Users in our Bell forum note that Bell Canada has begun charging users a variety of new costly and very confusing per gigabyte overages. DSL tiers now have several layers of caps, including base monthly caps starting at 25 GB and overages up to $2.50 per gigabyte.

For example, users on a 7 Mbps DSL tier who hit that 25 GB cap start paying $2 a gigabyte up to $60 maximum. If they cross 300GB the meter starts rolling again, and they incur an additional $1 per gigabyte for every gigabyte thereafter. So in short, users paying $44.95 CA (unbundled, no contract) for 7 Mbps DSL could face a bill up to $154.95 CA (plus fees) should their household consume 350 GB one month.

The initial cap varies depending on the market and local competition (or more accurately lack thereof). In Quebec there's a 60GB monthly cap with $2.50 per GB overages with a $60 overage limit. In Ontario, there's a 25GB cap with $2/GB overages with a $60 overage limit. In both markets users who hit 300 GB begin being charged a whopping $1 for every gigabyte.

Given the fixed and dropping cost of providing DSL services, that's a fairly astounding price for what's essentially last-generation broadband technology. The move comes after the CRTC gave Canadian incumbents the green light for usage-based-billing (UBB) of wholesalers (which prevents any competitor from offering superior, uncapped services,) and only a few months after Netflix launched streaming HD video services in Canada.