Is Usage-Based Billing A Big Deal?

Bell Canada's request to bill customers, both retail and wholesale, based on how much end users or wholesale partners consume each month, in gigabytes, predictably causes outrage in some quarters, but should not, in actuality, affect the typical consumer at all.

The typical consumer doesn't actually consume all that much data on a monthly basis. Comcast, for some time, for example, has had a monthly 'cap' of 250 gigabytes per household. But the typical household really consumers about two gigabytes to four gigabytes a month.

Primus, a Bell Canada wholesale customer, apparently is notifying its customers that existing high-speed access customers will soon have 25 GBytes of monthly usage included with their service. Additional usage up to 300 GBytes will be charged at $2 per additional GByte, up to a maximum of $60 a month.

Usage in excess of 300 GBytes per month will be charged an additional $1.10 per GByte. Customers who are worried about the 25 Gbyte cap can buy an 'additional usage plan' costing $5 a month for an additional 40 GBytes, for starters.

Typical users won't notice a thing.

Is Usage-Based Billing A Bid Deal