NetFlix Canada In Review, The CRTC, Bandwith Bills & More.

So about 2 months ago I reviewed NetFlix for Canada and for the most part I had good things to say. In fairness I had only been using it for a week or so at the time. I reviewed it and got almost 50 comments from our community in response. All great comments and they also opened my eyes to a few things whihh leads to this follow up. It is a little bit Buyer beware and a little bit fact checking on NetFlix Canada, what you get, what you don’t get and more importantly what you don’t want but might get in the form of a big bill in the mail.

Netflix Canada is dirt cheap and for $8.00 a month you get access to somewhere in the range of 7,000 films and TV shows. Not a bad amount of entertainment to pass away your evenings and weekends. I am the kind of person who enjoys watching my favourites over and over and a good many of them are on Netflix so when I get home from the office I like to put up my feet, mix myself a drink and watch something on Netflix. I still two months later enjoy Netflix but I have certainly learned a few things about NetFlix that may or may not make you get its service.

First off the pros of Netflix service and what you will really like about it. First and foremost if you rent a lot of movies every month either on demand or at your local Rogers Video Store ( or Blockbuster if anyone actually shops there I don’t ) then Netflix could save you a boatload of money. I for one never rented old movies I always purchased them cheap online but Netflix saves me a bunch of money because now rather than buying/renting I can simply watch them online. Netflix also offers the convenience of not having to wait for it to arrive and enjoying the movies whenever and wherever I like. I had to travel to court for work one day and went out of town and brought along my laptop and watched Netflix in my hotel room. That was really a nice treat! So Netflix is great if you want to catch up on movies wherever you are for a really cheap price.

The other nice part about Netflix is it gives indie filmmakers a channel for distribution that we die hard film fans can really appreciate. I wanted to see The Zombie Diaries and ThanksKilling for a long time and absolutely nobody in the local video stores had it or had any intentions of getting it. I also wanted to checkout the foreign films IP Man, Irreverisble and Audition. I watched them all on Netflix. No need to hunt for them, no need to go drive anywhere and track them down. I literally pointed and clicked my way to it! The same can be said for Documentaries. Documentaries are not the staple of your local video store and I was able to watch 15 easily in 2 weeks that I had never heard of that were truly fantastic all thanks to my Netflix account. So good selection of indie films, and rare films you may not have access to with a good price make Netflix a great buy.

Now for what might be the bad news.

If you are getting Netflix to enjoy any new releases at all your better off not getting Netflix at all. One of the most common comments you will hear from Netflix Canada users is how badly they are getting screwed in comparison to the American NetFlix service. NetFlix in the US has all the hit TV shows, new release movies and reportedly 20,000+ films to watch. That is almost three times the material that us Canadians get for. There was a few comments saying its the CRTC that is causing this problem because in Canada the CRTC controls TV content and enforces under some kind of law ( not a lawyer ) that a certain amount of video / tv content be made in Canada. Although this makes sense the CRTC as pointed out by The Globe And Mail has no control over the internet. SHAW one of the large cable players is calling for the CRTC to regulate Netflix because it is unfair for Netflix to not pay into the same programs that the Canadian broadcasters have to. Although I agree with SHAW they are also clearly terrified of subscribers dropping $50 to $100 a month cable charges for Netflix On Demand Movie & TV Service. Fortunately for the corporate TV monsters they have nothing to fear and have no need for the CRTC to step in at least not so long as Netflix only offers dated or limited access to movies and TV shows. I and no other Canadian is going to drop their cable service anytime soon so long as Netflix offers the limited library of new releases and TV shows that it does.

Now for the real eye opener that will hit you in your bank book despite Netflix’s dirt cheap $7.99 a month fee. When is the last time you looked at your internet account to see exactly what is included? Do you happen to know how much band with is included? I know as I write this I do not have a clue and think I might find out at the end of the month like some of you will. A commenter on our site pointed out to me that I should beware of my bill and other users called him an idiot because in Canada we don’t pay for bandwith. I thought the same thing and unfortunately… I and others were wrong.

At just about the same time that Netflix announced it was bringing its service to Canada Bell & Rogers Internet announced a great new addition to our internet service, bandwith caps. Bandwith is basically how much you can download per month and came into effect in my view for no other reason than to battle Netflix and its clear threat to Cable TV business. Who in their right mind is going to pay $50 to $100 a month for cable when you can get it for $7.99 on Netflix? Under the new changes to your internet bill according to GeekTown.ca if you exceed the new bandwith cap you will be billed $4 per gig that you go over ( for Rogers Internet Users ). If you figure every movie you watch is 1gig to 4gigs in size your looking at up to $16.00 PER movie. Ouch! These new bandwith caps are a typical cash grab but also in my view a way to keep Netflix in check.

