
Is Canada becoming a digital ghetto? - ksvs
http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/blog/2008/11/is_canada_becoming_a_digital_g.html
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lowkey
Yes, in Canada our government doesn't believe in open access or competition,
not unless it benefits the incumbent carriers.

Innovation in Canada is a bad word as we believe that the big carriers
(Rogers, Bell, Telus, etc.) must be protected at all costs. The carriers win
and innovation loses.

Don't even get me started on how startups are treated outside of the small but
passionate startup communities.

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electromagnetic
It doesn't help that Bell has sent us 3 disconnection notices, stating that if
the bill for (IIRC one said) August 23rd (which has to be paid at the latest
by September 23rd or they'll send out a disconnection notice) isn't paid by
August 18th we'll be disconnected.

Bell is run by inbred morons. They don't even know how to bill someone, they
sent out disconnection notices to _everyone_ we know who is with them. We're
currently waiting to be switched over to Cogeco Cable, because we might
actually get decent phone and internet service.

For a month we had crappy internet and Bell wouldn't send out a technician.
I'm from the UK and when we've had problems, there's a guy out before anyone
calls because they're afraid of OfCom punishing them. Here they fucking run
themselves, we were told by Bell that the problem was in our house and that
we'd have to pay $70 fee to fix it (this is before they even came out), this
is even though we pay $10 a month so that we don't need to pay $70 when
there's a problem in the house yet Mr Speaks No English can't read that on his
computer screen.

Here's the punch line, when the Technician came out he said it wasn't a
problem in our house. He walked to the connection box and came back, "I think
I found your problem, there's a cooked rat in there. I'll switch you over to a
different line." I asked about the connection speed, because it outright sucks
and he said "Well I'm not supposed to do this, but I'll put your download
speed as high as I can and I'll max out the upload." It's still only 1.5 meg
down (we're paying for 3) and it's god damn 1 meg upload.

I love Canada, but I have to say I've moved to a fucking third world country
in terms of technology. Bell is advertising it's _NEW_ DVR service for like
$200, I had a DVR like 6 years ago provided for _free_ by Sky when we
resubscribed.

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dpatru
This should be a warning to those who are clamoring for "net neutrality".
Government regulation tends to be justified by claiming it helps the little
guy. It inevitably ends up being protection for the big guy.

Problems should be viewed as opportunities to make money, not as excuses to
grow government. High prices should entice competitors into the Canadian
marketplace. My guess is that the very government regulations designed to
protect consumers now function to keep out these competitors who could offer
better services at lower prices.

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mikedouglas
Did you even click the link? Which of the examples listed in the article was
due to bad regulation? A "net neutrality" bill would've forced the CRTC to
rule in favor of the small ISPs, the copyright modernization act is being
pushed by the Conservative party, and opposed by every "big government" party,
and the SMS scandal is a failure to challenge price gouging.

I love that, without any knowledge of Canadian telecom regulation, you're
ready to announce that over-regulation is the problem. Way to go, brownie.

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dpatru
The problem is this: if the Canadian telecom market were open to competition,
why doesn't a new competitor move in and clobber the existing phone companies
in the market? I read the article and in two of the three complaints, the
writer is angry because government doesn't fix the problems he sees in the
marketplace. The government won't force Bell to give small ISPs unlimited
bandwidth and the government is allowing SMS "price gouging". (The writer's
other complaint is that the government wants to modernize copyright, I assume
that means that government wants to extend the existing copyright laws to the
internet.)

The writer implies that outside competition is not a viable solution and that
consumer wellbeing is solely a function of government whim.

Assuming the writer knows what he's (not) talking about, i.e., that outside
competition is not an option, then I can only assume that the reason it's not
an option is because of the existing regulatory environment.

The writer's proposed solution seems to me to be calling for yet more
regulation.

So it appears that in Canada government is keeping competition out and not
doing enough to force existing companies to increase their quality of service
and decrease their prices.

Excuse me for assuming that over-regulation is the problem. Now I see that
Canada needs more regulation. Government there is not doing enough to tell
businesses what they need to do, what kind of contracts they can make, and
what prices they can charge. Of course this would also make Canada more open
to competition. Businesses just love to do business in a place where
government bureaucrats help them with lots of detailed rules that require
teams of lawyers to figure out. Businesses, especially startups, also like it
when government forces them to rewrite contracts and charge lower prices.
Thanks for setting me straight.

