Quake3World

Canada deemed "Third World" in Broadband Internet rating by Netflix

It is a joke for some. My net package is capped, but i'll never hit 750GB

what happened to you canada? you used to be cool...

so a guy from netflix thinks canadian download caps are "almost a human rights violation", but forgets to mention that he thinks this because download caps limit the number of movies canadians can rent from netflix, thereby restricting the profits to be made from canadian customers

by netflix

intredasting...

Yeah but he's totally right.

Although I have one of the cheapest broadband connections I can get (which is still 50$ a month) and I watch netflix and I've never run into any problems. The connection sucks ass though, it's slow as fuck.

seremtan wrote:so a guy from netflix thinks canadian download caps are "almost a human rights violation", but forgets to mention that he thinks this because download caps limit the number of movies canadians can rent from netflix, thereby restricting the profits to be made from canadian customers

by netflix

intredasting...

Not quite. You don't rent Netflix movies; you pay a monthly fee to stream them. They've had to lower the quality of the Canadian streams though because they were concerned about customer growth due to the limitations of how much you could actually stream in a month before going over your cap.

he's talking about caps not speeds

not that i'm defending low bb caps or anything, but describing them as "almost a human rights violation" is like describing paris as "almost on mars" - it's fucking retarded, even more so because of this guy's obvious commercial interest

seremtan wrote:...it's fucking retarded, even more so because of this guy's obvious commercial interest

Yes.

While I agree that Canada's broadband lags (ha!) behind most of Europe and download caps are fucking retarded, it really hasn't impacted me at all. I'm on 70 mbit, I watch nothing but HD streams from everywhere and I torrent like a mutherfucker but I've yet to reach my monthly cap...ever.

I have to say Netflix lowering quality of the Canadian streams is pretty retarded considering 99% of people in this country have a larger cap that 15 GB...the option for HD should be there for Canadian custromers regardless.

seremtan wrote:this guy's obvious commercial interest

Obvious point is obvious and he's clearly exaggerating, but he has a right to be angry as Netflix deals with unfair competition. The big 3 ISP's Bell/Rogers/Shaw each have a big hand in monopolizing the cable/satellite TV market. Low caps are anti-competitive to any company offering any type of online subscription services, particularly one who would partially compete with the television market. It's like the ISP's are competing with Netflix in a bicycle race but since the ISP's also own the bicycle factory, they hand Netflix a rusty old unicycle with just a seat-post and no seat.

Bell's ISP offerings are laughable. Their cheapest service is $40.95/mo. (after you read the fine print) and that gets you 5 down/1 up with a 15GB cap. They charge $2.50 for each GB after your cap, something that costs them less than $0.10 to provide.


GFY, Netflix has a selectable option to use either low or high quality streams. They just set low as the default for Canadians. Sure you can get faster speeds/higher caps if you're willing to spend more for it, but the issue is that Canadians really aren't getting a good value for what they are paying for. The best option is to get a third party reseller, but even those companies are at the mercy of the big 3 who own all the infrastructure.

obsidian wrote:Sure you can get faster speeds/higher caps if you're willing to spend more for it, but the issue is that Canadians really aren't getting a good value for what they are paying for.

Oh for sure, it's retarded and way overpriced. It really became apparent to me back in 2008 when I returned from Europe and it's "download-whatever-the-fuck-you-want" approach. My European friends who moved here all say Canada's internet is a joke. But what are you going to do in an age of corporate mergers and aquisitions taking all the players in the game? People bitch about communism lowering customer choice and those fools never consider the same problem exists for capitalist monopolies. It's a mess no matter how you slice it.

But let's be honest (and really fucking cynical) here: the market has sorta spoken as Canadians have more than indicated the cost-to-value ratio acceptable as they keep paying the bills. They all bitch they wish it was cheaper and less dickish, but they keep paying the bills. Maybe if every Canadian suddenly cancelled their internet demanding better value something would change, but it won't.

Yeah and that's not completely ridiculous statement.

As it stands now, most ISP's in Canada are being sued anyway for their billing habits. I just hope they get sued again for this bullshit.

obsidian wrote:

seremtan wrote: GFY, Netflix has a selectable option to use either low or high quality streams.

Good clarification, thanks.

GONNAFISTYA wrote:They all bitch they wish it was cheaper and less dickish, but they keep paying the bills.

Of course. Not having an Internet connection at all is no option for most people.