I have not yet checked my internet bill but reportedly if you watch more than 25 shows a month on Netflix you are going to find an extremely rude awakening in your mail box at the end of the month in the form of a hefty ‘bandwith charge’. I will confirm this with you all later since I have easily watched that many in December and will find out pretty quick if it does or does not impact my Bell Internet Service Bill.

In conclusion lets recap the points. Netflix is a great service! If you like me want access to thousands of films and TV shows and don’t mind that they are not the ‘latest and greatest’ you will truly enjoy having access to 7,000 + movies and TV shows for $7.99. I would like other users have said easily pay $20 a month for the same service the Americans get but I think it would be nicer if Netflix did not treat us like second class users and worked on getting that addressed, and for all I know they could be!

Netflix drawbacks include a potential shock in the mail from your internet provider if you are on a ‘highspeed lite’ account or for all I know on ANY internet package if you exceed the bandwith monthly limitations. So beware. Lastly if you are looking for the latest shows and the latest films then Netflix is clearly not the route to go.

Please as always leave comments, give me feedback and let me know how your Netflix experience has been and any tips or suggestions you might have for me and the rest of the community reading this. Also be sure to read my earlier Netflix Review to get a complete breakdown of the service and more importantly to read feedback from 50 current Netflix Canada users. I think at the end of the day you will still find good value from a Netflix Subscription but you will also want to hear what other users have found!

Mad Hatter

Eventually, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) (http://www.ccarts.ca/en/) and the actors union (ACTRA) will lobby the CRTC to limit or eliminate these type of services in Canada. The CRTC is in essence, both the police force and censor board for these two lobby groups. Remember how the Nashville Network was removed and banned in Canada by the CRTC censors? ESPN is still banned in Canada to this day. Particularly annoying to those Canadians who are not hockey fans and who must endure the constant year-round hockey barrage from TSN and SportsNet.
Perhaps the best we can hope for, is for example — to watch 5 episodes of Green Acres, you will also need to purchase 3 episodes of Trouble With Tracy.
The day when Canadians can freely choose what, when and how much of any tv content we want, is a pipe dream.
- Anonymous
  
  i do not understand why the CCA thinks they should have any say over what we watch. If its under the pretext of ‘protecting canadian identity’ thats a bunch of bull. To me it stinks of protectionism and by that I mean protecting their jobs. I dont have any protection of my job.
  
  dont you wish people were forced to buy your product ? Would mean you and I would have the same job security.
  - Faramir
    
    Yes, instead of talented artists like Cameron or Fox who make it in the US market, their loser Canadian counterparts are stuck doing CBC shows. They don’t want to lose their taxpayer funded jobs as state actors.
- Anonymous
  
  I don’t know how to post a comment here, so I’m just gonna post this as a reply. I found a professional podcast that reviews movies on Netflix (Canada and the US). There are a bunch of podcasts out there talking about Netflix movies, but this is the only one I can find that discusses movies available in Canada. If anyone wants to check out the link, you can find it here: http://netpixpodcast.wordpress.com/
  
  If anyone finds any other decent ones, can you let me know?
  - Blog
    
    I have no idea when people think that bandwith caps were introduced into big companies, but it was certainly many years ago. It always astounds me when people say this – it’s not a new or surprising thing, yet people are always sounding shocked when talking about streaming. Sigh.
    Agree with Evan – know your freaking plan.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KEKFA4DU6GQQKIFB66MRGNWQPM Anonymous
    
    I went to maine and florida as well, and the amount of movies was unreal on the horror genre…it is worth a trip to bangor me, ( i live in sj nb) to shop spend 2 nights wathc net flix and grab 2 bottles of vodka or whatever at the duty free, plus the gas and milk, win win,,,i heard of blush or flush something like that but it wants your credit card info so did net flix, but all we are charged is the 8 bucks, i read that people were getting big bills on their cards for the other site. Definately cool to take a movie whereever , specailly when waiting for someone etc. and the documentaries, are the americans wathcing these, the democracy ones etc about the wars so unreal.
Evan

“$4 per GB over, $16.00 PER movie” – Only if you use Roger’s 15GB/mo “Lite” plan. Upgrade your internet service plan – for an extra $11/mo you get 4x the bandwidth cap, and plans go up to 175GB/mo. Furthermore, Rogers lets you check your daily usage, and it’s good practice to do so.

