Vonage, the Voice over IP telephone service provider, has filed a complaint with the CRTC, the body regulates all forms of communication in Canada, from television to phone to radio, over the fact that Shaw Cablesystems is offering a recurring fee to their customers to provide what they call a "quality of service enhancement" which is used to improve the service of customers using 'third party VoIP services'. The complaint centers around the fact that Vonage claims the enhancement should be a one time offering at worst, and that it is unfair due to the fact Shaw has their own VoIP offering, which I must say is a very nice offering itself.
Shaw's customers do not need to pay the enhancement fee, and this is rather concerning to me. I think that Shaw should allow competition on a level playing field, and the fact they offer this enhancement tells me it is likely that people not paying are being given second rate connections to those competitors services. As I said, there should be a level playing field, not the uneven one Shaw seems to be trying to place themselves on now. It stinks, and I think Shaw's customers will think that too when they find out about it.
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