Canadians Just Became World's Biggest Internet Losers

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by endlessknowledge

 

Yes we pay higher taxes and prices, what do we get in return? One of the best medicare systems on the planet, one of the highest quality and length of life ratings on earth, well maintained roads (unless you are out east) and various social programs that help the average Canadian.

When you even it out against what the US doesn't get, we're paying less.

Medicare? In Alberta for any specialist you are waiting 6 month to a year, my buddy just had to pay $700 to have an MRI now, rather than waiting on the list till august.

Well maintained roads? Ever driven in Sask? Ever driven in Calgary after a snowfall? It's surprising how much we spend to plow the snow, yet it's everywhere and the roads are in terrible shape until spring.

Social programs, here's the fun one, my grandmother gets her CPP which she has worked for for plenty of decades, but yet, a new immagrant makes double what she does.

I don't know about you but that sounds like garbage to me...

Stop believing what the government tells you and listen to the people. The higher class citizens of Canada are going down to the states for medical care.

Pred...

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by endlessknowledge

 

Yes we pay higher taxes and prices, what do we get in return? One of the best medicare systems on the planet, one of the highest quality and length of life ratings on earth, well maintained roads (unless you are out east) and various social programs that help the average Canadian.

When you even it out against what the US doesn't get, we're paying less.

Oh please, take your head out of the sand and smell the crap that the government is cooking.

Since when did higher prices get you better services? And the best medicare? Are you serious? Free medicare yes, but not even close to the best. And it's not really free since you pay through your taxes. I live in Toronto and if I want to go to the family physician they tell me I have to go to a walk-in because they have no space for new patience. Is that the "best medicare system" you are talking about??? Yes, you don't pay at the door per visits, but if you don't have a doctor that you know well, then you get exactly what you pay for. No direct payment equals no accountability. Period.

BTW, thanks for proving the point I made earlier.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by endlessknowledge

 

Yes we pay higher taxes and prices, what do we get in return? One of the best medicare systems on the planet, one of the highest quality and length of life ratings on earth, well maintained roads (unless you are out east) and various social programs that help the average Canadian.

When you even it out against what the US doesn't get, we're paying less.

Thats why I had to go out of the country to get an MRI done to find out what was wrong with my neck...
in the Canadian health care system "I was too young" or "it was all in my head".
I had an MRI done 3 years ago they told me everything was ok. But I wasn't. For three years I dealt with pain that was apparently in my head.
I have to pay out of pocket for a chiropractor the rest of my life because some douchebag decided not to stop at a red light. The responding officer didn't even do a sobriety test when it was quite obvious he was under the influence. And my insurance company followed me around to prove what a wonderful citizen I am.

I tried to find a doctor to help me deal with my chronic pain, but I cannot find one because no one is accepting new patients. In my province of Ontario I believe the patient to doctor ratio is 137 patients per doctor.
Let alone trying to get in touch with a specialist.


Oh what a great country I live in

Lots of people in the UK steal their web access by getting a cable modem and changing mac and ip, I don't know the technicalities, apparently as it's stolen you are anonymous too.

reply to post by Kennit


I work for a telecommunications company in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Here is how it works...

If you exceed your GB usage for what you pay for for two consecutive months, you are upgraded to the service you require. We do not charge a "per GB fee" as some of our competition does. This will only affect approx 2% of our customers (the ones who download more than what they are paying for). This is not a scam or a screw over of our customers.
You are simply now required to pay for what you use.

If you want to ensure that you don't see your bill go sky high... switch to Shaw.

Some ISP's in India have this same system of pay-per-byte. But then they also have the choice of pay-per-month for unlimited access at certain speeds and such, in short, they have options. I was not too sure if this is what the problem is, that Canada has no option other than to pay-per-byte. If that is the case, then that is truly unfortunate. Not everyone can afford to PPB, especially the ones that use the computer the most, as they are usually the ones who cannot afford anything and have to steal their wifi connections from their neighbor lol. But PPB is a solid OPTION for those who are not attached to their comps as much as others.

Your bacon is diferent.
But I don't think you're losers. Just really polite.

Aaaaand we got the same thing here in Germany. Hasn't affected myyyyyyyyyyy speeeeeeeeeeeeeeed muuuuch.

That's funny... I just got a letter from Rogers saying their hiking the 'rental fee' for modems up $1 (Ontario). With the strength of the CAD right now, why are people expected to pay more for the exact same service they've been getting all along, especially when Rogers is bound to make a killing off of these bandwidth caps?

Also this news sucks for the little guys... I wish I'd been with them all along. With Rogers I've always had a 60GB cap, with any GB over costing $1/ea. But I've been pretty good at tracking my bandwidth so I rarely go over - and I'm still able to do everything that I'd like to on the net. You people who somehow blast through 250GB or so per month..... Please, go outside a bit more. It's nice, trust me.

If you're with Rogers, here's an easy way to have a cheaper bill - whenever they call for a survey, DON'T HANG UP, DO IT. Every time they've given me something - I've gotten 20% off my bill for a year twice, and a $10 credit card from them. To everyone who just got capped... I feel for you. If you're not a business or running a server, consider it a blessing that you are dissuaded from being on the net all the time.

