Bell Canada has decided to drop usage based billing in response to the consumer backlash. They have decided to propose an alternative wholesale internet service pricing scheme, “Aggregated Volume Pricing“.
Details on Bell Canada‘s proposal can be found by clicking here.
Netflix Canada has decided to offer additional options to their customers in response to the usage based billing issues.
Canadian subcribers will now be able to access additional options when it comes to the quality of the videos they stream from Netflix in order to reduce their consumption of bandwidth.
According to Netflix, they will now offer three levels of video quality to their Canadian customers :
On the Best setting transfers will fluctuate depending on if the content is in HD and/or whether there is congestion. This means 30 hours of non-HD content on the Best setting will translate to about 31 gigabites of data.
It should be noted that American and Canadian television episodes from before 2009 are not likely going to be available in HD, so people who enjoy watching this content can use the Best setting. And several films on Netflix are not available in HD as well, including many by Paramount, who have just signed onto the service in Canada.
The CBC has reported that HMV Canada may be sold by Maidstone, England based HMV Group PLC to pay for a $200 Million dollar debt.
The company claims that they have not discussed the sale to a potential buyer yet.
The Copyright Modernization Act has died because of today’s non-confidence vote.
Bill C-32 had been proposed by Tony Clement, the Minister of Industry, and had referred to a Legislative Committee headed by Gordon Brown, MP for Leeds—Grenville (Ontario).
Hopefully it will be re-introduced minus some of the more questionable Digital Lock restrictions.
Click here to view an interesting Youtube video explaining usage based billing and the related issues.
Unlike gift cards issued by retailers in Canada, prepaid credit cards can expire. And there are a multitude of fees that eat away at your balance, including activation fees and transaction fees.
Some even have fees from $1.50 to $2.50 a month on cards that carry a balance more than six or seven months.
So be careful. If you absolutely must get a pre-paid credit card or credit card branded gift card, tell the recipient that he or she needs to use it as soon as possible, well before six months after activation.