The Great Usage-based Billing Fiasco: CRTC’s saga in 13 chapters

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since November, you’ve heard of the great usage-based billing debacle—how the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled in favour of major internet service providers charging by the byte, effectively obliterating the freedom of unlimited internet plans and doubling many Canadian’s monthly bills. We look back at this saga—which is only one of many to come, we’re certain—in 13 articles from early December to just last week.

The Beginnings

• City of Vancouver not too happy with CRTC’s decision on Internet metering

• Internet service providers not happy with CRTC’s competition-killing decision

• Opponents to usage-based billing working to appeal CRTC decision

• How usage based billing will affect you

In the Storm

• Petition to stop usage-based billing reaches almost 190,000 signatures

• ‘Stop the Meter’ petition explodes past 200k signatures, Canadian governments each take a stance

• War Rages On: Chairman of CRTC to face committee of MPs over UBB as petition sigs near 400,000

• Stephen Harper: Yes, we’ll review the CRTC’s decision on usage-based billing

• Confirmed: CRTC will repeal decision on UBB or Conservatives will do it for them

The Aftermath

• Far From Over: The fate of Canada’s telecom industry sits on a wobbly fence – and everyone is in danger

• Four things we’ve learned from CRTC’s usage-based billing debacle

• A Tale of 25 Gigabytes: What is the future of Internet usage for Canadians?

• Far From Over: The fate of Canada’s telecom industry sits on a wobbly fence – and everyone is in danger