When coming to Oz and investigating broadband access I was appalled at the prices. Prices were based on the amount of data you downloaded and speed. Coming from Toronto where I have had broadband in my home since 1999 and initial speed of 1.5MB and then 3MB with no data restrictions it was a shock to me.
Since being in Oz I have learned that both cable (Rogers) and ADSL(Bell) providers have started having data caps and charging for excess data usage. As well as increasing prices for plans.
The reason for this in Canada is high usage of bandwidth for things such as Bittorent downloads (movies, music, programs) and other heavy bandwidth usage like online videos.
The reasons Oz have high costs is because of their location and infrastructure - it’s a big country. The ISPs are charging costs that are viable to do business and now Canadian companies are doing the same.
In Oz I pay $50 a month for a 16GB plan with a speed of 1.5MB. My ISP also offers off-peak data period between 1am – 9am where only 50% of data is counted. It meets my needs and that includes a lot of downloading.
I wonder if having not lived in Oz if I would have had the same reaction to data caps and price increases now being introduced in Canada.
The world is changing and one thing that doesn’t change is a company’s bottom dollar. If it costs more to do business then that cost is passed on to the customer. It happened here in Oz and I switched to another ISP to maximize my spending dollar.
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