearing into the status of a number of issues facing Canada’s digital future, not the least of which is throttling practices. Since it’s launch just about all the major players, from telecoms to creative associations and private individuals have all had their say. There’s still at least one more day to go as we all await to hear from Bell (who’s 3rd party throttling helped propel the issue to the forefront), but in the past week there’s been some interesting stances, as well…

Net Neutrality Perfect Storm, eh! – Updated

March 31, 2008July 9, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, net neutrality86 Comments

For some time, net neutrality has been below the radar for most Canadians. Sure, we’ve read about what’s going on in the US, but many of the regulations governing internet backbones and content delivery are different up here. For example, Canadian law charges a piracy tax on writeable media such as CDs, to offset piracy. In the past couple of weeks we’ve seen a perfect storm brewing regarding net neutrality in our home and native land. Here’s a quick breakdown… Bell Canada is required to sell DSL lines wholesale to…