O Canada! > Canadian > Canadian Broadband > Velcom, Acanac, price change, when ?

reply to flafson

Re: Velcom, Acanac, price change, when ?

The difference isn't that it is forced or not.

The main differences are that:

-Bell's throttling is discriminatory. It selects only some types of traffic.
-Bell's throttling isn't based on needs. It can kicks in even when there is no congestion.
-Bell's throttling applies to 3rd party who paid for unlimited, unthrottled internet. This is the worse part actually. Changing the rules in the middle of a contract is not fair.
-Bell's throttling is ridiculously slow (30KiB/s) so we might as well say that traffic is blocked.
-is an abuse of monopolistic power to limit the competition

Acanac's, on the other hand:

-makes no traffic discrimination
-is based on needs
-applies only to users who signed for this service being aware of the conditions
-is still fast (half the top speed)
-Acanac is a small player and you have plenty of other options

reply to Joseppi
With bell throttling, you were paying for a full speed connection and were getting a fraction of the speed for torrents. Acanac's pricing is based on lowering the speed during peak hours so you get what you paid for. They charge 53$ (47$ if on 1-year term) for the 16/1 DSL while others will ask for around 60$. So you have the choice to pay less and accept the lower speed for a few hours each day and go elsewhere, but pay more.

reply to zorxd
It is very well said, zorxd. I consider it as legit traffic management. IMO, this should offer fairness to all users in a resource constraint (in busy time) network, such as high multi-thread session (e.g. bt) from one user cannot over take too much bandwidth from low multi-thread session (e.g. file download, web browsing) from another user. I suppose the performance of low thread count apps may even get improved by this measure during busy time. Keep in mind, those ISPs who do not throttle also rely on statistical multiplexing.

The exact wording is not that really important, at least for me or maybe tech oriented people. It is what the actual execution matters. So far I don't have any problem with it, especially Acanac prices the service effectively based on the worst case when comparing with the equivalent trim from other ISPs. It is where the "value" comes from. So if one need 15mbps unlimited, why not order 30mbps from acanac, and he/she can enjoy higher speed outside the worst time. If he/she need 30mbps (especially, all the time), one will order from other providers.

In addition, this is exactly what Bell, etc. are afraid of if capability-based billing is adopted. Acanac can pay minimum to those big guys while maintaining well acceptable and unlimited trim for us. And the saving is (partially) passed to its users by the strategic pricing scheme. I consider this is the way we keep fighting against big guys.

Anyway, let's see how it goes when the on-demand throttling kicks in. I suggested to put clear explanation to the mechanism on Acanac's website. But if it is beneficial, it should be great that a user can see the real-time throttling level and/or its historical data on that page. And when the worst case of a day exceeds two hours, then it may be the time to order more capacity.

reply to zorxd

would the prices for QC be out soon?

before the work day is done?

thanks

reply to Joseppi
The speed limit is part of the package, meaning if you try to bypass it anyway your like breaking some sort of legal thing i'd assume. Im not sure

reply to Joseppi

reply to SiMSiN

reply to zorxd
Ok maybe I'm being stupid and not understanding a thing:

Say Bell has the ability to offer speeds at 25Mbps with 7Mbps upload. They also sell a 16Mbps/1Mbps version, and a 10Mbps etc version. Isn't the 16Mbps version just a throttled 25Mbps connection? Isn't any slow connection a throttled version of their faster ones? If so, then I am not complaining that I only get 16Mbps because that is what I'm PAYING for. If I wanted to get 25Mbps, I would pay for that.

If I pay for Acanac service and it's 30Mbps during X and Y hours, and 15Mbps during Y and Z hours, then that's what I'm paying for. Sure it's "throttled" but I don't see why people are taking it so negatively when it's just their way of offering the speed at a price they can afford. The rates and hours are clearly marked, so it's not like they're descriminating against certain types of traffic and throttling it down to nothing like Bell does with torrent or whatever. And sure, there are ways around Bell's torrent throttle, but I have no way around the fact that they're giving me 16Mbps when I could have 25Mbps. That's what I signed up for though so why would I be angry about that?

Ok so... if speed profiles are set based on the profile you pay for, why is it OK to pay for a 15Mbps line or a 30Mbps line, but not ok to pay for a line that's 30Mbps between certain hours and 15Mbps between other hours? Why is one seen as normal, and only the other one considered throttling?

reply to Hazelsmrf

reply to Hazelsmrf

Ah ok, understood.

Anyways I don't get why people are so worked up over this, it's good to have options. I am currently paying a lot of money in overages on the Bell 16Mbps line, so I would go with Acanac and a 30Mbps unlimited line, pay half the price I'm currently paying, and get about the speed that I currently get *or more*. The more is just a bonus to me.

Yea i feel like the negative connotations are coming from Acanac using the wrong words: throttling instead of using speed limit or something. Throttling is shapeing of traffic which means the ISP plays with your connection and f*cks some of the things you do with it. The limit will not f*ck with anything you do it will only limit total speed for a limited time. Also bell used throttling without our consent whereas acanac is making it very clear what you are signing up for. Personally to save 10-15$/month i will accept reduced speeds for 5 hrs out of 24.

I like this initiative. Now cant wait for the damned prices!

reply to Hazelsmrf