internet access

How community broadband can deliver faster, cheaper Internet for all Canadians

Unreliable service. Slow speeds. Appalling customer mistreatment. And some of the highest prices in the industrialized world. It's no wonder Canadians are fed up with the stranglehold that a handful of giant conglomerates exert over our telecom market.

With so little competition, Big Telecom has long been able to keep prices high without fear of customers jumping ship to a more affordable alternative. But that could be about to change. A landmark ruling from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has thrown the door open for communities across Canada to take their digital future into their own hands.

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Is the government about to make the Internet even more expensive for all Canadians?

At OpenMedia, we cover a wide range of digital rights issues, and so we've really seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly when it comes to policy proposals over the years. And this one's a doozy: Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly is considering adding a new ISP tax to the monthly bills of Canada's Internet subscribers.

This new tax will make Internet access even more expensive, despite the fact that Canadians already pay among the highest prices in the industrialized world for this basic necessity. Indeed, fees are already so high that 44 per cent of low-income households do not have a home Internet connection, leaving vast numbers of Canadians excluded from our digital endowment.

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digital divide internet access Canadian taxes Digital Freedom Update ISP tax

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We can finally put an end to data caps -- but will the CRTC listen?

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"You have used 100% of your monthly data allocation. Additional charges will apply" -- there's probably not an Internet user out there who hasn't grimaced upon receiving a message like this from their telecom provider. Sadly, mean-spirited data caps, accompanied by extortionate overage fees, have long been one of the most reviled features of our broken telecom market.

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net neutrality internet access big telecom Digital Freedom Update data caps

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After big win over Bell, what's next for Canada's telecom market?

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As wins go, this one was a doozy.

Following months of debate, all eyes were on Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains as he weighed whether or not to give Bell, and a tiny handful of other telecom behemoths, an effective monopoly over fibre Internet services in Canada.

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Bell Canada CRTC internet access big telecom telecom providers Digital Freedom Update telecom policy fibre internet

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All Canadians deserve affordable, high-speed Internet. Because it's 2016.

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"It's too expensive." "It's too slow." "I can't get a reliable connection." All common responses from Canadians when you ask what they think about their Internet service. At OpenMedia, not a day goes by without our getting emails, social media messages, and phone calls from Canadians unhappy with the state of their Internet.

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economic inequality internet activism digital divide internet access Canadian telecom companies CRTC regulations Digital Freedom Update

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Investing in our digital future is critical to strengthening Canada's economy

Like our coverage of digital media? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

"It's the economy, stupid!"

That well-known political aphorism was first coined over 20 years ago by James Carville, a senior adviser to Bill Clinton.

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digital divide internet access Canadian economy INTERNET PRIVACY 2015 federal election digital future big telecom cell phone market Digital Freedom Update Bill C-51

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2015 election needs to focus on our digital future

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This election, Canadians can't afford to be caught up in the soundbites, quibbles and petty pandering that our politicians are increasingly levelling at each other. Trudeau's hair? Mulcair's smile? Harper's suit?

There's a much bigger issue up for debate: What do we want our country to look like five or 10 years from now?

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internet freedom internet access freedom of expression digital policy 2015 federal election privacy rights Digital Freedom Update stop c-51

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Beyond speed: Who is talking about access to e-government this election?

Suzanne Smythe

| September 1, 2015

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Women learn computer skills. Photo: Spark Creative Ltd/Flickr

Where is Canada's digital inclusion strategy?

Suzanne Smythe

| July 28, 2015

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Google and the next billion users

What if the next billion Internet users don't own a computer? What if, for them, and the billion after them, the web is something you reach with a smartphone or a wearable via an always-on Internet connection, no matter where you are? And what if most of them are in the world's fastest developing countries or are members of low-income families, their playing fields levelled by their access to a world of indexed information?

Those are the kind of questions that Google asked at its I/O conference keynote last week. It was a keynote so egalitarian and humanistic that it made Apple and Microsoft look like the selfish jerks -- the Donald Trumps and the Karl Lagerfelds of computing -- with their interest in $17,000 gold watches and pricey tablets.

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internet google computing web internet access mobile technology web development

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internet access

How community broadband can deliver faster, cheaper Internet for all Canadians

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Is the government about to make the Internet even more expensive for all Canadians?

Comments

Do

Don't

We can finally put an end to data caps -- but will the CRTC listen?

Comments

Do

Don't

After big win over Bell, what's next for Canada's telecom market?

Comments

Do

Don't

All Canadians deserve affordable, high-speed Internet. Because it's 2016.

Comments

Do

Don't

Investing in our digital future is critical to strengthening Canada's economy

Comments

Do

Don't

2015 election needs to focus on our digital future

Comments

Do

Don't

Google and the next billion users

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