“Netflix only offers dated movies and TV shows” – It sucks. But have you seen the schedules for 90% of the cable channels? History channel is mostly old movies, there are several channels that show mostly 10 year old sitcoms. If you live in the GTA, Cable offers little above and beyond what Netflix plus an antenna gives you.
- Loritower
  
  It is still possible to get unlimited usage in canada just don’t go for the big guys!
  - Dfontana766
    
    Go with Teck Savvy they have unlimited bandwith with low prices
  - Marti_oconnell
    
    Bell Aliant FibreOp has unlimited bandwith
  - Anon
    
    Primus Canada has unlimited bandwidth.
- Whit
  
  Forget Rogers and Bell…..TekSavy is the way to go with cheaper plans AND 300 Gigs of usage.
- Spartacus
  
  What is the “GTA”…oh! just clued in; must be Greater Toronto Area; the only people in Canada to think everyone else subscribes to their little colloquialisms
  - Bririce1
    
    Umm, no… it’s an actual geographic term. We don’t just make these things up, thanks.
  - Dr B
    
    Ya totally Spartacus, just as bad as those snooty-toot snobs from Los Angeles going around saying “LA”, as if we’re supposed to be able to figure out their elitist secret code words!
- Sevigny
  
  For people in Quebec, beginning February 1st, 2012, Distributel offers the first unlimited (via cable, not DSL!) plan in the province, using Videotron’s network. I think their plans are 50$/month for 8mb speed, and 60$/month for 15mb speed… really worthwhile!
David

The bandwidth costs are not a Netflix issue – they are an issue with our terrible telecom market. Bell and Rogers each provide competing services with on-demand video and subscribtion programming (ie cable or satellite). They also provide all our internet access and can easily afford to give us more bandwidth, but why bother when they can just gouge us instead?

Bandwidth problems should have people complaining about internet service in Canada, not about services that make use of the internet.
- Anonymous
  
  you are 100% correct David.
- Vixenvikkifox
  
  I work for a cable company. Although I can relate to people’s frustrations regarding the bandwith caps, they are there as a functional purpose, not a cash grab. If there were no caps, and we let all customers stream large amounts of video through their broadband, it would choke up the system and other customers within the same ‘area’ (nodes) would start to have lots of problems, like dropped phone calls (VoIP) or not being able to call out, some people wouldn’t even be able to access the internet just because their neighbours are using up all the bandwith. People have the misconception that bandwith is ‘unlimited’, but it’s NOT. Think if it like a tunnel with many little tubes inside it. You are limited to using a certain number of tubes withouth infringing on everyone else’s tubes. But if you need more for some reason, you have to ‘rent’ those extra tubes for that amount of time because they should be free for other people. If you use up all the ‘tubes’ how is anybody else supposed to have access to that tunnel? Sorry, I’m trying to make this in “Layman’s” terms without using my technical Jargon that might confuse some. Believe me, they are working on the ability to make these caps higher (as right now they are too low for the speeds they offer). But they are in NO way afraid of services like Netflix! If people don’t want to use Cable to watch TV and they use Internet instead, they are still using one of our services. Personally, I prefer watching Cable’s ON Demand. It doesn’t use up my allotted bandwith.
  - Bigfatbernie
    
    You’re talking about upload/download speeds, not bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of Gbs you can send/receive per month. What clogs the network is how much you send/receive at a given time. For that, Rogers and the other providers offer different levels of internet, ranging from slow (cheap) to extremely fast (and extremely expensive) internet.
    
    In France, the government demanded that the internet/cable providers offer their services for under 40.00€, so now everyone in France gets internet (faster than here), cable tv, and phone (with free calls to europe, us and canada) for 39.99€ / month (including taxes!). The companies are still having a profit. Now imagine how much profit Rogers and Bell are making here…
  - Checkstarz
    
    Yeah whatever!!!! make sure you and the rest of the clowns at your place of employment just do the nasty little deed and THROTTLE your customers! many of them know you do it but personally, If I owned a company and was providing a service (for pay of course) and I also allowed a certain amount re:cap, then I’d advise said customers they were getting close or over and then advise what the next step was. I wouldn’t be playing dirty like slowin’ down the speeds and causing that much frustration.
    
    What’s the opinions of the cable providers? “We can’t win because then the customer will just go elsewhere?” Nope, they’ll FRIGGIN’ RUN to another provider who is at least honest with their customer(s). Shaw’s the worst for this bullshit, Bell’s almost as bad and frankly, both companies must be ready to stand in line at the food banks if you can believe the bull they be spoutin’ these past 6 months of 2011 already.
  - Swankosity
    
    I don’t work for any cable company of any kind, or media company for that matter. However, I’ve been a self employed tech geek most all my life, before it was popular to be such.
    
