Why does it take such a long time to post photos or videos to Facebook, Youtube, etc.?

This post is intended to inform the less technically knowledgeable about how this stuff works. If you live in Canada or the USA, then this will probably sound familiar to you.

Internet in Canada just isn't what it used to be

The internet in Canada. About 10-15 years back when we used to use dial-up, there was a 5-15 hour limit on how much you can use the internet. When DSL and cable internet came along, limits were scrapped and you could use the internet as much as you want. But then our major cable and phone companies put usage limits on their internet services, bringing us backwards...

The UBB sitch (or why we will pay up to 300% more for internet access)

Before I go on, it stands for Usage Based Billing, because I'm sure many of you were confused by the acronym.

Chances are, some of you may read the title, and think it doesn't affect you. If you're Canadian, give it a chance and read this. If you're American, I don't think this is much of a problem now, but may be in the future.

Bell Canada introduces a new tier and new names. Brings many lies along with it.

Two days ago, Bell Canada introduced a new internet tier in Ontario and Quebec. Aside from that, they renamed their Performance tier and Max tiers. They are now called "Fibe" and there's also a new tier called "Fibe 25".

Now, the name "Fibe" sounds an awful lot like "fiber", doesn't it? In fact, you'd probably think it is fiber. Nope. Bell just uses FTTN (Fiber To The Node) which connects what's called a "remote" to the central office via fiber optic cabling. From the remote, the data gets to/from your modem via ADSL/ADSL2+/VDSL2+.

I'm pissed off... again! Useless regulator.

Well, everyone's favourite Canadian Regulator, or should I say deregulator, the CRTC, has decided on their foreign ownership decision for Globalive. The decision, was that Globalive/Wind Mobile does not meet Canadian ownership rules.

Globalive is a Canadian company that participated in an auction last year for wireless spectrum to provide new competition in Canada. They got lots of money from an Egyptian company called Orascom. Before they started preparing for their wireless services, Industry Canada approved Globalive and Orascom's joint venture. They managed to get spectrum in all provinces except for Quebec, where Quebecor (Videotron) beat their bid. Globalive's wireless service is known as Wind Mobile.

Help to keep broadband competitive in Canada.

Earlier today, I received an email from my ISP (Internet Service Provider) TekSavvy Solutions Inc. . In short, it states that the CRTC recently made an interim decision that would likely cause all wholesale ISPs to go out of business. This would leave us with only Telus and Shaw in B.C. and Alberta, Bell and Rogers/Cogeco in Ontario, and Bell and Videotron/Cogeco in Quebec.

With no competition, they would be able to use DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) to detect the sites you view and create direct advertising in your browser based on your site views and file downloads. Using these same technologies, they could also turn the internet into a pay-per-website service similar to how you pay for different TV channels.

Go to the website mentioned within their email to send a message via email to Industry Minister Tony Clement, Prime Minister Harper, Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff, and your MP. The website describes the issue in a nutshell, and gives multiple reasons why cabinet should reverse the decision.

See the body of the email after the jump.

It has begun!

I am now lame as I now have a blog. It'll mostly be about Linux, Mac, and Windows, but I'll also probably post about how much I hate the Canadian oligopolies/monopolies/conglomerates.