Once again the Big firms like Rogers tend not to respect the laws..

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/oppose-the-price-increases-lack-of-competition/

OTTAWA — Rogers Communications Inc., is breaking Canada’s Internet traffic management rules by deliberately slowing down certain online traffic, the country’s telecommunications regulator said Friday. In a letter to Rogers posted to its website Friday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissions said it is “of the belief” that the telecom giant is in breach of the rules governing how Internet Service Providers control the flow of traffic on their networks. “Within two weeks, I look forward to you either presenting us with a rebuttal of our evidence or providing us with a plan to come into compliance with the (Telecommunications) Act,” writes Andrea Rosen, CRTC’s chief compliance and enforcement officer. “Failure to provide a meaningful rebuttal or an effective plan will result in my recommendation to Commissioners to hold a show-cause hearing.” http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/20/rogers-breaking-internet-rules-by-throttling-bandwidth-crtc/

.

So who realy protects the Canadian citizens from the too often bad, immoral  firms in reality, now  holding the much too many crooked   firms to accountiablity but if there is any justice  it takes years to do so.. and for decades then not much good  tends to happen ..

.

see also https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/once-again-the-big-firms-like-bell-tend-not-to-respect-the-laws/

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/greedy-immoral-bell-canada-lies-misleads-is-crooked/

…

OPPOSE THE PRICE INCREASES, LACK OF COMPETITION

”

Get ready for price increases, more bureaucratic red tape, and disrespectful customer service.

We have reports that the Big Three cell phone giants (who control roughly 94% of the market) are trying to trick the government into shutting out independent competitors. Some of them are going so far as to use high-priced lobbyists and a fake grassroots campaign¹.

If the Big Three succeed, they will:

• SqueezeCanadians into tighter contracts, with disrespectful customer service.
• Squeezemore money out of your wallet every single month.
• Squeeze independent providers out of the cell phone market.

In short, they will be the only game in town, and that means you and I will pay more for our cell phones. It will lock Canada behind the rest of the world on mobile communications, cripple essential innovation, limit social progress, and drain your wallet every month.

Sign the Stop The Squeeze petition before it’s too late!

Canadians already pay some of the highest cell phone fees in the free world². This is a gut check for Canada. Will we let price-gouging big telecom companies squeeze every last penny out of our wallets before we stand up for ourselves? Will we let them slow-walk our economy into disaster?

 

We’ve heard that the Industry Minister is about to make a decision that could rubber stamp this cell phone nightmare into reality. Please join Canadians from across the country in signing this urgent petition to send him a message.

Let’s not put up with this anymore.

”

see also https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/once-again-the-big-firms-like-bell-tend-not-to-respect-the-laws/

Once again the Big firms like Bell tend not to respect the laws..

 

Rogers has promised to stop throttling internet traffic on its network by the end of this year, in response to an investigation by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/02/03/tech-rogers-throttling.html

Rogers has promised to stop “throttling” internet traffic on its network by the end of this year, IF YOU BELEIVE THESE CONTINUAL LIARS WHO LIED THEY WERE NOT THROTTLING ALREADY.. AND ROGERS IS NOT T MUCH BETTER THAN BIG BAD BELL..

 

Bell Canada and the Evenko promotion company could face fines for violating lobbying rules while they negotiated for the rights to the city’s proposed $400 million arena. Quebec’s lobbying commissioner, Francois Casgrain, ruled this week that the two companies failed to register as lobbyists prior to the start of talks.  The contract eventually went to Quebecor Inc., owner of QMI Agency and the Sun Media chain. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/2011/12/22/19158326.html

 

see also  https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/crtc-rejects-bell-plan-for-wholesale-internet-billing/

CRTC rejects Bell plan for wholesale Internet billing, CRTC helps to rob consumers

Rogers has promised to stop throttling internet traffic on its network by the end of this year, in response to an investigation by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/02/03/tech-rogers-throttling.html

Rogers has promised to stop “throttling” internet traffic on its network by the end of this year, IF YOU BELEIVE THESE CONTINUAL LIARS WHO LIED THEY WERE NOT THROTTLING ALREADY.. AND ROGERS IS NOT T MUCH BETTER THAN BIG BAD BELL..

With the Help of  the bad CRTC, now Bell and the majors, force a serious struggle even for survival for the independent Internet service providers who have already been struggling hard against giant telephone and cable companies. The CRTC was to improve competion in Canada and not rather to help the big firms to jack up the profits, prices, make loads more money  and to put the other smaller firms out of business 

TORONTO — The country’s independent Internet service providers were hit Tuesday by a regulatory ruling allowing major network owners such as BCE Inc. to charge “significantly” higher rates for wholesale Internet access. Though affecting less than 10% of Canadian retail Web users, the decision holds broader implications for competition in the sector if some smaller Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot afford the hikes and are squeezed out of the market. http://business.financialpost.com/2011/11/15/crtc-offers-compromise-plan-on-internet-billing/

                 
GATINEAU, Qc – The federal telecommunications regulator has rejected a controversial plan that would have allowed the big phone and cable companies to impose a usage-based billing model on Internet service resellers, a system that the Conservative government and many consumers had opposed.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s decision on Tuesday instead gives the companies a choice of either charging the smaller Internet providers a flat rate per user or selling the ISPs a specific amount of capacity on their networks.

“The net effect of it is that there will be no caps, no limitations, no metering of use for retail customers as a result of this CRTC decision,” CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said Tuesday.

The issue also led to debate about how Canadians should be charged for Internet services and how much bandwidth they use.

But the CRTC focused only on the wholesale prices independent Internet providers pay for network use — not the monthly retail rates they charge their customers.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/crtc-decide-much-independent-internet-providers-pay-networks-090509901.html

It is about time the consumers are protected from greedy ma Bell too and we get real Competetion, close down the useless CRTC  too.

OTTAWA — The federal government says it will review this week’s decision by the country’s telecommunications regulator to allow large Internet providers to use new capacity-based billing for independent service providers. “We will study the CRTC’s decision carefully to ensure that it meets our objectives of encouraging competition and network investment and enabling consumer choice,” Industry Minister Christian Paradis said in a statement following Tuesday’s ruling. “Canadians have been very clear in expressing their concerns about earlier UBB decisions,” Paradis said. http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Government+study+CRTC+ruling+Internet+billing/5718561/story.html

-Pay more? You have got to be kidding me! Canadians are already living in the dark ages in terms of high speed ]service, which by the way we already pay way more for then pretty much every other country on this planet!

-How about…..why is Rogers now getting into BANKING….you think they are doing o.k.?

How about the fact that Bell media had exploded and is buying up huge chunks of our country??

How about the fact that the CRTC is holding open the door for these extortionists to bleed us for all that we can stand

-I believe in getting what you pay for but that’s never been the case with this industry.

It’s infuriating to think I’ll end up paying more for a service that  never delivered what was advertised in the first place. The worst part is, there is no other option.

-Congratulations CRTC on your major contribution to line the big corporate pockets & scewing us but good. Crooks in bed with crooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-You didn’t actually think the CRTC was on the side of the avergae Canadian consumer did you??

-Disband the CRTC now and start with a leaner more competitive-friendly regulator that is not staffed with the same out of touch people it currently employs in Gatineau

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/the-rich-get-richer-bell-included/
..

