Worried about extra Internet data fees? How to know what you’re in for

Internet providers in B.C. have begun to charge users who go over their monthly data limits

BY CHAD SKELTON, VANCOUVER SUN JANUARY 27, 2011

VANCOUVER — If you’re worried about going over your Internet provider’s new monthly data caps, you really only need to ask yourself one question: How much video do you watch online?

Shaw announced earlier this month it will begin charging users who go over their monthly data limits, which can range from 15 to 350 gigabytes a month, depending on their level of service.

The data meter is running whenever you’re on your home Internet connection, from surfing websites to checking email.

But in reality, online video is the only activity that’s likely to get most people into trouble.

Even on Shaw’s cheapest plan — High-Speed Lite, $25 a month when bundled with other services — you can download 7,500 photos before you exceed your 15-GB cap.

And downloading music is pretty risk-free, too: You can buy more than 3,500 songs on iTunes — or listen to 500 hours of Internet radio — before coming near your monthly cap.

Video, however, is another story.

Download just five high-definition movies on iTunes — about 3.5 GB apiece — and you could exceed your monthly limit on Shaw’s cheapest plan.

Not all video is created equal, of course.

Watching an hour of grainy cat videos on YouTube isn’t going to use up as much data as downloading the latest episode of House in HD.

But even streaming video can use up a lot of bandwidth if you’re not careful.

Streaming video services, like Netflix and YouTube, increasingly offer movies and video clips in HD, which means they eat up a lot more bandwidth than they did before.

For example, watching just one hour of HD content on Netflix can use up 1.5 GB of bandwidth. So if you’re watching a couple of hours of Netflix a night, you could quickly run up against caps on a basic plan.

Shaw has said it will give users two warnings before it starts charging them between $1 and $2 a gigabyte for however much they go over their monthly limits.

And users will have the option of upgrading their service.

For example, users on Shaw’s cheapest plan can increase their monthly cap from 15 to 60 GB for an extra $12 a month.

Telus — Shaw’s main Internet competitor in Vancouver — also has monthly data caps. Those caps tend to be a bit higher than Shaw’s — for example, 75 GB for Telus’s second-cheapest plan compared to 60 GB for Shaw.

And Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said it won’t ding customers for occasionally going over.

“If someone goes over once, you’re not going to hear from us,” said Hall.

However, if customers repeatedly go over their monthly limits, said Hall, they’ll get a call from Telus encouraging them to upgrade to a more expensive plan. If customers refuse, only then will they be charged $2 per GB for however much they go over their monthly limit.

“It really hasn’t been an issue for us because our caps are very robust and we try to be friendly about how we enforce them,” said Hall.

Calls to Shaw were not returned on Wednesday.

Go to vancouversun.com/datacaps/ to see an interactive graphic comparing Shaw’s and Telus’s plans and how much you can download.

cskelton@vancouversun.com

View related video: Changes to internet billing. Steve Anderson, openmedia.ca explains that internet providers will be changing the way Canadians are billed for internet usage. Consumers can sign a petition at StopTheMetre.ca