As the federal government tries to figure out the future of internet rates in Canada, STU students won’t see any new limits to their access. The university is locked into a long-term contract, ensuring no changes to the connection for residence and the rest of the campus network.
Last week, Industry Minister Tony Clement told the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to reverse a decision forcing internet companies to set a cap on customer usage.
The proposed billing would have had companies set a cap on the amount of usage allowed for each customer. Anything over that allowance would cost extra.
Exact over-usage fees weren’t listed, but estimates were about $1 per gigabyte over the allowance. A gigabyte of traffic on the internet is roughly an hour on Youtube.
But while the decision won’t affect students in residence, it could affect off-campus students like Chris Gallant. He’s with Rogers, who already has internet-usage caps. Gallant lives with four other people who share the same connection. The capped usage has cost them.
“Until now, we [have] had unlimited internet and it was never an issue. Then Rogers just capped our usage without even notifying us. It wasn’t until someone mentioned we are going over our limits, and I was like, ‘What limits are you talking about?’” he said. “I looked at the bill and was stunned.
“We are at any given time…running four different devices that are connected to the internet, and already [have] had to upgrade from 25 gigs a month to 50 gigs, and that came with a steep increase in charges.”
According to Dan Hurley, manager of IT services at STU, usage-based billing would not affect students living in residence, the ones who maximize the amount of bandwidth available at all hours of the day.
“Because everyone is using Limewire and Bit Torrent, it’s maxed all of the time,” he said. “So what we have to do is manage the bandwidth to restrict peer-to-peer applications during the day… Otherwise, trying to get on the CBC website during the day would be dead in the water.”
Hurley says this is one of the main reasons why large internet companies like Bell are pushing for usage-based billing.
“They are feeling a lot of pressure around bandwidth.”
STU has companies like Bell and Rogers compete to be the university’s internet provider. Once a deal is struck, the university has a fixed rate for three years. That means that students’ residence and technology fees would not increase as a result of usage-based billing.
While large companies already use a usage-based-billing structure, this ruling would have forced smaller companies like Techsavvy who buy internet wholesale from large companies and resell it to customers who want unlimited usage. The CRTC’s decision would have forced these smaller companies to cap customers’ usage as well.
The big telecom companies argue that customers using more bandwidth should pay extra because they are doing more damage to the system. It’s like 18-wheeler trucks paying more at toll booth – it’s the same road for both a car and a truck, but a truck does more damage and therefore pays more.
Mike Carter, a fifth-year sociology student at STU, says he won’t be driving any vehicle if the cost goes up. He says he would have to cut his internet off if he was charged extra.
“I would not be able to afford it and would probably end up on campus a lot more using the internet here,” he said. “If a lot of people do this, the internet could slow down on campus.”
And because of the recent change in copyright laws that forces professors to post class material online, some students can’t help how much time they spend online.
“I am constantly on the internet doing different readings for all of my classes,” said Elizabeth Fraser, a third-year English student. “Nowadays, most of my homework consists of Googling.”
The CRTC’s final decision has yet to be made. The CRTC is appointed board of regulators of Canadian radio and television. When one of its decisions causes public unrest, the government has the final say. The board will present a revised proposal in two months.