The Rich get richer, Bell included

OTTAWA – BCE Inc. on Thursday reported better-than-expected earnings as its new media unit give it a revenue boost, as did money charged for wireless data.The Montreal-based parent company of Bell Canada said net income was $642 million, or 83 cents a share, in the third quarter. That was up from $454 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. “ Revenue was up 8.7 per cent to $4.9 billion. Much of the gains were driven by its new Bell Media unit, created this year following its acquisition of the CTV television network. Wireless revenue was up 6.1 per cent, which included 34.1 per cent more in wireless data sales. http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/reports+higher+than+expected+earnings/5650917/story.html

We can all easily remember when Bell was crying poverty, that it was not making enough money even with their IPS, broadband services so it has to resort to capping the users.. that did not stop Bell from generating larger profits next. TV, Cell Phones rip offs

Montreal Gazette: Bell and Videotron alone do not a competitive marketplace make  Only in Canada, would you have increased competition resulting in higher prices. That appears to be exactly what’s happening as Bell Canada Enterprises and Videotron battle for turf in cell phones, Internet and television service.

Let there be no doubts, Bell lies, steal, does everything it can to get richer and richer at the citizens consumers expense and it needs to be regulated for the good of all Canadians

“At the CRTC’s recent hearing on Internet metering, a lobbyist from Bell stood up before the Commission, looked each member in the eye, and suggested Canadians don’t mind a pay meter on their Internet use. I asked him afterwards how he could say such a thing—nearly half-a-million Canadians revolted against Internet price-gouging by signing the Stop The Meter petition this year. The Bell lobbyist responded with a simple statement: “It’s notpersonal.” I was stunned. Can you afford to have new fees added to your Internet bill each month? I know I can’t. Being price-gouged is personal, especially in these unstable economic times. We at OpenMedia.ca are cautiously optimistic that the CRTC will do the right thing and let indie ISPs provide unmetered Internet access. But we know one thing for sure: big phone and cable companies are working behind the scenes to undo the progress we’ve made. We can’t let them get away with this.”http://openmedia.ca/

do see https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/bell-canada-included-now/

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=thenonconformer+bell&b=&fr=ie8

…

Rogers throttling

Rogers throttling may breach net neutrality rules.. Rogers throttles file-sharing traffic from BitTorrent more than any other internet provider in North America and may be violating Canadian net neutrality guidelines, a U.S. researcher says. “So I think consumers would have a basis to complain and the CRTC would have a basis to act.” He suggested that perhaps the Canadian regulator is “a bit too cozy” with large Canadian telecommunications companies. “I think they do give too much weight to Bell Canada and some of these heavyweight operators,” he said. “I think that’s starting to change now that they’re starting to look more carefully at the use of this throttling.”

In Canada, all large ISPs have admitted to slowing down BitTorrent traffic, and some do so to a great extent. Since the start of the measurements Rogers has continuously throttled more than three-quarter of all BitTorrent traffic, and there are no signs that this will stop. During the first quarter of 2010 the two other large Canadian ISPs, Bell and Shaw, were throttling 16 and 14 percent respectively. Videotron on the other hand has never slowed down more than 7 percent, and only 3 percent during the last  http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-throttling-internet-providers-exposed-111020/

 CRTC’s internet traffic management or “net neutrality” rules.
Those rules state that technology to manage internet traffic:
Must be designed to address “a defined need and nothing more.”
Should be neither “unjustly discriminatory nor unduly preferential.”

Syracuse University information studies researcher Milton Mueller he thinks consumers should choose internet providers who use internet traffic management technology that targets points of congestion rather than singling out particular applications.

Mueller said his future research will examine whether other protocols besides BitTorrent are being throttled by ISPs and will look into the use of deep packet inspection for other purposes such as copyright policing, placing ads, government surveillance and censorship.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/10/25/technology-rogers-throttling-net-neutrality.html

Canadians—gamers in particular—have been furious with Rogers over its Internet throttling practices, which were recently exposed as being the worst in the entire world. Today, progress was made in the Canadian Gamers Organization’s battle against the Toronto-headquatered telco. The CGO sent a letter to the CRTC complaining that Rogers was violating Canada’s Internet openness rules. The CRTC has now stated that it will move the complaint into its enforcement division, implying further action and the high possibility of a penalty against Rogers. However, the CRTC is not able to punish companies financially, so the damage must be dealt in other ways“Earlier this week, Rogers told the CBC that it is within full compliance with CRTC policy and guidelines,” CGO co-founder Jason Koblovsky says. “We are now certain that’s not the case.”“In violating these rules, Rogers has shown that it values its own narrow commercial interests over that of its customers and Canada’s digital economy,” adds Steve Anderson, OpenMedia’s Executive Director. “Big Telecom is out of control and they need to be reined in before they damage our innovation economy further.” http://www.techvibes.com/blog/the-crtc-prepares-to-lay-down-the-law-on-the-worlds-worst-internet-throttler-2011-10-27
do see also

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/greedy-immoral-bell-canada-lies-misleads-is-crooked/

Bell Canada included now

Just cause it is a big corporation now  does still not mean it is well managed, or it  is moral, ethical! The bigger the firms too often means the bigger crimes going unpunished..

Bell’s new network too fast for many phones
Hamilton Spectator – SMARTPHONES Bell Mobility Inc. has launched a  super-fast wireless network in southern Ontario, but users will have to wait  until smartphones are available …

Bell beats Rogers to the launch‎ Montreal Gazette
Bell beats Rogers to Toronto with LTE
service‎ ITWorld
Canada
New wireless push all about CTV, Bell
says‎ Financial Post (blog)
The Wire Report– Canada NewsWire (press release)
all 66 news articles

 

NOW THERE IS AN UNACCEPTABLE AND AN UNDENIABLE GAP BETWEEN WHAT BELL AND MANY OTHERS INITIALLY ADVERTISE TO ALL PERSONS AND WHAT THEY DO NEXT ADVERTISE DELIVER SO THEY ARE UNACCEPTABLE GUILTY OF FALSE, MISLEADING ADVERTISINGS AND THUS NEED TO BE FULLY, CONTINUALLY PROSECUTED UNDER THE LAW BY THE GOVERNMENTS, FOR ALL THE CONSUMERS IN CANADA DO NEED TO BE PROTECTED FROM ANY OF THIS! THIS IS NOT BEING FULLY , ADEQUATELY DONE, EVEN BY THE CRTC!

It is an undeniable fact that Bell has to continually advertise, conduct a vast marketing campaign even to find new customers, and new ways to make money because it has a very poor customer services , it is very mismanaged, and very inefficient as well. Today anyone who uses Bell Canada’s services can readily known that Bell is an greedy, immoral firm that practices systematically lies, price gouging, false, misleading trade practices, restrictive trade practices, provides a very poor customer services and falsely tries to monopolizes it’s services and all Canadian Consumers need protection from Bell. The present consumer protection in Canada is not enough not even from the bad CRTC. Bell now falsely caps, blocks the ISP internet services so it can rather encourage all their customer to use their own services such as Bell Satellite TV with a wide selection of programming and receiver options, Fibe TV service is now available in an increasing number of neighborhoods. The Canadian Governments need to provide real on line regulation of all of the immoral, big Bell services on behalf of all Canadians.
Canada’s Internet infrastructure firstly is still is pathetic, compared to many other countries. We are all falsely overpriced for it too and are all being under serviced. The net infrastructure in Canada anyway was built with government money anyway. They, handed it over for free to these Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these clearly crooks,robber-barons so that they could now even milk the consumer for every penny possible, without now even Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these clear crooks actually expending any capital to increase their capacity or effective services. So next we all do DEMAND real action here from our governments on behalf of all Canadians now too It’s what we all pay taxes for the governments to protect us all from the bad firms of Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. and any of these crooks visible Lies from Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc., Their also now is an unacceptable corporate false advertising problem, for we can easily see and know that Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. they here are still mostly telling us all lies to justify still now their false robbery of all of the paid customers, consumers .Rogers acknowledged that equipment on its network used to slow down some kinds of internet traffic in order to prioritize time-sensitive applications such as internet voice calling and video streaming might affect other applications but still all these people paid for it..They falsely cap the ISP downloads to try to make more money form the cellphones usage.The CRTC should not be asking Rogers to fix the problem, they should be demanding that this be resolved now and to those affected should receive compensation until it is fixed. The ISP is here to provide bandwidth, and not to decide which traffic to throttle, filter and block. If their highly pre advertised as being superior, fully capable infrastructures now next cannot handle current demands, then they now next need to use their own funds they earn from their telecommunications monopoly to fix it, improve it. How can anyone now even buy their services now from Rogers or Bell when you know full well everything they do rob the consumers, stifle’s competition, the economy as and progress in the telecommunications industry all for their own selfish, greedy, immoral gains.