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mnemonik
>f the Canadian telecom market were open to competition, why doesn't a new
competitor move in and clobber the existing phone companies in the market?

Barriers to entry. Infrastructure costs. Gov't incentives to provide better
services where the incentives reward after the fact are the solution. Not
throwing money at the problem with no oversight.

~~~
electromagnetic
The main is the barriers to entry. Although both the Liberals and
Conservatives have said they plan to pass a bill enabling the entry of foreign
companies. Virgin Mobile is in Canada

As soon as companies like T-Mobile can enter the country I have little doubt
Telus will go bankrupt, or near to it, as it's solely cellphone. Telus does
seem to try and innovate, but it's trapped on the CDMA network but is
releasing a HSPA in 2010. Rogers already has the HDSPA and has for a while,
Bell has the CDMA high-speed mobile, which barely any handset manufacturers
actually provide new phones in CDMA.

I actually wish I could move near the Falls so that I could steal T-Mobile USA
off my old T-Mobile UK phone. The ironic thing is that international text is
cheaper than going with Telus or Bell.

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locacorten
In my opinion, what is wrong with Canada is Canadians. Nobody cares. The
government, the companies, the unions, everybody is f __*-ing up that country,
yet, people could care less. It's even worse, ask any Canadian, and chances
are they would tell you what a great country Canada is and how Canada has it
so much better than the US. Last year, 77% of Canadians ranked Canada as 10
out of 10 as the best country to live in. 77%!!! I doubt that even the
brainwashed North Koreans would vote 77% for their country.

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TheBosch
This article makes 3 very valid points about the way Canada is currently
viewing the digital area in such a backwards way. There's other examples of
CRTC negligence such as when they mandated the creation of a "Canadian" HBO
since for some reason we couldn't get the stream directly from the US.

In the States they also have fiber installations going directly into the
houses and I haven't even heard of anything like that here in Canada. ADSL has
a "Max" package of 6mbps which is laughable, while the cable operator (Shaw)
has one that's 25mbps however they charge $100/month! And that's just for
Internet! This is the biggest annoyance to me personally as Canada used to be
a leader in broadband availability but we've stayed with the same speed
structure for the last 5+ years and are falling faster and faster behind the
leading nations.

With the new frequencies available for wireless bandwidth hopefully we'll see
some new competition in the cell phone sector as it's desperately needed!

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delano
Ya, there's some stuff that sucks in regards to digital media in Canada but
it's not like everything is ruined once a bill is passed. If a new C-61 makes
it through, it will suck for a few years until people get annoyed and it will
be overturned or amended.

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juliend2
Here in Québec, Microsoft has the monopoly in the public sphere. The
government does not do any bid invitations when it comes to buying computers.
The open source is completely ignored.

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k4st
Does that mean that the U.S. is already a digital ghetto?

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potatolicious
Hah. You wish. I just spent 4 months living in Seattle, and here's how the
cell service stacks up. In both places I paid $50 a month (give or take a few
bucks).

In the US: \- 300 minutes daytime \- unlimited evenings/weekends \- voicemail,
call display, etc \- unlimited data

In Canada: \- 200 minutes daytime \- unlimited evenings/weekends

Notice the big difference? :P America is behind the curve on technology
infrastructure, but it's still a lot better off than Canada.

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TheBosch
Here's the deal I've currently arranged with Telus. This is after much
haggling as well as the fact I've been a customer for 3 years already. The
deals OK, but nothing like in the states. The thing that really pisses me off
is the system access fee!

19.3 - 200 daytime mintues, unlimited evenings @ 5pm & unlimited weekends //
$7 - 2500 text // $25 - unlimited data // $15 - unlimited long distance
(Canada + US) // free - unlimited incomning // free - vm3 / call display

Plan Total: $66.3

Plus: $7.5 - System access fee // $.5 - 911 fee // $3.72- Tax

Grand Total: $77.30

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lowkey
The System Access fee is an outright fraud. If any other industry tried to do
what the telcos did with the System Access fee they would be charged and
convicted as criminals. In Canada the wireless cartel does whatever they want.
They have a defacto oligopoly and are criminals in my mind.

more info:
[http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/services/cellphones...](http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/services/cellphones/accessfee.html)

Excerpt: "The verdict on the “system access fee”? It’s a made-up charge by the
wireless companies disguised as a government fee – the only thing it accesses
is your wallet."

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josefresco
Telcos are screwing .... everyone. News at 11.