    I will say that this guy is not fabricating this. There is much truth to everything he is saying. I can even compare it also in laymens analogy to friends of mine who have ISP accounts with smaller unlimited based companies in Toronto. Seems great right? Not really. They have constant problems. As said above, often times not being able to get online at all certain times of day, and regular issues with their VOIP phones. They seem to have the times figured out, but what a pain. As a person who uses online connections daily for work….this is simply not an option. And I’d rather “rent” more bandwidth as I need it. I monitor what I use and make sure my work overhead is covered first priority, and if I can justify more for entertainment….I’ll pay for it. After all, I have a lightning fast connection that works flawless about 99.9% of the time. Why should this be free?
    I’m not justifying Bell or Rogers here in any way. They act like total jerks a lot of the time, and I’ve had my share of run ins with all the companies on behalf of clients especially! They make me quite furious, just like everyone else.
    
    However, most people (the average consumer) simply don’t understand what goes into this kind of infastructure, much less how any of the internet protocols actually function. This is no disrespect to anyone, or being ego based. But the fact is, since the internet has become accessible to everyone and their uncle who can barely operate a computer…….along with it comes huge lack of understanding of a great many things.
    - Bergelius
      
      I move around a lot because my employer sends me to different countries. The Canadian Internet options really are awful. It makes sense that the problem is having the same companies that sell video on demand and other expensive cable TV suff, and that own Canadian distribution rights to US TV show, also selling Internet access. Stuff about IP rights sounds like a fake argument designed to cover up the real issues – legal problems can be sorted out quickly unless a lot of money is involved. The Canadian cable companies’ profits will nosedive if Netflix Canada ever reAlly takes off, unless they can figure out some way to extract a large chunk of what would otherwise be Netflix’s profits. One way is to ramp up Internet download fees. Others are to cut deals with Netflix to share profits or to somehow force cable TV ads into Netflix. There ought to be a way to sort this out so the cable comapnies can keep their earnings up and Canadians can get uptodate services
  - Mike300zxt
    
    Wow @Vixenvikkifox, you fail, as does your cable company. A GB of data costs you about .02c, and you charge $4/GB, but you say it’s not a cash grab? Let me put this in “Layman’s” terms for you. Do you think we’re morons? That’s a 2000% markup! Are you serious!?!?!? If your “tubes” aren’t big enough, you shouldn’t be selling people faster and faster pipes (15/25/50/100/250Mbit). Basically you are over-selling your capacity, and then trying to penalize your customers for trying to use what you sold them. I.E. Cash grab. Cable’s on demand is over-prices CRAP! Netflix & Zune both have better picture and sound quality than digital on-demand cable. Plus I can rent new releases before they hit BluRay for $4-5/each instead of $8/each, like you cable rip-off artists charge. Oh, and Netflix is $8 for unlimitted HD TV and movies all month! Sorry, but cable companies are a cash-grab.
- Loritower
  
  New development in data speed over wire have come along ways and we aren’t even using them. Why would they when they can get more money by capping your internet!
- Cynthia
  
  They are not the only one, Radiactif has been providing ullimited bandwidth in Québec for a while.
SoccerMom7423

I signed up for the free trial of NetFlix today. I was spent a lot of time looking for something semi recent and didn’t find much that I wanted to watch. The incredibly limited content on the stupid Canadian site is the reason I will not subscribe once the trial is over. Plus, I really don’t need to worry about how much bandwith I’m using. I’ll stick to driving to the video store, paying $4.00 a movie, returning it 3 days late and paying the late fees over NetFlix.ca. Oh just another reason to move to the US. Petty, but all the petty reasons add up!
- Mike300zxt
  
  Seriously? Netflix Canada has over 7000 titles, including many recent and top-rated movies and TV shows. Plus you can watch what you want whenever you want. While I’d still like to see more content, they do add more all the time. I dropped cable, and I’ll never go back. For $8/month, I watch more Netflix than I ever watched my 60-70 TV channels. +1 for no more commercials, EVER!!!!
netflixuser

I love my NetFlix… I totally agree that the selection of new movies is not the best… ok – it sucks, but i found tons of old ones that I have been meaning to watch, but never got to, not to mention TV shows. For $8/month, I love it and you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home to go to the video store just to find out that the video you want to rent is out… or discontinued. Blockbuster is a 10 min. drive from our place so I have stopped renting from them I just stick to NetFlix and Apple TV
- Openhihatz
  