Traffic shaping is always still criminal even if Bell, Rogers or anyone else does it. . If the consumer is paying for bandwidth, how are the consumers falsely now even being made to pay for Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these crooks to make judgments about the consumers using that paid bandwidth? Everyone always *should* be allocated the speed they pay for – and do let the consumers, customers use the network as to how they do see fit. I pay a lot of money each month for my unlimited megabits per second download and megabit per second upload. this is what I paid for. When my Internet service provider now next intentionally and even secretly too slows all this down, this is still called theft. It’s fraud. Even if I want to run a peer to peer usage.

The CRTC now realy should now prevent Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these crooks from spying on/shaping/limiting the consumer’s traffic. Now also do add throttling to the criminal code even for the consumer fraud that it is. Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. lying charge a ton for high-speed, but it is only high speed service if it doesn’t hurt their own corporate economic interests This is still basically all unacceptable robbery. Consumers spend the most money for their PCs, pay for their games and software, pay for premium internet and then next get nothing better then a low speed. The Consumers are the people that buy all the services, buy all the new computers, gadgets and yet Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. try to punish those honest consumers who are now even helping the economy, allowing the government to receive more taxes and thus all these bad CEOs should be now still also be put in jail.

Why also now aren’t the CRTC paying full attention to absolutely ANYTHING going on regarding the absolute hatred many many people do now have for Rogers and Bell?

Rogers now has also been asked to fix game throttling problem Rogers says next it had made a few “innocent” mistakes. It is not funny but criminal . Funny how those “innocent” mistakes always seem to work for more money in Rogers’ favour. Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these crooks doesn’t care, and they will drag this on for months (they already have, for about a year now). Their “solution” to the CRTC will be the same as last time. “We’ll have a fix within six months.” and six months later their “fix” won’t work Instead of “asking” Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these crooks to fix the problem, the CRTC should be fining Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. $100,000 per day until it is fixed. Then a a fix would magically appear overnight.Still one week after toothless CRTC ruling, they WILL go back to throttling and use whatever excuse they can find in their policy of no accountability, Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these crooks should all be forced to discount every single customer on their subscriber bases for throttling anything at all. It anyway all illegal, and since they’ve never shown any shred of proof that throttling is necessary, they should now also be fined for breach of contract and their false advertising.

Rogers, Bell, Shaw, etc. these visible crooks continue to abuse the consumers only until they’re next shamed, forced to do what’s proper because firstly it’s not in their best economic interest to change. Deal with it ASAP

OTTAWA — Canada’s telecommunications useless regulator the CRTC has falsely now taken years to come up with real actions to deal with the Canada’s big bad communications firms that are unfairly, falsely slowing down the internet . The issue of their immoral traffic shaping has falsely even been going on now for years as customers play games , watch TV shows and movies, even all the while the immoral industry Telecommunications do continue to to economically gouge the customers for every kilobyte of band width and they continue to lie as to the reasons they need to do so. Real actions today is needed here and not mere CRTC false buck passing, useless public relationship statements.

.
Bell has been falsely slowing my ISP, net services still even this week.. all the while while it lies to us all about the modern, great fast speed internet it provides.

“In a letter to the telecom giant, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission said the company’s own traffic management policy states that online games, such as World of Warcraft, should not be throttled or slowed down, and would only be affected if Rogers misclassifies the games and other peer-to-peer applications were running at the same time. Rogers now has until Sept. 27 to present a plan to the regulator to deal with the issue. “Commission staff considers that Rogers should address and resolve this misclassification problem,” the correspondence. While Internet service providers have said they need to manage online traffic to deal with network congestion during peak hours, the CRTC has instituted a policy stipulating that the noticeable degradation of time-sensitive Internet traffic requires prior commission approval under Canada’s Telecommunications Act. “We are currently getting reports from our members that Shaw customers are also affected … The CRTC has also been aware for quite some time that Bell Sympatico members have also experienced similar problems,” .”We will be asking for the CRTC to broaden its investigation to ensure that solutions presented by Rogers in this case are implemented on those ISPs, as well.””

Ontario’s and Quebec’s clearly corrupted Liberals and political leaders have also now  falsely now allowed Bell to abuse the Ontario and Quebec customers for years as well.

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/the-telecommunication-giants-bell-rogers-included/

THE TELECOMMUNICATION GIANTS BELL, ROGERS INCLUDED

FIRSTLY WHEN IT NOW COMES TO THE ISP, INTERNET PRICING THERE FIRSTLY ARE STILL NO VIABLE ARGUMENTS, OR PROOF THAT THE OVERALL NETWORKING SYSTEM CAPACITIES ARE BEING EVEN NOW OVER BURDENED BY A FEW PERSONS, HEAVY USERS FOR RATHER SOLELY THE MAIN UNDENIABLE PROBLEM IS THAT TELECOMMUNICATION GIANTS FIRMS THEMSELVES HAVE TOO OFTEN MISLED, DO MISLEAD THE PUBLIC AS TO THE DEGREE OF THEIR ACTUAL SYSTEM CAPABILITIES, SPEEDS AND EVEN THE RELIABILITY OF THEIR SERVICES NOW AS WELL AS I HAVE EVEN DETAILED THIS FOR YEARS NOW TOO.

The CLEARLY absurd and price gouging, ONE SIDED Bell and Rogers now even trying to justify their false costs increases demand that the persons who use more should pay more DO NOW FALSELY neglect to point out that in that case all the persons who use less that 50 percent or 25 percent of the average downloads quantities, available capacities they all also should thus equally GET A CORRESPONDING monthly PRICE REFUND AS WELL. Something they THE TELECOMMUNICATION GIANTS yet have to do even. WHILE THEY THE TELECOMMUNICATION GIANTS ALL DO WANT TO TAKE MORE MONEY FROM ONE GROUP UNDER FALSE PRETENSES ARE NOW REFUSING TO REFUND any MONIES TO THE OTHERS..

…

the 10 Commandments are still applicable today for all, corporations and business persons included

Bell Canada  to pay a penalty of $10 million for making misleading advertising claims

….

Bell Canada to pay a penalty of $10 million for making misleading advertising claims

the 10 Commandments are still applicable today for all, corporations and business persons included

but still

Greedy, immoral Bell Canada  lies, misleads, is crooked

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/bittorrent-p2p-sites/

Bell and Telus misleading approach adds it’s unrealistic management expectations of making more money, price gouging consumers…

see also https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/liars-is-what-we-seem-to-know-describes-too-many-of-our-politicans-civil-and-public-servants-police-and-rcmp-included-and-not-just-the-phone-companies/

  and now Bell pays in part only for making it’s misleading advertising claims.

Bell Canada pays $10M over misleading ads

CBC.ca -Bell Canada has agreed to pay a penalty of $10 million for making misleading advertising claims, the federal Competition Bureau announced ..The Bureau found that Bell had, since December 2007, charged more than advertised for many of its services, including home phone, internet, satellite TV and wireless. Additional fees, such as those related to TouchTone, modem rental and digital television services, were hidden from consumers in fine-print disclaimers and were mandatory, on top of the advertised prices. Customers purchasing any of the services individually were also faced with the same misleading information, as additional fees were excluded from those advertised prices as well, the bureau said.

