My Wet Coast Life

Just checked my Account Settings on Facebook and I finally have the much touted HTTPS support on Facebook. I saw the Facebook blog and a couple days later, on Lifehacker.com, they said Facebook finally enabled it only to be dismayed that I didn't have the option in my account.....until today.

What does this mean? Well, if you use Facebook over WiFi or in public hot spots, you can now use a https:// secure connection instead of http:// unsecured connection to get an encrypted connection to most Facebook pages just like when you log into your bank.

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With all the commotion going on in Canada over UBB, regardless if it does go ahead or not on March 1st, there are things you can do to try and reduce your bandwidth consumption. Now for some, you may already know this, for others, this bandwidth usage concept is new to them. I am also not the only resource for steps to save bandwidth, I just plan to point out the free steps you can take to reduce your bandwidth consumption. If you're wondering why I am posting these steps, you can read my previous article on UBB as seen by me. Plus, I have a possible big issue to raise for anyone that use router/modem combos from their ISP. It could be well worth your bank account to learn about this possible issue. Just trust me on it, I'll explain more later in this article.

The people of Canada have spoken out over usage-based billing to the point that Prime Mister Stephen Harper has finally gotten involved and tweeted yesterday to say:

"We're very concerned about CRTC's decision on usage-based billing and its impact on consumers. I've asked for a review of the decision." @pmHarper.

This shows the Prime Minister is aware and wants to let every Canadian know or maybe he just wants to reduce the volume of messages being sent his way. Especially once you factor in the Conservatives have yet post anything related to UBB or show they oppose the decision by the CRTC on usage-based billing, based on most recent media releases on their site. The NDP is opposed to UBB and got their Digital Issues Critic Charlie Angus to call on the Conservative government to better protect Canadian internet consumers. The Liberals are also against UBB which shows most political groups are finally listening but only kinda in my opinion for the party in power. Now all of this political issue jumping, I take with a grain of salt (maybe some lime and tequila). Why? This ruling has been out for 60 days and the Liberals and NDP were slow to respond. They are only taking action now with 30 days left and probably more based on the recent volume of complaints than the willingness to step up and protect Canadian's best interests. Maybe they are just participating now as a political measure in seeking to get votes and switch some Conservatives. Just a thought?

At the time of this writing, OpenMedia.ca was showing over 334,000 people have signed the online petition which is good but I like stats and want a bit of prospective on how well it is doing so far. As of 2009, we had a population over 33,894,000 people in Canada. Of that, 25,086,000 are Internet users as of September, 2009 (source) which works out to over 74% of the Canadian population is online. But if you look at OpenMedia.ca's petition, around 1% of all Canadians have signed this and if we only factor in Internet users, as they are the ones affected by CRTC's decision, that works out to just over 1.3%.

To give you an idea that more people need to get involved for the anti-UBB campaign, the anti-HST campaign in BC required 10% of all constituents in each riding to sign the petition to be heard by the provincial legislature. They succeeded. Now I know this is something completely different as UBB only affects internet users, both businesses and consumers, and we have shown 1 in 4 Canadians do not use internet but we should try and hit that same 10% goal with at least 2.5 million signatures of Internet users. If Canadians aim for a 10% of all Canadian internet users petition, then OpenMedia is just over 10% of the goal with less than a month to go. In the last couple of days due to media attention, that number is growing around 50,000 signatures a day and would come out to around 1.3 million give or take by the end of the month. So if you're reading this and against it and haven't added your signature, click here, I'll wait for you to finish. Either way, 10% or not, OpenMedia.ca stepped up to take the lead on this issue on behalf of Canadians and so far appear to be doing a good job of it as over 334,000 people have agreed to use them as a portal to convey the dissatisfaction over UBB.

Now that shouldn't be hard when we have that many people online and very few, if any, do not have some form of UBB already in place, including myself. I get 62GB for $39.50/month from my ISP and pay $1/GB overage which isn't bad compared to others at up to $5/GB overage. Sadly, my ISP does not provide anywhere for me to find out my usage. So other than a possible nasty bill at the end of the month or calling in an waiting on hold, I have no way of knowing my total usage. I have sent them a request via their website asking for my bandwidth usage and where I can check online (and use my own bandwidth to find out, oooohhh...the irony) but am still waiting for that reply and the site states up to 3 days for a response. But if people are willing to take action, that is another case. We will just have to sit back and see once more and more people realize they will be affected and the internet bill is about to go up or usage a lot less to keep at your normal monthly amount.