  I’m guessing you just got it, right? I’d like to hear your opinion a month or two later when all those “gems” that you hadn’t seen in years are watched and three new(ish) movies come out over a whole month and since it premeiered, like 4 tv shows have been added and what’s with all the BBC stuff? What we’re Canadian so we must like British junk, (not that all British stuff is crap but the juank they peddle is mostly crap) I was surprised to hear that this terrible selection wasn’t the result of the CRTC just a truly naive team od idiots from netflix goin’, “Wow it’s got a beacver in it? The Canadians will eat this up!” Even the CRTC can look at teh movie grosses and see that Canadians don’t generally like Canadian Content, because it mostly sucks, mostly…
  - Raquel
    
    We dropped our cable tv service 18 months ago… we love Netflix we can control what our kids are watching all the time… my two sisters and my mother have also signed up for Netflix since last year… and the love it specially the part where there is no COMERCIALs…. So Yeah! over a year there is always something new to watch…
  - Anonymous
    
    Ya, you can’t regulate your way to success. All that’s happening is that there are thousands of well paid, cultural jobs regulating our cinematic choices and they are turning out terrible. Canadian film is bad to death.
Mojoscot

I honestly haven’t tried it. But I am so sick of Rogers gouging me – it just seems to never end. When they started Rogers on Demand for TV shows you could watch the shows and fast forward the ads, now they have stopped that and you have to sit through the same ads as live TV. The point being they made a deal with the companies who advertise with them (they told me this when I complained). So now I need to sit and watch ads for shows that have already taken place. I will be getting NetFlix, my son has it and loves it – doesn’t seem to have a bandwith problem (remember there are other internet providers out there who are not cable companies) and I feel that any company who is already making tons of money and sells out it’s customers doesn’t deserve my business. Am downloading it this weekend…… Saving over $100 a month I can rent anything I really want to see…
- Anonymous
  
  i dont have rogers or the video on demand service, I am a BELL subscriber but i think its safe to say that when you pick Bell or Rogers you are picking a lesser of two evils. Monopolies dont benefit the consumer they just make corporations richer and less attentive to consumers like us. As you have noted.
  - Zozoramelul
    
    About 4-5 years ago, I divorced Bell, Videotron and all other big names. Why? Because we consumers are cattle for them. The service, instead of getting better and cheaper like in any other country but Canada, it’s turned by 180 degree. I prefer to pay a no name ISP who’s going to give me unlimited downloads, better customer/tech service. But the thing that I am most happy about is that my money don’t go to Bell or Videotron or Rogers. WE consumers are stupid because we are buying the BS service from them.
    - Anonymous
      
      i am with your logic 100%. My issue is that the money still goes back to big companies like BELL. I really feel we need an open market with more competition in order for consumers like us to be treated even remotely fair. Great comment.
Thigpens3

Love my NETFLIX!!! In my first month and love it. I have found lots to watch including new TV shows I didn’t know about…..I love Robin Hood..Awesome! As we Canadians support Netflix hopefully the content will improve. I have Shaw ans refuse to pay $6.00 for video on demand. I love Shaw but that price is ridiculous. Hopefully by bandwidth won’t be an issue..I know Shaw informs you if you go over the first time and will not charge you extra…First ones free. At least that gives you a chance to change you plan.
Gthemvp

The CRTC should not have their nazi fingers on the internet. Are we freaking children?

I have a big middle finger for big brother, or anyone who advocates government regulation of the internet, leave it the eF alone, save for those child porn scumbags
Guest

Are you insane? 1 to 4 gigs per movie? Shit, if you downloaded it in full it would only be like 200 megabytes, I mean different for HD. Also, correct me if I’m wrong but streaming which you do with netflix, takes up significantly less bandwidth (not band with) than downloading it. Finally, rogers send you a little message when you use up your internet for the month so you’ll know if you go over.

Serious though, 1 to 4 gigabytes a month is an insanely high figure… you know how long it would take you to download it if it was that much? There’s no chance you’d be able to stream on demand.
- Anonymous
  
  I sincerely hope you are correct. I can tell you streaming off of Zune for Xbox it is 1.2gigs on average for SD and well over 4gigs for HD. I know netflix has its own streaming technology and here is hoping you are bang on! Good comment.
  - Clark86
    
    With zune you actually download the video to your system though just like with the PSN on PS3 where Netflix is streaming I agree with this guest, but this does not mean I’ll be ignorant and ignore checking my rogers use daily just to be sure. I’ll let you know in a couple days whether or not it actually does use lots of bandwidth.
- Noone
  
  200 megs if you’re downloading very crappy quality. The HD streams from Netflix easily range from 1 – 4 gigs, depending if there’s 5.1 audio also included. I think you’re severely underestimating the size of HD content.
  