Bell to pay $10-million for misleading ads Globe and Mail This is not the first time Ms. Aitken’s bureau has targeted big telecom companies: Late last year, the bureau said it was taking Rogers Communications Inc. to court seeking a $10-million penalty over “misleading” advertising related to Rogers’ new wireless rivals, such as Wind Mobile. The telecom sector is infamous for burying additional costs or contractual obligations in fine print, particularly in wireless, where consumers are often hit with extra fees when they try to switch providers. Ms. Aitken said.

Bell Canada to pay $10M fine for misleading ads Toronto Star

Vancouver Sun – National Post (registration) – MobileSyrup.com – Canada NewsWire (press release)

..

This penalty money is still a drop in the bucket as to what Bell should even pay now for it’s unacceptable sins, consumer abuses….

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/it-should-be-an-election-issues/

also

“Canada’s Worst Cell Phone Bill” BELONGS TO BELL.

..

 The country’s competition watchdog is asking an Ontario court to levy a record $10-million penalty to Rogers Communications Inc.for “misleading advertising” that criticized new competitors Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile. The Competition Bureau of Canada is seeking the highest possible penalty from the country’s largest wireless player after a two-month investigation into claims that Rogers had been making since late July..  The bureau said that based on “an extensive review of technical data, obtained from a number of sources,” there was “no discernible difference in dropped call rates between Rogers/Chatr and new entrants.”“We won’t hesitate to seek the maximum penalty against companies that are engaged in misleading behaviour,” Melanie Aitken, the commissioner of competition, said on Friday. “It distorts competition and hurts consumers.” “We take that as a very strong signal that Parliament and Canadians expect us to use the tools they’ve given us, and when there are cases of clear misleading advertising, those penalties are there for a reason,” Ms. Aitken said. The penalty, a civil matter, is different than a fine, a term reserved for punishments levied in criminal cases. The bureau attempted to negotiate a settlement between Wind Mobile, which filed the complaint, and Rogers, as it usually does in cases like this, but said Rogers had refused to address their concerns, leading them to seek action through the courts. The Competition Bureau has asked the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to order Rogers to pay the penalty, to stop making the claims, and to “issue a corrective notice to inform the general public about the nature and provisions of the order issued against them.” The bureau also recommended Rogers pay restitution to customers who chose the Chatr service over that of another because of the ad campaign. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/misleading-wireless-ads-put-rogers-in-hot-water/article1806112/

In a lawsuit brought against BCE’s Bell Mobility by Rogers Communications Inc., Mr. Justice Austin Cullen yesterday issued a temporary injunction under the Competition Act forcing Bell Mobility to stop claiming it operates the “most reliable” wireless network. Bell must begin to remove the bulk of its advertisements with the “most reliable” claim by Dec. 22, and have all such material out of the marketplace by Jan. 19, 2010.  “This highlights that companies have to be careful and cautious when making performance claims,” said Steve Szentisi, a Vancouver-based competition lawyerhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/ban-on-bells-most-reliable-claims-redefines-what-it-means-to-be-the-best/article1403330/

see also http://postedat.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/primus-ca/

Majority of Canadians they still just want  all pricing to be simple and fair — and Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw and Videtron etc., so far have they all undeniably too done now  anything but that… they give out lies, misleading adds instead  and practise unfair business competetion behaviors..

 

…….

It should be an election issue – the Bad phone companies

 

At reelection times they all do make promises, and once elected they even do make some laws, but they also do tend to  pass the buck next generally as well. That is the unacceptable general problem with Canada’s pretentious politicians,  consumer affairs Ministers, Health and justice  ministers, Civil and public servants, the RCMP police included too often now as well who like to dump, dumb you, leave you on your own as quick as possible. Civil and public servants, and Phone cell companies employees are all very much the same,, they seem too often to lie claiming they will do a good job to get a pay but when it comes to delivering the work effectiveness promises they start to quote established polices.. buck passing excuses.

  http://postedat.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/virgin-mobile-canada-has-this-breached-the-quebec-laws-3-times-now-too-in-my-case/

The consumer abuses by   Bell, Rogers, Virgin, Telus, Primus  etc. they all should be an election issue..

Majority of Canadians they just want  all pricing to be fair — and Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw and Videtron etc., so far have been anything but.

  The present truths about Canada’s  phone, cell phone, internet communication businesses

 

Truth 1  The federal government including the CRTC and the Consumer affairs, industry Ministers do  not consistently regulate, monitor, supervise     Canada’s  phone, cell phone, internet communication business, major telecommunications firms and their employees as well for their false, misleading advertisings, blatant lies, abusive of the customers, nor specially  for their too often bad, immoral, pretentiously lying service departments and the CRTC itself does not all even investigate, prosecute the immoral company representatives who lie, mislead the customers.

 

Truth 2 Dealing with the service departments of the internet providers, cell or phone companies,in obtain a new service or cancelling an existing services  too often is one of the worst personal experiences as these firms tend to be vague, uncooperative, unhelpful, and seem to place deliberate customer obstacles in the way. In the last year I  have personally dealt with Rogers, Primus, Bell, Virgin mobile and none of these firms customers services were acceptable.These firms have the ability to make the customer services department to be helpful, cooperative, friendly, informative, to be simplified  and to expedite  matters instead they seem undeniably to like to confuse issues, put obstacles into the customer’s ways too. These sales customer representatives tend to talk to me falsely as though they themslves now are qualified, lawyers, judges and do sate that their own interpretation of the laws, contract is always right and this in reality now is far from the truth, not in reality in accordance with the applicable federal and provincial laws too.

 

 

Truth 3  Canada’s  phone, cell phone, internet communication business Industry too often mislead the customers by claiming that their industry is regulated and they would not even exist in business if they had  cheated, lied, for the government would not let them, but nothing can be further from the truth now as well. For they also do lie  when it claims that it tends to follow their own High  industry standard, for they themselves tend  not regulate their own  bad employees, as their self regulation tends to be another form of masturbation.The industry standard also now generally  is one it seems of lying to the customers, the potential customers, working at obtaining and keeping the customers at any costs,immoral acts included.

 

For example many of the major internet supply firms too often too they also now  do  tend to claim , advertise the fact they do have the highest  internets speed , and a simple truth is that they all cannot make a similar statement for sure.

 

Truth 4  The phone, cell phone, internet communication companies individually like to lie, mislead the customers by claiming that their too often abusive, one sided contracts now  are all legally bind, even if they already do break even existing  federal and provincial laws even. The rather too often hypocritical INDUSTRY often still ask the customers to hold to their own definitions of the contract rules while they themselves too often undeniably do not hold the normal rules of decency and ACCEPTABLE standard.

 

Truth 5   Furthermore each firm has its own standard but not always applicable  contracts that vary significantly  between the firms as well that too often are not detailed firstly to the customers beforehand as well during the initial contract stages

 

 My being used to producing engineering designs, reports, cost control reports I am used to put it into writing but I am next realy surprised how many persons in the governments, telecommunication industry find an excuse not to write back, ask instead to talk to me by phone, cause they do not want any evidences of their wrong doings in writing firstly. Just for example ask your phone company to send you a copy of your specific contract, your latest agreement details with them  and you will see jowl they are all reluctant to do so now. While they will even on the phone promise to do so they will next not do so generally. These people too often do know that they can lie on the phone without facing negative consequences, SO I LIKE TO FOLLOW UP ALL PHONE CONVERSATIONS, AGREEMENT  IN WRITING TO THEM https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/basic-contract-law/ 

 

With Bell backing down on Internet billing, it just might not become an election issue…  (but it probably should be) Toronto Life – ‎Mar 29, 2011‎  Bell announced a new pricing plan that would allow independent Internet service providers to buy wholesale access in large chunks without having to pass on the caps and overage charges Bell was insisting on. The hordes of angry Internet users who were outraged about the CRTC’s decision on usage-based billing (UBB) chalked up a minor win yesterday. Bell announced a new pricing plan that would allow independent Internet service providers to buy wholesale access in large chunks without having to pass on the caps and overage charges Bell was insisting on. (The previous policy could have been summed up as “do what we say and thank us for the privilege.”) Many observers, however, say it’s not enough.