The infighting is not worth it over a title saying we became the biggest losers. IF we don't do anything about the internet metering and billing then we are the biggest losers; DO something about it: sign the petition to stop it.

160,000 Strong Petition to Stop Internet Metering to Become Largest Online Action in Canadian History

You can sign too!
openmedia.ca...

Share this petition on your Facebook account and twitter to be part of something by action instead of a rant.

Cheers!

Originally posted by ADUB77
First of all, in my situation, this might actually save me money

As I don't download songs or movies illegally

I don't download anything except view internet sites

So If I am being charged per kb then maybe I won't have to pay 50 bucks a month

Hmmm I wonder with 50 bucks a month we get unlimited broadband in SG at a lower speed. We pay for access speed not number of bytes consumed.

the exception of wireless connection we do have a 12 GB data cap but maintain same speed of 3G access.

The future of internet depends on contribution of users & accessibility of everyone...Canada will probably strike off my list of possible retirement country.

reply to post by gardCanada


Thank you for this link. I sent it out to everyone I know, as well as filling it out. Much appreciated.

Of course, it will still likely be passed ~ that I'm sure of..

hhcore, you're welcome. I like your cynicism which, unfortunately, seem like our reality. This is, however, why we need to engage with our governments and their policies and rulings. This currently is what is happening in Egypt, although what we see is more action than we should need to take in Canada and, I hope to think, in North America. Yet, there are a couple of ingredients in current events over there which our government should pay attention too.

Cheers,
gardsCanada

Originally posted by predator0187

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by endlessknowledge

 

Stop believing what the government tells you and listen to the people. The higher class citizens of Canada are going down to the states for medical care.

Pred...

LOL where in Canada do you live friend? Who in their right mind would go to the states for medical care, considering most of it is paid for by our taxes? My mother had cancer and she received all her treatements here, in New-Brunswick. Every single ailement i've ever had, every single medical issue that ever came up, was treated or cared for in Canada. You mentionned a 700$ MRI, i bet it's at least double in the states. If you are speaking in truth, then you speak for a very, very, very small minority of Canadians, friend.

edit on 31-1-2011 by CoffeeMonster because: (no reason given)

edit on 31-1-2011 by CoffeeMonster because: (no reason given)

I think this is the beginning of internet control. It will change what people do on the internet. People won't use it for downloading huge movies and music files and all that other stuff 24/7. They want that to end, anyway. It will change advertisements. There is sooo much money in advertisements, otherwise there wouldn't be sooo many advertisements. People are only interested in or click on like .3% of the ads they see anyway, but people make a killing off of advertisements online.. it's a fact that 95% of the new millionaires got rich by making money online, and I bet most of them use advertisements in some way.. so I can see it changing how that works entirely.. and I can see them wanting to change how that works. It will be like a domino effect. And after it shows to be working in their favour, other countries will be next.

They don't care how many people oppose, putting your name on a "petition" is really just putting your name on a watchlist of those who oppose the most.

reply to post by gardCanada


Ditto thank you for the link. When I signed it was already above 189,000.

Glad that hockey isn't the only thing that can light a fire under our @$$es.

Originally posted by asperetty
Some ISP's in India have this same system of pay-per-byte. But then they also have the choice of pay-per-month for unlimited access at certain speeds and such, in short, they have options. I was not too sure if this is what the problem is, that Canada has no option other than to pay-per-byte. If that is the case, then that is truly unfortunate. Not everyone can afford to PPB, especially the ones that use the computer the most, as they are usually the ones who cannot afford anything and have to steal their wifi connections from their neighbor lol. But PPB is a solid OPTION for those who are not attached to their comps as much as others.

We have options, but I think it depends on which province you live in, and which providers are available there. I live in rural Saskatchewan, and use xplornet.ca and they have decided NOT to go with the metered service. I have a contract for 3 years of unlimited service, with 2 years left, and they said that if a person uses way more than the usual bandwidth, all they will do is slow the connection, which is what they've always done, so they aren't changing anything.

It's up to a quarter of a million now.

Even if it's not going to immediately affect some of us and our personal ISPs, small businesses and others who have to use the rented bandwidth will experience the impact of meter-usage first and we should take a stance against bullying the little guy.

Stop it before it goes any further.

Originally posted by Dendro
It's up to a quarter of a million now.

Even if it's not going to immediately affect some of us and our personal ISPs, small businesses and others who have to use the rented bandwidth will experience the impact of meter-usage first and we should take a stance against bullying the little guy.

Stop it before it goes any further.

I agree, this should be signed by everyone. I signed it yesterday.
I wonder how this might affect data packages on blackberries, iphones, etc, if at all?

Just a quick update...

www.thestar.com...

Although this might be politically motivated( with the elections on the way), it is still good news.

I guess we are not the biggest losers anymore

Originally posted by endlessknowledge

I guess we are not the biggest losers anymore

That falls back to the former biggest internet losers.

We know which country that is, eh!