  Go and look for any 720p/1080p movie on the net. The MINIMUM size will be 4gigs and can range easily upwards of 8 gigs. Granted, streaming reduces that some, but if you want pristeen image quality, it doesn’t reduce it by THAT much.
Canard

I recently signed on to Netflix and I think it is great. At $8 a month it is a tremendous bargain, IMHO.
- Anonymous
  
  completely agree Canard!
Dyltron3030

I’m not sure if this was already mentioned but, here is a tip to keep you bandwidth in check. On the nextflix.ca website you can limit your streaming quality to 480p (preventing it from going HD). This will save you a lot of bandwidth. For those not in the know, 480 refers to the amount of vertical lines of video sent.

Netflix is capable of a maximum of 720p. On my 1080p capable TV, Mad Men in 480 looks nearly indistinguishable from 720. By the way, the p stands for progressive, which also means it is much better at enlarging than than the other common format, 480i (interlaced).

With netflix Canada not really having a lot blockbusters, and specialing in documentaries, older TV and brainy movies, it makes good sense to switch to 480 and save yourself some money.
- Anonymous
  
  wow this is the best tip I have read in the comments yet. Tks Dyltron!
Ybother

Great tip for the 480 download, but a tip to the wise for internet users, the no-name providers buy from the Giants, they did not build a network so all they do is buy wholesale and resell to public. They create a few jobs which is good, but very low pay which is bad. So the giants like Bell/Rogers/Shaw etc always win. They would rather sell wholesale and get rid of their own employees which saves them on Benefits, “do you get the picture now?” Maybe the CRTC should step in, oh but they wont, they will just let them sell us packages for larger bandwidth downloads for a bit more cash $$$. By the way the no-names are now getting regulated and soon to pass the costs to customers with a little bit of profit and lets not forget, lower payed canadians, with lousy benefits.

OOPs gotta go, just downloaded an old clint eastwood movie….gonna watch it without commercials, gotta luv that…
Ianm220

Another option. The library here in Victoria, B.C. has an excellent collection of DVDs [movies, documentaries concerts, TV series, etc.] that you can borrow for a week. I assume the situation is similar in other municipalties. You may have to put the ones you want on hold and wait for them to come in, but put in a lot of holds and you will usually have a DVD you want to watch waitng for you. Absolutly free; I had the cable turned off because what I was offered could not compete.
- Geoff
  
  Well, I just finally had enough of NetFlix and I was a die-hard. For $8.00 a month, why not just stay with it? Because it’s just become too hard to use it. Nothing but 3-rate movies that even the rental stores never carried because no one would rent them. The limited selection that we would watch were old 3rd-rate movies that we had reluctantly watched back in the eighties and they are no better now. Okay, I could have lived with that for the $8.00 a month. However, what I couldn’t live with any longer was the constant freezing and technical problems. I have Apple TV, highest speed Internet, Smart Wiring, top-line equipment and absolutely no problems at all with iTunes movies. And nothing but problems with NetFlix freezing and poor picture quality. I would go back if they can correct those things and provide the service and selection they keep promising in their advertising. Till then, just not worth even the $8 bucks.
  - Anonymous
    
    I have experienced this as well under a similar if not the same set up. I have found that unplugging my audio line for a brief split second and plugging it back in takes care of the problem everytime! No idea why, other than perhaps it is something to do with the audio somewhere, somehow but the sticking and glitching goes away with both the sound and the visuals.
Ken

I have the same set up and the stream can slow down at peak times to 10bps with similar disruptions if more than one movie is being streamed or the internet is being utilized by one of my networked home computers. It seems that the router and hardware in my house isn’t the problem, and neither Netflix or my internet provider claim resposibility.
melanie

I just wanted to comment on the bandwith usage charge. I worked for Bell Sympatico, in 2004 to 2005 and there was a bandwith usage charge. Most poeple didn’t notice, but when they did they were not very happy. I can also confirm that Rogers also had charges for bandwidth before Netflix even existed.
Checkstarz

Although I won’t disagree with what the O.P. wrote, let me tell you about Netflix and how lame they are and it’s actually disrepectful for them to assume that current members, members from quite awhile ago, or members signing up today are this naive?

Uh, I’ll explain and I have a lot of proof about it so they should really quite trying to fool people right about now. Movies like Miss march, I Love You Beth Cooper, Marley & Me, although not riveting blockbusters and some might advise they liked them, since when are 3 titles like these “new Arrivals” since they’ve been running since last October or thereabouts?

It’s pathetic and a crock of crap to have titles like that still showing up as NEW ARRIVALS and I highly doubt they have any intention on changing things around no matter how many times they tell you “we’re working to make things better for our customers.