Bell backs off on Internet billing Toronto Star

Bell announces good news for ISPs and bad news for its customers The Next Web

Bell pulls usage-based billing proposal from CRTC National Post (registration)

CANOE   BCE Inc. may have backtracked on its proposed usage-based Internet billing scheme but the flip-flop doesn’t change the fact that Canadians pay too much for metered web access, according to a leading e-commerce expert.–

 Zeropaid  OpenMedia.ca, a Canadian non-profit advocacy organization and outspoken critic behind the Stop the Meter campaign to stop UBB, says it is “pleased” with Bell Canada’s decision to back down.

 

 

 

 Bell , Rogers, etc are, after all, mostly federally unregulated companies,.. and these bad big businesses get the corporate tax breaks from the Conservatives too.. they should rather pay a higher tax..

    

• Bell Canada Admits Usage-Based Billing About “Monetizing Bandwidth”

 

“Canada’s Worst Cell Phone Bill” BELONGS TO BELL but it seems the other phone interent companies are not much better..

      

Virgin Mobile Canada As I have found many times in March 2011 even even weekly firsthand there is no reality between the cheap mere words of Virgin’s advertised statement for caring about the customer and next still the actual  very unsatisfactory poor Virgin Mobile Canada  customer service   provided when it comes to dealing even with a valid Virgin customer complaints.. next in six weeks now they all I had talked to at Virgin still were unable to cancel the original request of mine to my cell phone service or even to  give me a proper Virgin  finalized statement of account. and instead the Virgin customer care, the Virgin Billing and accounting departments  continued to bill me for my phone services and to disregard my requests and all of Virgin had even failed to correct their inadequacies towards me even  many times.. 

 

On 4/1/2011 12:37 PM, Virgin Mobile Canada wrote:  Hello, Paul! Marlee here with Virgin Mobile, helping you out and getting you on track as quickly as possible is what I’m all about, However, there are times when contacting support via telephone is going to be necessary. Our Member Care Team will be more than happy to provide you with any information regarding the canceled account. As per privacy policies I am not permitted to access or provide information from within an account via email. You can touch base with Member care by dialing 1-888-999-2321. Advisers are ready to help you out 8:00 am to 12:00 am EST. Monday to Saturday and 9:00 am to 10:00 pm Sunday. Thank you for contacting support via email. Have a great weekend.

 

Regards,

Marlee

VMC Team

 

 Paul [THREAD_ID:28512378]” . 

Virgin is clearly a  bunch of crappy liars and are all incompetent, pretenders, for  talked to their phone support by phone 5 days and all they did was, do lie.. they instead of cancelling my phone insisted on trying to make more money by not cancelling it.  I was promised last week by Virgin on the phone i would get my updated balance statement and the refund for my cell phone overpayment,  as well in the mail immediately mail by next week and so far I got neither.. You Virgin do all lie when you say you care about the customer and that you will service them properly even..

   

   So I now again phoned Virgin and Virgin now says in contrast that it will take up to 90 days for me to get my money back.  Virgin is stealing my money by not giving it back to me… next Virgin again promises by next week to have all of this issue resolved. Can you belive any of what they say for I do not..

 

Virgin Mobile Canada  screws up a simple cell phone and the related cell phone number cancellation procedure. Virgin Mobile Canada Customer services again  told me  today by phone that they have no power, control over the Virgin Mobile Canada billing , account procedures. statements. refunds, departments.. Now even months later from Feb 15, 2010 Virgin Mobile Canada  has not even kept any of their many last Virgin Mobile Canada promises to escalate my Virgin Mobile Canada billing statement, money refund  and on April 13, 2011 Virgin Mobile Canada BECAUSE  clearly is so incompetent they Virgin Mobile Canada that they do continually   do on the phone make useless Virgin Mobile Canada promises . Next Virgin Mobile Canada again informed me that  there is nothing else they can now even do for me cause they are the  Virgin Mobile Canada customer billing  inquiry representative and they are are only a basically useless, powerless Virgin Mobile Canada Customer billing, phone representative, and so they  Virgin Mobile Canada do not know when I will next get my due Virgin Mobile Canada credit,  my money,  my Virgin Mobile Canada cheque, my Virgin Mobile Canada final bill  in the mail, they Virgin Mobile Canada do continue to send me for moths the wrong bills, and it takes Virgin Mobile Canada 4 to 6  weeks to next  correct them so, but over 2 months had passed and they Virgin Mobile Canada have missed their original promised deadline too to do so.. so  they Virgin Mobile Canada continue to lie to me all the time.. they Virgin Mobile Canada do in writing promise you a good Virgin Mobile Canada customer service, they Virgin Mobile Canada claim they have got an award for 5 years for the best customers services, but the reality as I see it differs now  .. Now I get a new Virgin Mobile Canada promise i will get my Virgin Mobile Canada cheque 3 to six weeks from the first  week of April 2011 when my Virgin Mobile Canada account was now supposedly closed.. Virgin Mobile Canada they cannot  DO ANYTHING GOOD FOR ME HERE..The next  Virgin Mobile Canada final statement will only be billed to me on the 16 of April, plus it will take at least another 5 to 9 days and then it may be shipped to me? The Virgin Mobile Canada customer service by Virgin was, is stated to me today as being  the best in the world according to the last 5 years but my own undeniable witness and reality is that Virgin Mobile Canada statement itself as well is all crap. stating lies,  mere  useless words.. having to me no evidence of such a fact.

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… 

Bell needs to be regulated, legislated

 

Tony Clement says Ottawa will force change in Internet-fee ruling   Vancouver Sun  Industry Minister Tony Clement says his government is still determined to overrule the CRTC on Internet billing. EDMONTON — Industry Minister Tony Clement is determined to promote Canada’s digital economy — and if that means overturning last month’s CRTC decision on usage-based billing for small Internet providers, so be it. “We asked (the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to review their decision and if they come back with the same decision, the cabinet would overrule it because it wouldn’t be consistent with government policy . . . promoting competition and choice,” Clement said Wednesday, following a forum at the University of Alberta. “You can’t have competition and choice if you allow a major carrier to force its business model onto an independent service provider.”

There’s no evidence bandwidth hogs are slowing down the Internet in Canada, said  Industry Minister Tony Clement, and so far there is nothing to prove that usage-based billing would even help the network congestion if the problem did indeed exist.  “No one’s proven to me that there is congestion,” he also had said. ” Many Canadians would be concerned if bandwidth hogs are affecting their use of the Internet. But no one’s proven that’s the case.” Clement has maintained that usage-based billing, or UBB, would instead stifle competition and innovation in the telecommunications marketplace. “The CRTC decision on UBB on wholesale ISPs is simply the wrong way to proceed,” he said.The CRTC had ruled earlier this year that large Internet providers such as Bell and Rogers could force small companies that leased their bandwidth wholesale to place caps on the plans they sold to consumersbut next the fderal government had ordered that the CRTC should  go back to the drawing board on its UBB ruling following a major  outcry from many consumers and the small Internet companies affected by the billing changes. UBB was slated to come into effect March 1 but was put on hold as the CRTC reviews the ruling.

Majority of Canadians they just want  all pricing to be fair — and Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw and Videtron etc., so far have been anything but.

