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[Neonivek]

So for people outside of Canada you might not know but Canada is quite far behind the rest of the world when it comes to internet services. Where some places offer free unlimited internet or even count it as just daily taxes... Canada offers incredibly expensive and slow internet. We have been described as a Third World Country when it comes to the internet.

This is mostly because Canada's internet is controlled by a "Monopoly" (quotations because it isn't exactly a monopoly) between two internet service provides (Bell and Rogers). So the need to innovate and compete with each other is near non-existent (Mostly because, if they defeat their rival... they become a monopoly and will be immediately disbanded).

Though what Canada currently has to combat this is that Bell and Rogers MUST sell their internet to smaller companies at a low rate. These smaller companies often do offer much better services for much cheaper.

Yet here is what happened. Bell and Rogers lobbied for there to be an internet cap of 35 gigs a month per household, after which you have to pay an expensive set rate. This is under the guise of there being "fair and mutual", after all EVERYONE is getting the same disadvantage so everyone must be equally disadvantaged right?

So the old unlimited internet deals are now gone, one of the largest reasons why people went to other smaller internet suppliers. Meaning that there is no reason not to go to Bell or Rogers.

The Conservative Minority Government in Canada at the time said that this was ridiculous "I have two teenagers at home". Yet now that we are in a Liberal Majority they are putting it up to bat again, speeding it along using a loop hole so it could pass within a single month (Hope you didn't get a lot of games for Christmas)

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Personally I don't think any government in Canada is dumb or corrupt enough to pass this internet cap.

But several of my friends want me to "help" so this is my contribution. A thread for people to gawk at.

Now I didn't get all the details right, but this is the best I understand it.

Neon, you really should have posted the big petition link so that your fellow Canadians could actually help.

[Shazbot]

You vote for government control of the market, you get government control of the market. These things have consequences. Enjoy Trudeau and be thankful you're hitting an internet cap and not an income cap. Yet.

[Flying Dice]

Shaz, you're literally going to use a problem originating from capitalist thought processes and norms (short-term profit > quality of service & long-term stability, and the establishment of monopolies respectively) to argue in favor of it? In case ya haven't noticed, the rest of the world gets shat on by the ISPs whenever they think they can get away with it too.

[swordsmith04]

You vote for government control of the market, you get government control of the market. These things have consequences. Enjoy Trudeau and be thankful you're hitting an internet cap and not an income cap. Yet.

Fallacious, considering the fact that they have to lobby government for it at all, rather than just introducing the data cap, is due to market control. Government allowing this would be less market control, not more.

[misko27]

Well I think we can all agree that the point of government control is not to just establish a monopoly, it should be to provide some service that the market can't or won't fulfill. Price gouging is a service the market can fulfill quite easily, so quite clearly something went wrong here.

This is interesting. You know, living in a major city in the US, I sometimes forget the trouble others have to get internet. In many areas there is no competition, which then assuredly drives up the price.

[Flying Dice]

Worse than the price is, as Neo said, when companies get it in their collective heads to start in on the data capping. That's literally the most evil thing an ISP can do, even worse than charging for a given speed and then providing service which is about 60% of that speed like a lot of them do.

[Willfor]

Neon, you really should have posted the big petition link so that your fellow Canadians could actually help.

[scrdest]

"Monopoly" (quotations because it isn't exactly a monopoly) between two internet service provides

The word you're looking for is 'Oligopoly'.