Jamie Klinger

Low turnout symbolizing the Internet Caps forced Prime Minister Harper to put his fist down against the CRTC and overturn their unjust decision! Ok, so Harper decided to overturn the decision a few days ago before the rally happened, but we had already organized a rally and nothing has been confirmed by our ‘oh-so-reliable’ government so as opposed to sitting on our hands and doing nothing, we might as well gather, express some ideas about why what we’re doing is important, and talk about a few next steps. So a big thank you to all of those that organized and participated in this wonderful rally!

Alexandre L’Heureux posted some of his photos from the rally on imgur (including this one right above).

And a grand shoutout to the two beautiful redditors who treated me to lunch! Thank you! You’re coming over to play Settlers, eat vegan food and jam real soon!

Here’s the email I received from Primus today which is a lot nicer than the last one:

Dear ______________,

In light of the CRTC’s recent announcement to review their decision and delay the implementation of Usage Based Billing, Primus will not implement usage caps on our Internet service at this time, pending final direction from the CRTC. In the meantime, Primus is pleased to continue to offer unlimited Internet services to all of our customers.

For customers who purchased and were billed for additional usage plans, credits will be issued. If you have not yet been billed, we will remove the plans from your account.

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Care at 1-800-806-3273.

Thank you for choosing Primus.

Sincerely,

Primus Canada

Dear __________,

As you may have heard, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has recently approved Bell Canada’s request to introduce Usage Based Billing on wholesale Internet services.

The CRTC’s decision directly affects the High-Speed Internet service provided to you by Primus Canada and, unfortunately, the newly associated costs to Primus make the unlimited Internet service you are now enjoying no longer financially viable. This serves as 30 days notice that beginning February 1, 2011 there will be changes to your Internet service provided by Primus.

As a result, the following changes will apply commencing your February invoice:

Your existing High Speed Internet plan will now have 60GB of monthly usage included
For the minority of customers who exceed this amount, additional usage up to 300GB will be charged at $2.50/GB to a maximum of $60.00/month. Usage in excess of 300GB per month will be charged an additional $1.10/GB
Additional Usage Plans can be purchased starting at $5/month for an additional 40GB

Your Primus High Speed Internet service usage during the month of November 2010 was:

_______ GB

You can check your monthly Internet usage and buy additional usage, by visiting:

https://ecare.primustel.ca/

For more information, please visit www.primus.ca/qu/ubb or call 1 888-280-5001.

Thank you for your understanding and for choosing Primus.

Sincerely,

Primus Canada

In this neatly put together article by TorrentFreak, it explains how Rogers, while attempting to throttle P2P networks ended up throttling their entire system slowing down Internet for everyone.

After months of complains (since September) and complaints filed with the CRTC, they decide simply to change their policy instead of fixing the problem. Nice one, Rogers. Great doing business with you.