Ottawa to force change in Internet fee ruling, Clement says Montreal Gazette

Industry Minister says consumer remains king with digital economy iNews880.com

SYS-CON Media (press release)

all 32 news articles »

          

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/greedy-immoral-bell-canada-lies-misleads-is-crooked/

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/so-much-for-any-promised-consumer-protecton/

 

             

         

« Psst… Pass It On: Stop Usage Based Billing

Throttling PROVES that the Internet is NOT congested »

Usage Based Billing: CRTC Complaints Department

Posted by Laurel L. Russwurm on September 2, 2009

No Usage Based Billing

FIRST: I mentioned in Psst… Pass It On: Stop Usage Based Billing that everything in the Stop Usage Based Billing blog was in the public domain. It occurred to me that it might help to make this announcement a little more formal. So I have now officially registered this blog with a Creative Commons CC0 listing to place my Stop Usage Based Billing blog in the public domain. This will allow everyone the right to borrow any bits of this blog they may find useful. For letters of complaint, for example. You’ll find the creative commons badge at the bottom of this post, but applies to the entire Stop Usage Based Billing blog.

Of course the downside of registering a Creative Commons CC0is that supporters of Usage Based Billing people may attempt to use material provided in this blog in their continuing misinformation attempts.

You might ask: who in their right mind would support Usage Based Billing?

Sadly, the answer to that one is easy, the main pro-UBB lobby is of course those who expect to profit from Usage Based Billing. That is to say primarily Bell Canada, but can include everyone and every company associated with Bell Canada, including CTVglobemedia and every one they can control either through economic plums or economic sanctions. I’m sure that this type of manipulation is a lot easier during a world wide recession.

The only others supporting UBB are those who have bought into the misinformation being spread and promoted by pro Usage Based Billing lobby. There is no shame in that, after all you can’t beat the talented writers and advertising folks employed by CTVglobemedia. It’s even conceivable that some of those talented people don’t really understand the jargon and might not realize why this is such a big problem. I’d expect controlling the jargon would make it a lot easier to put your own spin on it.

I know we think of a lobbyists making a big noise to sell their cause, but when you’re lobbying for acceptance of something like Usage Based Billing which can’t possibly be supported by any rational argument, lobbying for a silence would certainly be the way to go.

If you’ve already signed the http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/ online petition, and are looking for something else to do to try and stop UBB, as a concerned Canadian it is always within your rights to make a complaint to the CRTC.

CRTC

Even if you have already submitted your comment or complaint to the CRTC specific to CRTC Ruling File Number # 8740-B2-200904989 – Bell Canada – TN 7181 to protest the CRTC’s extremely bad decision to allow Bell Canada to implement Usage Based Billing, you are still well within your rights to place another complaint through the CRTC complaints page I’ve just stumbled across on the CRTC website.

These pages offer you advice and explain the complain procedure to make it easy for Canadians to submit specific customer complaints to the CRTC in the areas of :

• television and radio (Broadcasting complaints: TV and Radio | CRTC),
• phone (Telephone service: making a complaint) including both land lines and cell phones, and
• internet service in Canada (rates, quality, access, legal actions and complaints)

I would venture a guess that a completely different group of CRTC staffers deal with the complaints made through this web form. In fact there would probably be different CRTC complaints staff sections to deal with each of the three different areas the CRTC is supposed to regulate.

At any time you can go to the CRTC online complaints department and submit a complaint here:

Ask a question or make a complaint
Send us your question or complaint about television, radio, telephone, cellphone, Internet or other services. CRTC responds to most questions within 10 working days. Find out more about how we handle complaints for Television and Radio, phone and internet.

1. Make a Complaint about Broadcasting

Perhaps you might wish to make a complaint about broadcasting. The CRTC first recommends that you complain to your broadcaster before complaining to the CRTC. This is reasonable. So first you should contact CTV and ask them why they are not covering Usage Based Billing. Remember, the CRTC first announced UBB in April, but just approved it in August. In all that time, why has CTV not covered Usage Based Billing? My most recent CTV web search came up with this:

Screenshot: CTV Usage Based Billing Search

The fact that more than six thousand Canadians have already signed the online petition calling for the dissolution of the CRTC– in spite of the apparent news blackout of Usage Based Billing– hasn’t raised a single microphone at CTV. Isn’t that a strong indication that Canadians are very are interested in the CRTC Usage Based Billing decision? Six thousand concerned Canadians would trigger CTV coverage of any other story. Yet CTV is not covering Usage Based Billing. Why?

CTV is covering the CRTC and CTV is covering news about the Canadian Internet. Here is an example in a CTV online article about the multi-billion dollar revenues generated by Canadian internet services CTV: Telecom Growth. But they are doing it selectively.

Could it be that Bell Canada isn’t allowing CTV news to cover this news? You can ask CTV news yourself. Send in your questions directly:

• to CTV news at: news@ctv.ca
• to CTV news online at: newsonline@ctv.ca
• or direct to Canada AM: am@ctv.ca

When that doesn’t work, you may send your complaint along to the to the CRTC about the fact that CTV is only selectively reporting the news to Canadians.

2. Complain about the Telephone Company

It would not be unreasonable to wonder about Bell Canada’s “confidentiality of customer records” I certainly would not trust any company who read their customer’s mail without permission, which is essentially what Bell Canada is doing with its internet “deep packet inspection”. Maybe they really are only reading the bits that say what kind of packets they are. Personally, I wouldn’t take Bell Canada’s word for it.

(Actually, its even worse than just reading their customer’s mail, they’re interfering with it too.)

Like everyone else in Canada, I’ve had issues with Bell Canada over the years. Even though they were incredibly high handed in the days of monopoly, the influx of competition seemed to make them ease up. After all. Bell Canada has always been there. Why not trust them?

Hmmmm. Not too long ago I had a problem with Bell Canada, and I ended up talking to someone in their “loyalty” department. To smooth my feathers he fixed the problem and gave me a $30.00 discount on my next bill. Then he actually told me that if I called back in three months and asked for the loyalty department and said I was going to switch to a different telephone carrier, they would give me another $30.00 discount. He also told me that Bell Canada would give me this “discount” every three months if I kept calling back.

What kind of business is Bell Canada running? I think that policy is twisted. In the first place Bell Canada is essentially bribing customers from switching to the competition. Class action suit anyone? Adding insult to insult, Bell Canada has such a low opinion of Canadian consumers that they don’t even trust us to stay bought.

If Bell Canada can afford to do this it strikes me that they are making too much money already. Lets look at this as a business practice. The first thing that really bothers me is that the Bell Canada Loyalty department is actually penalizing Bell Canada’s loyal customers. The granny who would never dream of switching doesn’t get that annual $120.00 savings because she is loyal to Bell. Call me crazy, but I just can’t figure out why Bell Canada doesn’t just improve service? Reduce charges? Compete fairly? Maybe they are so sure that they are going to get to be a monopoly again that they would rather bribe customers piecemeal as needed than clean up their act.

Personally. I would rather not deal with a company that treats its customers so shabbily. I’m going to be switching my land line to Teksavvy. The savings (yes, in fact they offer better deals than Bell Canada for telephone service too) will help my family budget for the increased internet costs that Usage Based Billing will cause us.

Warning: If you decide to do the same, make sure you call Teksavvy or whoever your new carrier is going to first. Arrange with the NEW CARRIER to arrance the transfer of service. If you do this, you will be able to port your existing Bell Telephone number to the new service. If you call Bell first and tell them you want to cancel, they are likely to disconnect you before your new service is in place, which means that you will not be able to keep the same phone number. (Just another way Bell Canada likes to mess with us

So, after you’ve talked to the phone company, you are supposed to go to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) and find your telephone companytheir list on , you are supposed to deal with them in an effort to clear up the problem.

If you don’t get satisfaction through this process, or if your company is not on the list, you can always go back and make your complaint to the CRTC.