Granted for 8 bucks a month one can’t really complain and unless you’ve seen everything they offer, you’re still depriving your cable provider of cough “much needed revenue for ppv etc.” but alas, Canadian Cable sucks to begin with. Argue with me if you wish but ever watch AMC, Bravo or Showcase and do you really enjoy commercials running for 5 minutes, 7 minutes of a show or movie and the same cycle repeats?

I repeat, Netflix appears to be a good/great deal but what kind of company-even an online one, tries to pass off new additions that have been sitting as the same new arrivals for nigh on 8 months or so? That kind of crap has NOTHING To do with the CRTC and FYI, not all cable companies freak out about bandwidth even if some have caps. My provider-MTS DSL in Winnipeg, doesn’t care at all, Shaw is the worst one, Bell & Rogers close seconds. So sorry that you are not gouging so many more millions out of some of us but as consumers we’ve been around for decades and know that your profits are still way way up so it’s coming from the suckers, the naive and the ill-informed.
- Sweetamory2004
  
  I think the new arrivals in Netflix is not meant as new releases, they new arrivals for netflix, I don’t think they are trying to screw anyone, unless you have no clue, I would hope people know those are not new releases, but for 8 dollars a month its good, if you don’t have cable and there is always something to watch on NetFlix, I mean lets face it cable sucks, and the price you pay, you still don’t get all the crappy selection that nextflix has, so yes Netflix is very dry, but so is cable.
- Anonymous
  
  New Releases is the same as any video store – it is new to their selection! Movie rental stores have the same New Releases category and it has never meant “new release” in the same context as what is currently showing in theatre’s. There are also some “new releases” that are new to being shown in this format but not new as in just created! Most people are aware of this, so Netflix is certainly not “a crock of crap” because of this, they are simply following categories the same way any movie rental store has always done.
http://netflixcanadacompletelist.blogspot.com Josh Loewen

Take a look at this site to see the entire list of what Netflix actually offers: netflixcanadacompletelist.blogspot.com. It’s so hard to find an actual “list” on the actual Netflix website. Right now they’re at about 3000 movies, which sounds like a lot, but not when you think about how many are actually out there.
Paulhasasportscar

I still don’t believe Netflix Canada has the necessary amount of content but they are very close to being there. For the $8.00 per month it is great to watch the selection they have but at some point, if new movies are not added quick enough, the selection will run dry. I would love to see Netflix Canada to start going the way of Netflix in the US and start to build towards the selection that they have. I guess will just have to wait and see what happens. It is obvious from the discussion at http://www.netflixusers.com that users from Canada want more and more selection!
Jteindl

People that have no idea how technology works should not post comments that they do not understand. For a company to provide you with more bandwidth would cost millions of dollars. The equpiment used to provide you with your internet connection is not cheap or easy to install. If a company was to upgrade their entire frame to boost your bandwidth or speed, you would be paying double for your service. That being said, I am a Netflix Canada customer, and am not overly impressed with the content.
- Turbo Kelly
  
  I just took Movie Central, and a bunch of packages off our Bell Satellite – was definitely NOT using $120 a month of what was offered.
  We’ve had Netflix Canada for several months now, and are really happy with it.
  We did find that there didn’t seem to be as much choice during the free trial as there is now that we[‘re paying.
  We use it a lot, and MTS internet has never charged us any extra.
Anonymous

It is only the Internet Service Providers that choose to enact what the CRTC has allowed that will gouge you with your Netflix viewing or the like. So far it seems those are only Rogers or Bell, both known for gouging where and whenever opportunity may exist. Change providers, seriously! I have been with Netflix for sometime now and I really enjoy being able to choose what to watch when I want, especially, without the ads of TV. I do wish it had alot more new releases to choose from as I find myself dredging through the 80′s for more than I ever would dream of doing. And I have no desire to watch films prior to the 70′s so it is really frustrating to see so many old 50′s and 60′s movies being added to their “new release” category all the time.
As for what the the CRTC has to do with what Netflix shows us in Canada, they are an outdated regulatory body in Canada, I doubt the CRTC will manage to maintain itself in the long run unless it wakes the f*ck up and fast! Personally, I have seen more TV shows because of Netflix than I ever would have without it. I chose long before the internet to never pay for television services. I also grew up in a Cable free home, we had a TV but we only viewed what the rabbit ears could pick up and the occasional video store rental. I have not missed out as a result, I have still seen many of the shows that make up our pop-culture. I would happily pay more to have a Netflix service that is not limiting my viewing potential due to some lame outmoded regulatory body as long as Ads stay the hell out of my viewing experience.
When’ltheygethonest?

