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  1. #1
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    Would this be illegal?

    I think I know my answer already

    Problem: It's mid month and I just received notice from my Canadian ISP that I'm 75% towards my monthly bandwidth cap.

    Solution 1: Instead of paying my current $50 per month, I'd need to move to the $99 plan which includes an extra 40GB per month of bandwidth (current monthly limit is 60GB). However, I'm not willing to do this.

    Solution 2: Create a website that allows users to register and share unused bandwidth with other people close to their geo location.

    For example, last month I wanted to download the game Witcher 2 from Steam. 16GB download. I only had roughly 8GB left on my limit for the month. I ended up next door at my neighbours asking if I could download it using their account. They had no issues.

    Now What if I could find other users in my situation and we could all work together?

    Would this be illegal?
    Last edited by Mekhu; 06-14-2011 at 01:36 PM.

  2. #2
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    Are you with cable or DSL? I'm not sure how Cable works but with DSL it tracks the usage by your DSL number (the line) and not your account name. cable could be traced by modem...
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  3. #3
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    I don't see any problem in it as I've done it in the past but terms and conditions differ from ISP to ISP so its better to check with your ISP.
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  4. #4
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    It is not illegal, but chances are it is against TOS of your ISP. If you look at their terms there should be something there about connection sharing but his would be impossible for them to enforce.

    Maybe it is good time to shop around for new ISP. Currently some people around here (Canada East) are pissed at local ISP for having cap at 250G. Their slow connection (20Mbps for about $50/month) is not capped but their faster ones (40 and 100 Mbps) are.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by sasha View Post
    It is not illegal, but chances are it is against TOS of your ISP. If you look at their terms there should be something there about connection sharing but his would be impossible for them to enforce.

    Maybe it is good time to shop around for new ISP. Currently some people around here (Canada East) are pissed at local ISP for having cap at 250G. Their slow connection (20Mbps for about $50/month) is not capped but their faster ones (40 and 100 Mbps) are.
    250GB limit would be a DREAM. I think what has me so damn angry right now is that everything I'm doing towards my cap is 100% legal. Netflix, Steam games, YouTube, my business, etc.

    I'll start shopping around immediately. I had DSL once before in this house a few years back but I couldn't reach the 1.2 meg download speeds I get with my Rogers (cable) account.

    As for the idea, obviously such a system in public would get abused beyond words, lead to legal issues, yada yada. However, I do think I'll be speaking with everyone within my area. I know I can reach 11-15 networks from this PC on any given day. That's likely a lot of wasted bandwidth going unused.

  6. #6
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    god i love my uncapped 100/100 net.

  7. #7
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    This trend toward residential caps is disturbing. AT&T is doing it here in the U.S., at around 150GB per month as the cap.

    A mere 60GB per month at your ISP?! Insane...

    -mike
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  8. #8
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    I am all for caps, pay as per usage. ISP need to guarantee us the speed.

    Regarding solution-2, if enough people share their bandwidth then ISP will need to raise their prices. But most people will not bother and pay the extra surcharge.

    The op could share a wireless connection with the neighbors.

  9. #9
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    Similarly I had thought of sharing my digital subscriptions with users. I want to read WSJ, NYtimes, and Economist. People can save costs if they share. But by giving access to strangers, my personal info like credit card will be known.

  10. #10
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    Technically each person who buys internet service is responsible for what they do with it. So if they voluntarily let you come over to download something, there shouldn't be a problem.

    Just make sure you aren't telling your neighbours to burn a copy of something and give it to all of the people in the group. Then you're dealing with copyright issues.

    If you're from TO, you should look into Teksavvy (cable or DSL). I've had them at my house for over 3 years with no issues, and it comes standard with 300gb cap.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by hellind2 View Post
    The op could share a wireless connection with the neighbors.
    People still use cables!?!? Definitely talking about wireless.

    Quote Originally Posted by media-hosts_com View Post
    Technically each person who buys internet service is responsible for what they do with it. So if they voluntarily let you come over to download something, there shouldn't be a problem.

    Just make sure you aren't telling your neighbours to burn a copy of something and give it to all of the people in the group. Then you're dealing with copyright issues.

    If you're from TO, you should look into Teksavvy (cable or DSL). I've had them at my house for over 3 years with no issues, and it comes standard with 300gb cap.
    1. Just snagged their password, connected and then downloaded. Called them when I was done.

    2. Once Napster went down, I was screwed

    3. I'm indeed near T.O. I'm checking them now! [edit] Booo. Not available. However, http://www.acanac.ca/cable.html looks like a good option! That's who I had my DSL with... had no idea they did Cable. [another edit]Acanac is NOT available here. UGH. See, Rogers has a Monopoly on this area. Such BS.
    Last edited by Mekhu; 06-15-2011 at 04:24 AM.

  12. #12
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    It's absolutely ridiculous how people are being capped like this. If you like to play games, then you're screwed. There are few games today that are less than 4-8GB. You pay $200 for 4 games and $100 extra in overage fees.

  13. #13
    Didn't know Canadian ISP's sucked that much...And they overcharge so much

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnJ View Post
    It's absolutely ridiculous how people are being capped like this. If you like to play games, then you're screwed. There are few games today that are less than 4-8GB. You pay $200 for 4 games and $100 extra in overage fees.
    Amen John! My wife calls me our 4th kid... I love my games

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mekhu View Post
    Amen John! My wife calls me our 4th kid... I love my games
    I know that if my local ISP set limits I'd be in a pickle.