3. Complain about Internet Service

I wouldn’t think there would be any limitation on how many complaints any one citizen is allowed to submit, so long as the topics are different. For example you could reasonably complain to the CRTC about:

• the fact that CRTC is allowing Bell Canada to implement Usage Based Billing at all 
• the fact that the CRTC would rule in favor of Usage Based Billing in the absence of any meaningful public consultation 
• the fact that the CRTC would rule in favor of Usage Based Billing without making sure that the Canadian public was informed of this sweeping change before the fact 
• the fact that CRTC is allowing Bell Canada to charge you for Usage Based Billing if you (like me) are not a Bell Canada internet customer 
• the fact that CRTC’s ruling will allow Bell Canada to increase your costs in accessing the internet 
• the fact that CRTC has jeopardized your privacy by allowing deep packet inspection of your internet usage, and
• the fact that CRTC is allowing Bell Canada to “throttle” internet use by inflating customer bandwidth, and
• the fact that this CRTC decision to allow Usage Based Billing will allow Bell Canada to fraudulently bill internet users for the Bandwidth which the customer has not actually used but which has been deliberately inflated through Bell Canada “throttling” 
• the fact that CRTC is allowing Bell Canada to implement Usage Based Billing in addition to what customers are already paying without providing any additional service to the customer to justify this increase 
• the fact that CRTC is allowing Bell Canada to implement Usage Based Billing in spite of virtually unanimous opposition from the public (the small segment of the public that found out about UBB) 
• the fact that CRTC allowed Usage Based Billing will make Canadian internet the most expensive in the world, and therefore unreasonably expensive, which is the opposit of &ldrquo;affordable&rdquo’ 
• the fact that CRTC allowed Usage Based Billing which will make internet access less accessible to Canadians due to these excessive new costs 
• the fact that CRTC allowed Usage Based Billing will damage the Canadian economy by limiting Canadian internet access for purposes of education, technology, art, music, writing, resarch, film, science, research, business etc. 
• the fact that there does not appear to be any good nor auditable way vouched for by Measurement Canada of measuring the usage in order to assess “Usage Based Billing” charges. 
• the fact that CRTC allowed Usage Based Billing will interfere in the internet consumer market to the extent of eliminating the independent ISP’s ability to compete, and
• the fact that CRTC allowed Usage Based Billing will interfere in the internet consumer market to the extent of forcing Bell Canada’s (Sympatico) competition, the independent ISP’s, to break contractual agreements with their customers, and which will certainly damage and possibly destroy these companies, which will
• effectively neutralize and wipe out all Bell Canada (Sympatico) competition. 

CRTC would like you to go through the same process as with the telephone complaint, where you try to resolve the problem with the service provider. So if you are in fact a Bell Canada (Sympatico) customer, you can direct your questions and complaints directly to Bell or the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services Inc. (CCTS) first.

Of course my problem is not with my ISP, my problem is with Bell Canada’s interference in my business relationship with my ISP and with the CRTC’s ill advised approval of Usage Based Billing. So for me, it is a case of going back to make your complaint to the CRTC. Perhaps if enough Canadians ask enough questions we will actually get real answers. Perhaps if enough Canadians complain, the CRTC will be clever enough to quash the Usage Based Billing regulation, and then consider actually adhering to their mandate.

It should be more difficult for CRTC to ignore these complaints as these complaints are supposed to be handled by a staff member within ten days. THESE consumer complaints are supposed to generate a human response. Perhaps if we help to use up their budgeted resources they might be able to grasp why it is bad to allow implementation of Usage Based Billing which will certainly affect the budgets of the Canadian citizens they are supposed to be looking out for. Maybe then the CRTC wouldn’t be so eager to completely ignore the wishes of the citizenry, as did in making this bad decision in the first place.

To the extent possible under law, Laurel L. Russwurm
has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to Stop Usage Based Billing

 http://stopusagebasedbilling.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/usage-based-billing-crtc-complaints-department/

 

Virgin Mobile Canada  screws up a simple cell phone and the related cell phone number cancellation procedure. Virgin Mobile Canada Customer services again  told me  today by phone that they have no power, control over the Virgin Mobile Canada billing , account procedures. statements. refunds, departments.. Now even months later from Feb 15, 2010 Virgin Mobile Canada  has not even kept any of their many last Virgin Mobile Canada promises to escalate my Virgin Mobile Canada billing statement, money refund  and on April 13, 2011 Virgin Mobile Canada BECAUSE  clearly is so incompetent they Virgin Mobile Canada that they do continually   do on the phone make useless Virgin Mobile Canada promises . Next Virgin Mobile Canada again informed me that  there is nothing else they can now even do for me cause they are the  Virgin Mobile Canada customer billing  inquiry representative and they are are only a basically useless, powerless Virgin Mobile Canada Customer billing, phone representative, and so they  Virgin Mobile Canada do not know when I will next get my due Virgin Mobile Canada credit,  my money,  my Virgin Mobile Canada cheque, my Virgin Mobile Canada final bill  in the mail, they Virgin Mobile Canada do continue to send me for moths the wrong bills, and it takes Virgin Mobile Canada 4 to 6  weeks to next  correct them so, but over 2 months had passed and they Virgin Mobile Canada have missed their original promised deadline too to do so.. so  they Virgin Mobile Canada continue to lie to me all the time.. they Virgin Mobile Canada do in writing promise you a good Virgin Mobile Canada customer service, they Virgin Mobile Canada claim they have got an award for 5 years for the best customers services, but the reality as I see it differs now  .. Now I get a new Virgin Mobile Canada promise i will get my Virgin Mobile Canada cheque 3 to six weeks from the first  week of April 2011 when my Virgin Mobile Canada account was now supposedly closed.. Virgin Mobile Canada they cannot  DO ANYTHING GOOD FOR ME HERE..The next  Virgin Mobile Canada final statement will only be billed to me on the 16 of April, plus it will take at least another 5 to 9 days and then it may be shipped to me? The Virgin Mobile Canada customer service by Virgin was, is stated to me today as being  the best in the world according to the last 5 years but my own undeniable witness and reality is that Virgin Mobile Canada statement itself as well is all crap. stating lies,  mere  useless words.. having to me no evidence of such a fact.

 

Clearly too greedy Bell, Rogers, Telus. Primus, Virgin they all  needs to be stopped..

 

Thanks to the nearly half-a-million people who signed the Stop The Meter Petition, the CRTC is now reviewing its decision to impose new fees on nearly all Internet users. 

Industry Minister Clement told Parliament he will not allow the same decision to be passed by the CRTC, but has not specified whether he will accept a watered-down version of that decision. We know a Big Telecom-friendly compromise is being pushed behind closed doors. If we don’t speak up now we could end up back where we started: gouged.

The easiest and the most effective way you can help right now is by sending comments to the CRTC at http://openmedia.ca/crtc.

We need to get 100,000 letters to the CRTC now so the Commission, Clement, and other key decision makers know that we will accept nothing less than a fundamental change in the way phone and cable companies operate. 

Send your letter now.

The CRTC has set up the review of usage-based billing so it avoids touching the root cause of this price gouging. They’re limiting their review so that many Canadians still end up with a pay-metered Internet. We’ve come too far to accept this. 

We’re working with some of the best public interest lawyers, citizen groups, content creators, indie ISPs, and online service providers to push the CRTC to address the underlying stranglehold big telecom companies have over communications in Canada. 

We need to back up our policy work with an undeniable show of support from the Canadian people. Please help us get to 100,000 letters of support by sending your comment in HERE.

The Internet is a bastion of Canadian culture, democracy, and innovation. Lets not let it slip away. 

For the Internet, 

The OpenMedia Team

http://openmedia.ca/

 

///

 

Those Nerds in Ottawa, Bell and the CRTC

 

Surprise, suprise.. not really   http://stopthemeter.ca/

Consumer backlash grows over usage billing Vancouver Sun – The CRTC’s decision this week to give small Internet service providers a slight break on pricing has failed to quell a growing consumer backlash over usage-based billing.

