Canadians Flatly Reject Usage Based Billing for Internet Access
Canadians are decidedly opposed to a recent decision that could change the way customers are charged for Internet access, a new Angus Reid / Toronto Star poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,024 Canadian adults, three-in-four respondents (76%) disagree with the recent decision from the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which recently ruled that Internet service providers should adopt “usage-based billing”.
Under this structure, Internet users would be charged an additional fee if they download more than a pre-established amount of data from the Internet.
The level of “strong disagreement” with the proposed course of action is above the 50 per cent mark in every region of the country (from a high of 74% in Ontario to a low of 52% in Quebec), across both genders (69% for men, 59% for women), and all three main age groups (62% for respondents aged 18 to 34, 68% for those aged 25 to 54, and 59% for those over the age of 55).
The survey was completed before CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein announced a decision “to delay the implementation of usage-based billing for wholesale customers by at least 60 days.”
Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
Methodology: From February 2 to February 3, 2011, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,024 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