Now before we go into what you can do to reduce bandwidth, I want to share 2 images related to UBB. One is to put Canada's situation in context and the second to give you a good laugh with a side of reality check. The first image shows someone from the Middle East comparing their current internet to Canada's. This shows we are not bad off compared to other countries, so count yourself lucky even if UBB gets implemented. The second image gave me a good laugh as it shows it is theoretically cheaper to buy an expensive solid state hard drive, fill it with 300GB of data, ship it across Canada and then throw it out once you're done and it is still cheaper than downloading the same volume of data at $2/GB.

So what can you do to reduce bandwidth usage?
Well, that all comes down to what you do and what steps you are willing to take and what you are willing to possibly sacrifice. This is by no means a finite list, google "reducing bandwidth" for a bunch of more sites on ways to save plus I am only pointing out a couple measures that would have a decent impact on bandwidth usage. So let's kick it off with the economic impact on business due to UBB tip #1 for you to save your precious bandwidth.

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If you're reading this and you're in Canada, you probably by now have heard of Usage Based Billing, aka UBB. Some of you might have thought it was the news for that week and moved on. Others like me are worried what UBB can mean for me and Canadians in general, especially the bank account and budget.

For those not quite up to speed on UBB, here's a quick 411 to get you up to speed. Recently, the CRTC approve large Internet Service Providers (ISP) to be able to impose a low download bandwidth cap and then charge you a per gigabyte(GB) charge for going over that amount. They want the cap as low as 25 GB/month downloaded and then charge between $1-$5/GB if you go over depending on your plan.

Now for a lot of Internet users, they are not aware of bandwidth usage and in some cases how the Internet works "behind the scenes". As long as the web page loads quickly or the YouTube video streams, they are happy. What they may not realize, everything you see on your screen was downloaded to your computer before it could be viewed, including this blog article. Most sites are optimized and files kept small and cached to save your PC from re-downloading it if you visit the site again. All of this to ensure quick loading but it all adds up over time. For some people, they set their browser to clear its cache when it closes, if so, they're downloading each and every time they fire up the browser.

If you use services like Netflix, an average HD movie is around 3.5GB in size. Now over a given month, say you watched 10 movies, you would have used approximately 35GB of bandwidth which would be 10GB over the recommended alloted bandwidth of 25GB they want to give for the cheapest service. Now assume they are charging $2 per GB overage charge, that just costs you an extra $20 that month. Keep in mind, this doesn't include anything else you are doing online like checking email, chatting, Skype calling, streaming radio or even Facebooking. Are you an online gamer? That could use up some decent bandwidth based on how much you play. By the way, those updates for your software and operating system, that's using bandwidth too. Hmmmm....suddenly, 25GB doesn't sound so much. That's under 1GB/day. Got a smart phone? May not be in your best interest anymore to switch to your WiFi instead of 3G when at home as your 3G data rate could be cheaper now.

So you can easily see, some users under UBB can easily go over their alloted bandwidth depending on what package they have and could easily receive a surprisingly high bill. Most people on Shaw or Telus have/had around 60GB/month prior to UBB which is better than the proposed 25GB Ontario ISP's have under UBB. If you went over in the past, you would get a warning and possibly disconnected if a repeat offender. Now you will just get a larger bill. One thing to point out, currently, No ISP has offered a discount or refund for users who use under the allotted bandwidth. So technically, they are being punished for the select few who do abuse the system.

Where the battle lies is the justification of the high overage charges when it has been stated it costs hundreds of times less. There are claims it only costs ISP's a couple cents/GB but they are charging customers between $1-$5+ overage fees. Rocky Gaudrault, president of ISP Teksavvy, was quoted last May when this first started saying "The rates are absolutely atrocious. How the hell are we doing above one dollar for extra usage? It’s in the thousands of multiples beyond what the costs are."

Tony Werner, the chief technical officer for Comcast Cable further confirmed to his investors "The cost of the equipment necessary to expand network capacity is decreasing all the time as technology improves. Werner even told investors at that same meeting that it only costs an average of $6.85 per home to DOUBLE the bandwidth capacity of an entire neighborhood, and that the equipment necessary to provide 50Mbps costs less than what it paid for the 6Mbps equipment."

So we have some ISP executives saying the charges are too high but the CRTC cannot regulate the amount, they only approved the ability for ISPs to charge UBB. The CRTC even states under paragraph 9 that they do not control the rates. "The Commission notes that carriers’ retail UBB rates are market-based and are not subject to prior Commission approval – that is, they are forborne from regulation.". How can they approve the right for ISPs to charge without regulating it to avoid it getting out of hand?

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It is snowing today. Even though the forecasts said expect rain, looking out my window, I begged to differ. Normally, I would not care that it is snowing but last night I had an unfortunate sports accident. Playing my weekly volleyball and only the second night of the 2011 season, I went up for a block on a spike, only to bang knees in mid-air. I came down like a sack of potatoes and ended up twisting my knee like a corkscrew. The sound was very unpleasant and was immediately followed by sharp, 4 letter word inducing pain. This is one big cup of awesome I didn't want or expect.