Usage-based Internet ruling draws fire Globe and Mail

Internet usage fees draw anger Montreal Gazette

Reuters – The Wire Report – National Post (registration) – Ars Technica

all 85 news articles »

The CRTC’s decision to allow large internet providers to charge for excessive bandwidth use, while granting independent internet service providers a small discount, fails to safeguard affordable access to the internet, an internet advocacy group said Tuesday.

The first thing we Canadians need to do is get rid of the CRTC . They serve no purpose at all for us Canadians , its tell to get rid of them . As a Unix systems developer for many years I can attest to how much expensive bandwidth has hurt individual Canadian developers. These companies are making billions of dollars in profits every quarter, and nickel and diming, and overcharging their customers to boot! When will we get these fat cats out of the CRTC and get someone in there that cares about ordinary Canadians instead of big business. This is a terrible decision and will cement Canada’s position among the most expensive and inferior serviced internet in the world. For us ordinary Canadians, let the milking begin. This country used to be one of the best-connected in the world; thanks to a CRTC which is owned by Bell and Rogers, we are now near the bottom of the list, with some of the slowest, most expensive Internet access on Earth — and still falling. Rather than invest in infrastructure, Bell and Rogers have simply pocketed their profits and let the infrastructure wither.This is so disappointing. Once again, the CRTC is ensuring that Canada comes dead LAST in the development of the information age.

 

I am disappointed at CRTC, they have failed in this country miserably, they don’t like to have open market and allow better service and pricing , rather they help monopoly to strive , I am going to call every government to abolish CRTC and remove it from power , it is useless company that helps only rich.

 

Now is the time to let our voices heard by those that we elect, they are supposed to serve the people and not theit interests. Please take action email your mps right away, sign the petition on face book and openmedia.ca.

 

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/01/25/tech-crtc-bandwidth.html#ixzz1CEwnALOw

I have just emailed my letter to all the mps in the list:

letter is in this format:

I’m writing to you because I am rather concerned about many of the recent rulings made by the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission. From my understanding, the CRTC was set up to regulate the market and provide at least some protection to consumers. Now, however, it appears as though they exist solely to shill for the consortium of large ISP’s such as Rogers, Bell and Cogeco, especially in the province of Ontario. Rulings such as allowing smaller ISPs to be subject to overuse fees and the more recent one regarding metered internet further demonstrate that the CRTC has no interest in consumer protection, especially when referring to internet usage.

Myself and many others believe that it is time something be done about this problem. You might have noticed a recent article by the Globe and Mail among other newspapers focusing on such issues, and Michael Geist frequently comments on such topics in his column in the Toronto Star and other newspapers as well. What I have yet to see, however, is any uproar about this in the House of Commons. Where is the intervention from our elected representatives? I assure you that many have rather strong opinions on this issue, and acting (or failing to act) on such an issue will not be forgotten come election time.

Sincerely,

The CRTC should exist to PROTECT Canadians from big, greedy, money-hungry telecom companies, not pander to them.

 This immoral price gouging internet download billing demand by Bell, Rogers, Telus exceeds all decency and it is time that the Government kills it and the governments should not subsidize at all these greedy telecommunications corporations ..       

“Only one in 20 Canadian Internet users would be affected by the CRTC’s decision to impose usage-based billing on independent Internet service providers, yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper tweeted his reservations as soon as controversy erupted.“We’re very concerned about CRTC’s decision on usage-based billing and its impact on consumers. I’ve asked for a review of the decision,” Harper tweeted Tuesday.It’s easy to see why Harper jumped into this flap with both thumbs blazing. He saw a chance to tap into widespread public anger at the country’s major telecommunications companies, which charge top-of-the-world prices in return for bottom-of-the-barrel service.

Telecommunications guru Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa told a Senate committee two years ago that Canada’s “relatively expensive” broadband-Internet plans provided “slow” Internet service, with Canada ranking near the bottom of developed countries for Internet speed. When price and speed were evaluated together, Canada ranked 28th out of 30 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in price per megabyte. “As consumers, we pay more for less,”

Canadians are right to worry that as they continue to use more bandwidth for such purposes as downloading Netflix movies, they’ll pay higher and higher prices. The Harper government has promised to quash the CRTC ruling  Usage-based pricing isn’t itself the problem. The problem is how much money major telecommunications companies are sucking from their customers. Telus, for instance, usually pulls in around $1 billion in profit per year, and in 2009 four of its executives made more than $2 million each, including $6.9 million for CEO Darren Entwhistle, according to the Vancouver Sun’s report on executive pay. Shaw Communications made about a half-billion dollars in profit in each of the past two years, and its top three executives pulled in a total of more than $32 million in compensation in 2009, the Calgary Herald reported. Outrageous corporate profiteering and executive pay are ALSO significant issues for average Canadians than usage-based Internet billing.  ” http://www.theprovince.com/business/issue+that+gets+Harper+tweeting/4223109/story.html  

see also https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/big-bad-bell/

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/those-nerds-in-ottawa-belland-the-crtc/

How B.C. activists fought off the Internet billing plan Vancouver Sun –  Steve Anderson reflects on his battle with the CRTC over Internet billing. The CRTC has announced it will review plans. A little over a week ago, most Canadians had never heard of usage-based BILLING … As the campaign spread from Vancouver to Halifax, it garnered thousands of hits on YouTube, millions of posts on everything from Twitter, to Facebook, to blogs, and it’s attracting the attention of international Internet commentators. And while its proponents were cheering Friday, the CRTC only announced it will delay implementing its decision while it conducts its own review.

Gov’t won’t accept CRTC’s Internet billing stance Edmonton Journal

Ottawa Citizen – Bloomberg – CBC.ca – Globe and Mail

CRTC vows to reassess ruling on user-based billing National Post –  CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein agreed Thursday to give a controversial ruling on user-based Internet billing a fresh look, but told a committee of MPs he stands by the underlying principle that ordinary Canadians shouldn’t subsidize heavy downloaders…  The Conservative government, however, said it would ignore any improvements the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission has to offer unless the regulator abandons attempts to put caps on Internet use.

Tony Clement, cyber champ Ottawa Citizen

Bits, bytes, bills and Bell (and Rogers and Shaw and Telus …) Globe and Mail

CBC.ca – Lethbridge Herald – Wall Street Journal – Bloomberg

all 1,101 news articles »

BELL IS STILL GETTING MUCH TOO GREEDY FOR IT’S BRITCHES TOO

 

Assurances demanded in BCE takeover of CTV Toronto Sun – QMI Agency Stakeholders in Canada’s television industry voiced their concerns of BCE Inc.’s proposed takeover of CTV to the country’s telecommunications regulator for a third day Thursday.

BCE hoarding content: Telus National Post

Industry quarrel continues over BCE’s use of benefits for satellite TV upgrade The Wire Report

Cartt.ca (subscription)

 The CRTC must reverse its decision that ends unlimited internet access plans offered by smaller internet providers or the federal government will intervene, Industry Minister Tony Clement says. Clement told reporters Thursday that he and Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent a clear signal Wednesday night “that we do expect the CRTC to reverse its decision and to basically go back to the drawing board on this issue, and if they do not do this, we wanted to make it clear cabinet would take its responsiblites to do the same.” Clement said he heard from Canadians on the issue. It’s a huge issue for a country that wants to move forward on the internet for jobs, for creativity, for innovation,” he said. “[We] felt the CRTC ruling would have a huge impact on consumers and would hurt small businesses, would hurt innovators and creators.”

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/crtc-must-reverse-internet-usage-ruling-clement-20110203-193445-929.html