Shaw charging for overages

[Tom]

Looks like shaw'll be the first to start charging you for excess usage.

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Internet/internetdatausage

Likely as a result of the CRTC oking it for Bell.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/10/28/crtc-usage-based-billing-internet.html

[Thorin]

Looks like shaw'll be the first to start charging you for excess usage.

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Internet/internetdatausage

That link gives:

Thank you for your interest in Shaw's Internet Data Usage policies. Please stay tuned as we develop information specific to your area on this topic.

What was it supposed to say that you wanted to point out?

Also, on the thought of capped plans with charges for overages, I'll play the wait-and-see game.  I'm happy to jump ship to another provider if they provide a better/cheaper/higher-cap plan.

Still, I wouldn't mind getting Swedish-level internet access (100mb down, 100mb up?  What?!).

[Darren Dirt]

Looks like shaw'll be the first to start charging you for excess usage.

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Internet/internetdatausage

That link gives:

Thank you for your interest in Shaw's Internet Data Usage policies. Please stay tuned as we develop information specific to your area on this topic.

What was it supposed to say that you wanted to point out?

CONSPIRACY! MEMORY HOLE COVERUP!


http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Internet/High-Speed/ "75 GB/month data transfer" <-- was that always there?



from the 2nd link (CBC story)

Customers using the fastest connections of five megabits per second, for example, will have a monthly allotment of 60 GB, beyond which Bell will charge $1.12 per GB to a maximum of $22.50.

So someone exceeds the 60 GB, how fast will they hit the 80 GB "max" and then say "screw it, I'm gonna use 299 GB this month!" methinks that's the plan, it's like a built-in $22.50 surcharge for most young-and-stupid customers.

[Tom]

Looks like shaw'll be the first to start charging you for excess usage.

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Internet/internetdatausage

That link gives:

Thank you for your interest in Shaw's Internet Data Usage policies. Please stay tuned as we develop information specific to your area on this topic.

What was it supposed to say that you wanted to point out?

It shows quite a lot of info for me.

High Speed Lite: 13G/mo
High Speed: 75G/mo
Extreme: 125G/mo
Warp: 250G/mo
Nitro: 500G/mo

BW Packs:
10G/$5/mo
60G/$20/mo
250G/$50/mo

as well as:

A charge of $2.00/GB for our High-Speed Lite and High-Speed Internet service, $1.00/GB for our Extreme, Warp and Nitro Internet services will be applied for usage beyond what is included in the Internet package subscribed to.

It does seem that shaw is treating Edmonton as a test bed. So if you're not /in/ Edmonton it may not even show this information. Or maybe not on shaw...

[Darren Dirt]

It shows quite a lot of info for me.

High Speed Lite: 13G/mo
High Speed: 75G/mo
Extreme: 125G/mo
Warp: 250G/mo
Nitro: 500G/mo

BW Packs:
10G/$5/mo
60G/$20/mo
250G/$50/mo

the link in the OP ( http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Internet/internetdatausage ) is "down" for now, apparently, essentially saying "under construction/rewriting" or similar.

Not sure how Tom is seeing those details he posted above ( different link? ).


edit: I found similar info here: http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/AboutShaw/TermsofUse/AcceptableUsePolicyInternet.htm#q8

[Darren Dirt]

So if you're not /in/ Edmonton it may not even show this information. Or maybe not on shaw...

I just used LogMeIn to hit my home computer. In Edmtonton. On Shaw. Still the same "Thank you...plase stay tuned." blurb. Just like here at GoA.

edit: U guess you gotta click the dropdowns then click GO, how stupid, I thought since my home service IS shaw, that they would do some of kind of lookup i.e. "is the visitor's computer in our IP range? Then let's see where they're hitting us from!"

verbiage now visible at home. and here at GoA.

methinks the UI police need to smack someone around at Shaw dev central, as putting a distracting Flash banner ad just BELOW a dropdown that lets you "localize" content that covers the rest of the page = fail.

[Tom]

flashblock ftw

[Thorin]

What I saw, attached.  I highlighted in red where Darren said the locale selector should be.  Apparently I'd set my locale as St Albert some other day in the past, and it remembered.

I switched my locale to Edmonton, and then saw what you said you saw.

Nice of them to have different views for different locales without showing what locale I'm considered to be viewing from.

[Thorin]

I guess we'll need to start watching our data usage...  I wouldn't mind if they gave a discount to people who use _less_ than the cap.  Then it'd be true pay-for-use, rather than flat-fee-with-a-penalty.

[Tom]

Yeah, their site sucks.

[Lazybones]

No limit policy for my local yet.

[Darren Dirt]

I guess we'll need to start watching our data usage...  I wouldn't mind if they gave a discount to people who use _less_ than the cap.  Then it'd be true pay-for-use, rather than flat-fee-with-a-penalty.

No phucking kidding.

Also, Thorin nailed it ... I like NEVER hit more than a dozen GB per month, unless I'm in a "big download" mood which is really rare. And yet they aren't even offering a "reduced rate with a low cap, then a per-GB penalty above that", nope they just add the penalty, and tbh I don't see an easy place to find out your current/projected usage.

[Tom]

I guess we'll need to start watching our data usage...  I wouldn't mind if they gave a discount to people who use _less_ than the cap.  Then it'd be true pay-for-use, rather than flat-fee-with-a-penalty.

No phucking kidding.

Also, Thorin nailed it ... I like NEVER hit more than a dozen GB per month, unless I'm in a "big download" mood which is really rare. And yet they aren't even offering a "reduced rate with a low cap, then a per-GB penalty above that", nope they just add the penalty, and tbh I don't see an easy place to find out your current/projected usage.

They apparently will send you an email, and possibly call when you're getting close to your limit. Then they do the same when you hit it, and again when you go X amount over iirc. And at that point a graph or meter should appear on secure.shaw.ca afaik. They've apparently redone their entire metering stuff, to make sure its "super accurate".

[Thorin]

I guess we'll need to start watching our data usage...  I wouldn't mind if they gave a discount to people who use _less_ than the cap.  Then it'd be true pay-for-use, rather than flat-fee-with-a-penalty.

No phucking kidding.

Also, Thorin nailed it ... I like NEVER hit more than a dozen GB per month, unless I'm in a "big download" mood which is really rare. And yet they aren't even offering a "reduced rate with a low cap, then a per-GB penalty above that", nope they just add the penalty, and tbh I don't see an easy place to find out your current/projected usage.

You can get a low rate with a low cap, but the problem is that it's also low speed.  For instance, High Speed Lite is a mere 13GB cap.  In truth, there's no reason now to tie speed to price of the package - Give everyone the same download speed, and simply charge more for higher caps, or even just charge for actual usage.

When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, though, charging for actual usage is ridiculous.  The hardware can support X amount of bytes transferring through it.  When people aren't maxing out the hardware, those extra bytes don't get saved up to be used later.  It's not like gasoline, or gas to heat your house, or water.  I'm with the commenters on the original article about Bell - this is just one more way to grab extra money by companies that are already flush with cash.  Too bad it's such a big investment to build out your own network, otherwise we might see someone start up a new company to challenge the big players.

[Mr. Analog]

This page is showing me nothing but advertising garbage WTF?