Canadians pay more for their cell phone plans than most countries in the world, and now the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) has approved big telecom providers to charge a usage-based fee to customers. The federal government just needs to pass it into law, which means we will pay extra for every byte we go over a base rate. Imagine the costs!
To explain what this means, you can search the ‘Net (while it’s still affordable to go online!) about this. George Stroumboulopoulos talks about it on his show, George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, which OpenMedia linked to on their page. In it he says that it costs Internet providers LESS THAN 1¢ PER GB, but some plans are charging BETWEEN $1 – $4 PER GB! Imagine what that can mean for you as a customer as more and more content is put on the Internet and the bandwidth keeps going up and up!
Here’s the link to the Strombo Show’s clip. Please root around on OpenMedia’s page after clicking on the link. There is a lot of information compiled there, and it will inform you of the issues.
There’s also a really good article in The Tyee that explains how usage paid internet will work, and why it’s a really bad idea.
Finally, OpenMedia is circulating an Online petition. 
Click on the image to take you to the petition.
If you’re not keen on Online petitions, you can always write a letter and CC it to your MP, the PMs office, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, Liberal Digital Critic Pablo Rodrigue, NDP Leader Jack Layton, Leader of the Bloc Québécois Gilles Duceppe, and whoever the Conservative MP is who’s responsible for radio and communications. You can also check back on OpenMedia’s Resources page, and use their Sample Letters to MPs when they post them. You will find this information at the bottom of the Resources page.
It’s really important that we take action and redirect this decision to something that is beneficial for Canadians!
Ingrid
Proponent of positive progress in the public puddle.