  16. #16
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    illegal no but most likely against there terms so you risk your access being suspended

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike - Limestone View Post
    This trend toward residential caps is disturbing. AT&T is doing it here in the U.S., at around 150GB per month as the cap.

    A mere 60GB per month at your ISP?! Insane...

    -mike
    I work for a decent-sized ISP/Telco, 90% of our customers use less than 20GB per month. As it turns out, not everyone uses the Internet like you or I. Believe me, I still find that number hard to swallow myself.

    Being an ISP is, generally speaking, not a hugely profitable endeavor. Caps are in place to help keep costs from running away and driving up prices for the majority of users.

    No one is standing around throwing around fistfuls of cash and maniacally laughing while making up arbitrary bandwidth policies . . . well at least not here anyway.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by [CTI] Todd View Post
    I work for a decent-sized ISP/Telco, 90% of our customers use less than 20GB per month. As it turns out, not everyone uses the Internet like you or I. Believe me, I still find that number hard to swallow myself.

    Being an ISP is, generally speaking, not a hugely profitable endeavor. Caps are in place to help keep costs from running away and driving up prices for the majority of users.

    No one is standing around throwing around fistfuls of cash and maniacally laughing while making up arbitrary bandwidth policies . . . well at least not here anyway.
    Honestly, I have a hard time believing that caps are in place just to keep costs in check. My belief is that without caps, cable and telephone companies would go tits up. 2010 was the first year ever where legal content bandwidth outweighed illegal. This was largely due to Netflix. That's gotta scare the crap out of these North American Telco companies.

    Anyways... I hope one day I'll see the speeds and limits we SHOULD be experiencing...

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by [CTI] Todd View Post
    I work for a decent-sized ISP/Telco, 90% of our customers use less than 20GB per month. As it turns out, not everyone uses the Internet like you or I. Believe me, I still find that number hard to swallow myself.
    I agree completely. A lot of residential users have very little bandwidth. But I suppose I would be interested in knowing what AT&T and the other big companies want to charge us residential heavy-users. $100 per month? $300 per month? $500 per month?

    Ultimately the residential caps either seem like a message of "pay us more" or "leave our network" directed at the heavy users.

    Sometimes it just feels that our residential infrastructure hasn't really evolved... Back in the Twin Cities in the '90s (prior to Texas!), I was able to get unmetered cable/dsl Internet for around $40 or $45 a month. Now everything is going capped, and I wonder if the last 10 years have truly shown much innovation. I hate to think that the telecom infrastructure shows no innovation, and that we should just expect inflation-type price increases of 3+% annually without any positive changes (...and with caps now?!).

    -mike
    Last edited by Mike - Limestone; 06-16-2011 at 12:14 AM.
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike - Limestone View Post
    Sometimes it just feels that our residential infrastructure hasn't really evolved... Back in the Twin Cities in the '90s (prior to Texas!), I was able to get unmetered cable/dsl Internet for around $40 or $45 a month. Now everything is going capped, and I wonder if the last 10 years have truly shown much innovation. I hate to think that the telecom infrastructure shows no innovation, and that we should just expect inflation-type price increases of 3+% annually without any positive changes (...and with caps now?!).

    -mike
    I'm looking for the smiley that praises you for that paragraph

    It's just so damn ass backwards in North America compared to many other places around the world. I don't get it...

  21. #21
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    Wow ISP still cap connections? OMG, there are like 30 providers here an if someone does that would be out of business in a second.
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  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike - Limestone View Post
    I wonder if the last 10 years have truly shown much innovation. I hate to think that the telecom infrastructure shows no innovation, and that we should just expect inflation-type price increases of 3+% annually without any positive changes (...and with caps now?!).
    Its the cost of innovation that is prohibitive. Putting fiber in the ground, and then purchasing the necessary network equipment generally varies from outrageously expensive to ludicrously expensive. Then you have maintenance and support costs to consider.

    Think for a moment about the scope of telecom infrastructure for an MSA the size of the Twin Cities . . . copper and fiber cable serving millions of people -- that's no simple upgrade.

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike - Limestone View Post
    Back in the Twin Cities in the '90s (prior to Texas!), I was able to get unmetered cable/dsl Internet for around $40 or $45 a month.
    With DSL, legacy back-haul infrastructure is generally ATM-based (100% true for the Twin Cities), which was fine in the 90s but no longer provides the bandwidth needed for the "modern" Internet. 10-15 years ago you could cram a lot of people on a ATM DS3, today not so many. Much of this infrastructure is being replaced with FTTN, so things are definitely improving.

  24. #24
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    both teksavvy and acanac have cable internet

  25. #25
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    Streaming is becoming more of a mainstream deal these days, so I see your typical usage making a huge jump from 2010 to 2011. In Canada, the telecom industry is vertically integrated, so it is against the incumbents' interest to allow for their customers to cut the cord and they control 95% of our market.

    At the same time, due to the high cost of access to the last mile, the independents have very slim profit margins for residential Internet, so some have to impose caps. In general, they take heavy users at a loss, knowing that their unlimited plans will attract people who will pay for unlimited and only use about 20-30GB per month.
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