The limited power of the cable (13)
Denis Canuel, from Quebec Valley, is ranting about videotron’s new 100Gb limit for its Extreme internet subscribers (post in french). First, he says that limited plans are a thing of the past. But what I found more interesting was the second part, where he shows that there is actually a need for more bandwdith. If you haven’t noticed, 2007 is the year of web video, with startups like Joost or Babelgum bringing new TV/video services, iTMS pushing movies on its online store, the Apple TV, videoconference on upcoming Leopard, and of course youtube becoming as ubiquitous as Google. Video games now also expect an Internet connection (World of Warcraft, XBox Live!…) . As you can see, this is not the time to limit the bandwidth. Ironically, Videotron still calls the plan unlimited, as fagstein points out, and if you go past the 100Gb limit, there is no warning — until you get the month’s receipt.
I am sure some of you are already thinking about Bell, but you should check out first Hugh McGuire recent‘s problems. And I also know Bell is using heavily traffic shappers, at least in my neighborhood, which prevents subscribers from using P2P services à la BitTorrent. It seems that Bell and Videotron have ruled out power users and now targets only their services to the average Joe, who uses Hotmail, spend some time on MSN Messenger, and the rest of the time on text-based message boards.
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which sounds like we are going back to the early 2000′s. I think now is the time for a new telecom company to step up and offer a decent and unlimited plan.
Update: I couldn’t find the link yesterday but there is a very interesting article on the subject: bandwidth crisis. It says that cable companies are reaching saturation point because of video, and that they will get killed soon by HD programming. Maybe that’s why Videotron is introducing the limit, they might have already reached saturation
Because there’s a serious lack of competition. And that’s in just about everything.
Did you know that a parfait is $1 at McDonald’s in the USA, but that it costs $2.29 here? Why? Because there’s more competition in the fast food industry in the USA.
Just about everything is more expensive than it should in Canada. It is indeed very frustrating.
tux. i dont know. i know a guy who wanted to start a cellphone company here. he had the funds to do it, but apparently the CRTC said otherwise. i would say the governements arent doing enough to push the envelope, companies arent pushing enough.
carl mercier: i have less problems with Bell — the thing is that Bell is perfect until you have a problem and then it’s quite impossible to do anything once you get in touch with their customer support. when i moved out, they continued to send me receipts for 5 months for the old account for $4. each month, someone would tell me they would fix it.
anyway, i am not sure now what we can do. I don’t think videotron or bell are going to change their policies after reading this post. the best maybe write a petition to the CRTC.
carl: In the McDonalds example, I don’t know about parfaits but for chicken nuggets for example, yes they are cheaper in the states, they also taste like shit (more than here), there are more regulations here for food, that also affects price.
But you’re right, not enough competition for broadband.
i am not saying that entrepreneurs from the construction industry should do the same in québec, but that the situation can change. it only takes one company to shake those dinosaurs.
at least bell and videotron haven’t merged yet. god, imagine that nightmare.
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