In case you don’t already know, there is a petition campaign type thing going around the internet about the internet companies in Canada wanting to put a “meter” on your computer to limit the amount of internet you use and charge you extra when you go over. This will all be per GB and MB or what ever they do, much like a data plan on a cell phone. The other thing to note it that it currently costs the providers roughly a penny, to send 1 GB of data to the consumer. So unless they are charging a penny, I’m not content with that.
Visit http://openmedia.ca/ for more information and resources that will let you know how you can help stop it.
Ok, now that you are informed about what this is essentially. It’s opinion time!
Canada is already so far behind in cool internet technology, services like Netflix (http://www.netflix.ca/) that allow you to stream movies from the internet for a monthly fee. Are doing great in the United States, and have recently come to Canada. But because of different copyright laws and most importantly the current “internet caps” that the service providers are giving. Most people aren’t able to use this service without it costing more than it is worth. The same will go with any online movie service.
The internet is becoming more powerful with what applications you can use on the internet. Putting a cap on the internet will also put a larger cap on the technology we can use.
- Google Docs, they can replace your Microsoft Office and all you need to do is open your browser.
- Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/), replaces the need to go out and buy PC games and keeps all of the data online. Unfortunately, you do need to download each game to install them. Each game could be over 5.0 GB.
- OnLive (http://www.onlive.com/), this is a really cool service where you can play all the new games without a huge upgrade to you computer! You can also use it on your TV’s. Now streaming entire games is a HUGE use of your bandwidth and you will very quickly reach your usage limit with this service.
- Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/), services like this allow you to pay for space to store backups of your files online. This means that no matter what state your hardware is in, whatever files you keep there will be safe. You also can access them from anywhere at anytime, as long as there is internet (which is virtually everywhere these days). The first plan is free at 2GB, the next plan is 50GB for $9.99/mo, the next plan is 100GB at 19.99/mo. That is a lot of data, and to access it you will need to pay to upload and download it.
- Skype (http://www.skype.com/), this is the online calling and chatting service. You can use it to set up a phone plan to allow you to call actual phones, or just use it for skype to skype video or audio calls. This takes a lot of bandwidth and even skype on the iPhone recommends that you upgrade to an unlimited data package before trying to use it over a 3G network.
- Music services such like iTunes, or Grooveshark (http://grooveshark.com/) require a lot of bandwidth.
- Videos services, such as YouTube.
- My Job, I work from home as a web developer and I don’t need to go to an office, I don’t need to commute unless to meet with a client, and right now I work fine off of most consumer packages. The one company I work for (somaegroup.ca/), all people who do work for them all work from home like me. I wont want to have to upgrade to some business package because I have to upload and download over 1GB every hour I’m working some days.
These are just a couple examples of how the internet and access to the cloud is becoming (and will become) the way to go. The internet IS the future, putting a cap and making the future less accessible is a silly idea. Canada is full of innovative people and the internet is a way to share, and sometimes discover, what they can do.
The internet is the future, it is innovation, it is a way to share, and it is a way to discover. Why would you want to limit and put a higher price on that?
