Microsoft’s horrifying story about usage-based billing abuse

If you haven’t read a good dystopian tale like George Orwell’s 1984 lately, have a look at a new study on usage-based Internet billing from Microsoft and a couple of professors from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The report tells of a number of families in South Africa that took part in the study, which sought to understand how the caps on monthly home broadband plans affected Internet usage. It’s bone-chilling stuff.

In South Africa, broadband speeds are still relatively slow, hitting a maximum of four megabits per second as of the study’s purview (2010). Usage caps, meanwhile, typically came in at between one and nine gigabytes per month, with unlimited plans only recently surfacing.

Usage-based billing once again tops CRTC docket

MONTREAL – How much independent Internet providers  – known for their unlimited plans — will pay to use the networks of big telecom companies will be in the spotlight again with a CRTC decision on Tuesday.

The federal regulator will issue a new ruling on how much large network providers such as Bell (TSX:BCE) can charge for the use of their networks after a consumer backlash and concern from federal government last winter.

“Consumers have latched onto this,” said Tom Copeland, president of Internet service provider eagle.ca in Cobourg, Ont.

“Consumers have woken up and said, ‘You know what? We get it,’” Copeland said.

Consumers took to social media sites Facebook and Twitter to rally against what’s called usage-based billing, fearing if their independent Internet service providers faced this kind of billing it would mean the end of these providers offering unlimited plans and would increase prices. The CRTC took note and back to the drawing board.