Bandwidth caps make me unhappy!

[Trepex]

I cut the cable a long time ago and we've been very happy with iTunes and Netflix, along with my OTA antenna for our 13 local Ottawa channels. I've really missed TSN for curling and hockey, but I'm surviving.

But... bandwidth caps are killing me now. Between 1080p iTunes content and Super HD Netflix, over the Christmas Holidays I blew my cap with Bell - big time. I got the warning around Dec 20th and so I added the 75GB addon to make sure I didn't exceed my 250GB. Somehow I finished at 410GB on December 31st and my bill was $177 for the month. For Internet. So frustrating...

I guess I need to accept that this is the reality of living the streaming lifestyle, but it still really irks me. My 50/50 Fibe connection from Bell is fantastic, I just wish it didn't come with such a crippling bandwidth quota.

[Trepex]

I should add that this is all legitimate, downstream content. My upload for the month was something like 5GB - most of which was my wife uploading HD videos to Youtube from her iPhone.

[Mark & Lynda]

Third party ISP and unlimited?

[Trepex]

Originally Posted by Mark & Lynda

Third party ISP and unlimited?

Could but I really love my Fibe connection with Bell symmetric 50mpbs up and down. I might go TekSavvy but I'll miss the upload bandwidth!

[Mark & Lynda]

Originally Posted by Trepex

Could but I really love my Fibe connection with Bell symmetric 5mpbs up and down. I might go TekSavvy but I'll miss the upload bandwidth!

I don't blame ya.

[kei78]

Trepex, just a thought... i am also with bell using fibe 50/50 service but i have unlimited bandwidth. Call bell and get it added to your service for $10 extra.

I pay a total of $60 for my bell 50/50 with unlimited monthly. It is truly unlimited as there have been two months where i was close to 1TB for downloads... All my services rely on my internet (voip, alarm, security cameras etc) and i feel the same as you do for my upload speeds. At this day and age, i wouldnt go back to anything less.

[Trepex]

Originally Posted by kei78

Trepex, just a thought... i am also with bell using fibe 50/50 service but i have unlimited bandwidth. Call bell and get it added to your service for $10 extra.

I pay a total of $60 for my bell 50/50 with unlimited monthly. It is truly unlimited as there have been two months where i was close to 1TB for downloads... All my services rely on my internet (voip, alarm, security cameras etc) and i feel the same as you do for my upload speeds. At this day and age, i wouldnt go back to anything less.

I know, but I only have internet and phone, so it's actually $30 for unlimited rather than just 10. I'll do it if I have to, but I'm just not happy about it. My alarm has an IP module to the monitoring station as well and I use voip.ms for home phone, but the only way to get the deal on the internet (instead of $80 something / month) was to get a second service. Phone is free for the year but I'll have to carry it for another year on their "lite" service to avoid cancellation fees, or else I might see what I can work out with their retention people. It's only $100 to cancel the phone before the 2-year mark.

[kei78]

Oh I should have mentioned... I only have two services... TV and Internet with bell. My cell phones are under a business account so they didn't include it in a bell bundle. I complained and they gave me the unlimited for $10 after talking to a manager.

Maybe you can call in and do something similar?

[GregS]

I have my office on Bell DSL with unlimited and 20/10 (POP is literally the unit next to me). But that is $120/month.

I have my house on Cogeco Cable unlimited with 16/2 and 450G commercial connection for $90/month. This website also runs on this connection.

The advantages to the commercial accounts is higher monthly bandwidth, consistent speeds, allowed to run services, and instant tech support (no, really, you get right through for Cogeco).
Disadvantage obviously is you pay more money.