I collected myself assuming just a decent knock; it's okay; I can walk it off and be back playing in 10 minutes. Standing up proved it could be more than that. I made my way to the sidelines and a fellow player grabbed me some ice. After about 10 minutes, I decided to try this walking thing again and looked like a newborn giraffe. After some more choice 4 letter words, I regrettably hobbled out only half way through playing. By the time I got home, I had 3 decent golf ball size areas of swelling and one looked like a pyramid was stuck under my knee (sorry, I did not get pics). After some more ice, I made a pathetic attempt at trying to sleep. You never realize what muscles get used for what until you injure them. Then you find out the most mundane task is done by muscles you would assume had no reason to be involved. Once again, I have learned these muscles I have injured have multiple roles too.

What felt like I had only just fallen asleep, good old mother nature decided to send me a quick message that she feels like some snow instead of rain. With my back's weather message notification system kicking in, I got the reluctant advance warning snow was on the way and I was awake again. Thinking the injury was all just a dream, I got out of bed and was quickly reminded it was not a dream. "Ahh...crap" went through my mind as I fell back onto the bed with that 4 letter word pain coming back. Now what is usually the first thing you need to do within a couple minutes or less when you get up? Yeah, me too. My problem was my speed had been reduced to a turtles and I had drank a lot of water the night before. Not a good combo. After bearing the pain and doing some impromptu speed hobbling, I thankfully made it. Not the kind of start I wanted with this injury but I guess I didn't have a choice and could have been worse. I could at least still stand. Somewhat.

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With some pride, I can say Mission Accomplished.

Apparently, my 3,400+ letter of complaint on the terrible customer service I received from Xbox Support, which I sent in over the weekend to Xbox Support, did get seen by the right people. Before I had a chance to print and mail the letter in to the Head Office on Monday, I got a call from Xbox Corporate, not the support department. Unfortunately, I was not home at the time of the call but I got a kind message and an email stating they had tried to call. The rep provided a direct line and extension and asked me to call back at my convenience. Perfect, direct line and extension = no holds or menu system. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it was not a train.

For a quick background for those wondering what has lead up to this, my initial article was on December 26^th outlining my initial terribad call in experience. It was followed up on December 31^st by me fixing the issue myself but still no call back. On January 6^th, I finally got a call back but was blindsided by the lies and false promises that were told to me. And finally, on January 15th, still with no contact, I wrote a letter of complaint with my utter disappointment with this service I received, as my last attempt to right this wrong. That will now bring us up to today.

When I submitted my letter, I hoped maybe some action would be taken but I was not expecting the response I got. I tried to layout as much detail so they could see where the issues occurred and leave it up to them to correct it in the best manner they see fit. So I called back the corporate rep (leaving names out and will explain why later). We had a good conversation and he apologized for my experience, informed me my letter definitely got their attention and by multiple people in various levels of management. He informed me they would be using it for training purposes and enacting changes so my experience is not repeated. They even gave me a small form of accommodation, which I was not expecting and that was not the intent of my letter. My intent was to fix the wrong so others don't go through the same and so far, it appeared I have reached success. The accommodation was just a bonus for my effort.

Before we ended the call, I offered my assistance if they had anymore questions on this issue to ensure the best possible outcome for all. Based on that offer, the rep informed me an executive may want to call me later that day as he may have more questions on this issue and I accepted. This was not a guarantee as they already had the information and we ended the call on a good note.

Later in the afternoon, I did receive a call from an executive. Once again, I will leave his name out of it. We also had a positive conversation and went over the issues and possible causes. He restated the amount of stirring the pot my letter did which pleased me as it was all worth it now. They were glad they got feedback and especially in the detail I provided. I emailed him my screenshots on when I got the errors and based on them, I was even able to assist him with possibly tracking down the cause of my issue and possible remedy. Bonus.

So in the end, even though it took a couple weeks, my steps to correct this wrong hopefully will make all future calls to Xbox Support a better one for anyone else. Hopefully it will also reduce the Invalid Code errors others may be receiving, saving them from calling in, as they could fix what is causing that issue.

For those who have been wronged or received poor service and feel it necessary to speak up; I offer the following tips and steps to right your wrong. There will never be a guarantee of success BUT you will never know until you try and at least you did your diligence, so regardless, feel good about that. For those wondering why I have not provided the names, direct lines and emails of the Xbox corporate rep and executive, you do not need it in my opinion and I was successful without it. If I provided the contact info and names, you would just jump the process thus defeating the escalation process. A lot of issues you may have do not require the involvement of the people I got to deal with. I did it in the proper order of escalation in my opinion and recommend you do the same for positive results.

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