Attached Link: Online Petition

Rogers@Home has announced that it plans to change its cable internet service from its standard, unlimited service that costs around $40 a month to a tiered service - where users who use very little bandwidth will be charged $25/month, and those who use more bandwidth can be charged up to $80 a month. This is not a rumor, it was announced in several newspapers and its going to happen. Now Bell Sympatico High-Speed has announced that if Rogers goes ahead with its plan, it will introduce a tiered service as well. It plans to introduce a 5gb cap (this included upstream/downstream and email). If you stay below this 5gb cap, you will pay the same rate you are paying now. However, for every 1gb you go over the cap, you will be billed $10. This is rediculous. In this day and age, with online streaming media, mp3s, divx, flash-driven websites, internet radio, webcams, etc you can easily exceed a GB of transfer daily. I checked my usage, in under three days, with just regular surfing, being logged into the renderosity chatroom and ICQ, downloading 2 movies and some mp3s and checking my email ive went over 2.5gb transferred. This means id hit the 5gb cap in under a week, and my monthly fees would be over $200. Keep in mind that even if you dont consider yourself a high-bandwidth user, you could easily go over that limit. Think of all the web popups, the email spam, the icq spam, image/flash/sound-rich websites, etc. Also, people intent on causing mischief can bombard users with DOS attacks and packetfloods and cause their monthly fees to skyrocket. If youre not Sympatico HSE or @Home user, this will STILL affect you. please take the time to sign this petition. As you well know, when one major player in a market is allowed to get away with something as rediculous as this, the rest will follow. These are two of the largest players... you think if you sit back and let this slide because it doesnt directly affect you that you wont be feeling the effects of that apathy and inaction a few months down the line? This is our chance to quash this, once and for all - WE ARE THE MARKET, and WE dictate the rules the merchants must follow, and not vice-versa. Its time to raise your voice and be heard, and if these providers dont listen, you can bet that others who will provide you with what you want will step into their place. Cheers, -Gabriel