I’m looking at the Netflix promos. It says that there are no hidden charges. Really!
I ‘m not even going to use my free “gift”. It doesn’
t explain thabout this bandwidth stuff and what the cost is on the free period. I feel ripped off. I’m no geek and this was going to be a first for me going into this area, but really, it is dirty advertising and one of these lead you in then screw you projects. Bait and switch!
- Tipspeed200km
  
  the possible extra bandwidth cost is from ur internet provider not netflix. if you have a lite then maybe you’ll be ailed by your internet provider with extra costs. like cell phone plans that are accidentally or foolishly exhausted. we don’t pay extra but then again we have the max package cause we use the internet a lot. I think its 55$ – 66$ from shaw hamilton.
- http://www.stylomart.com Online reviews
  
  how far this can go?
jesus2.lopez

I enjoyed Netflix for about the first couple months, that
was until I had watch just about everything good that they offered through
their online service. The last month that I had Netflix, I think I may have
opened the page maybe once and I didn’t even watch anything. I am just glad I was
able to get Blockbuster
Movie Pass
through my employee DISH Network subscription. I love that I can watch all the
new movies from my computer online, plus I get access to new channels through
my TV and I can rent videogames and movies through the mail for the same price.
I am very impressed, because I’m not even paying any more for Blockbuster Movie
Pass than I was for
Netflix. When I made the switched to DISH, I receiver Blockbuster Movie
Pass for 12 months free
and after that it’s only $10 a month.
Rbelanger20

1. For bigger caps, forget Rogers, Bell, etc… and go with a reseller like TekSavvy.
2. The content you get from NetFlix depends on your location. You can use a service like unblock-us to fool NetFlix into believing you are in the US (it uses changes to DNS settings). They have a one week free trial, after that it’s 4.99/month. Works fine for me!
Zeguine

The CRTC should focus on safety ex make sure that they enforce license frequency etc they are not gods they shouldn’t be regulating content Netflix is a great service the crtc needs to step down once and for all and stop letting bell and rogers feed them. The problem is that the to biggest pioneers in the isp market is also in the market of TV broadcast and does not want to loose a penny . We need a major isp base provider in Canada like Google or similar to bring in real competition. As long as the 2 biggest isp are in the tv market we will be screed .
Marti_oconnell

Netflix is fabulous…..you can’t beat the price… and if you are living in the maritimes you can’t beat Aliant FibreOp… unlimited!!!
- Couch Potato
  
  Netflix is great. We’ve been watching TV shows and movies that we’d never heard of before. We asked Bell for more BW at a cheaper price and low and behold, they cut our fee by $10 (now $35/month) and we we now have 125 GB per month. The highest we’ve gotten is 70 GB. But, you HAVE TO CALL THEM and threaten to go to Rogers. Only complain is there are not enough foreign movies (in spanish). We have an HD antenna and pick up 12 HD channels from CN Tower, Buffalo and Rochester. All free.
Andrew Groening

if you want the american version of netflix while living in Canada, you can simply use a US proxy. Your selection is determined by the IP address (Canada/US)
http://netflixcanadacompletelist.blogspot.com/ Josh

Take a look at http://netflixcanadacompletelist.blogspot.com/ to see a complete list of what Netflix Canada offers. Sorted alphabetically, and by release date.
Steve

We need to stop internet metered pricing: http://stopthemeter.ca
http://www.stylomart.com Online reviews

I think its a great work done.
http://www.playlist.pk
Tanis_ivy

here’s the deal. the CRTC is comprised of old Rogers and Bells bosses. They want they’re old companies to massively profit so they can profit. there’s no way to win. Government are bought and sold thees days.
Crankycanuck

I ordered bell’s wireless Internet, and got 3 gigs of bandwidth- I SPECIFICALLY asked the Bell sales rep if this would be what I would use for Netflix, and would I have enough space to download whatever we want. He said yes. Imagine getting a bill for 400$ for Internet use, calling to find out what this was all about and bell telling me “oh, gee, sorry you should have known better”. After 4 months of arguing, filing complaints etc they allowed me to cancel my contract for the “turbo hub”, and refunded 75% of the bill. Cable Internet – there is no limit. No contract. I am thrilled – I have had nothing but issues with bell, and wouldn’t shed a tear if they went under.
Kymber

If I have Shaw High Speed Internet, what bandwidth would I have, anyone know? Any Shaw users using Netflix? What problems if any to report?
dallasdawn

i didnt have time to read all the comments in case this is already mentioned i apologize. If you go to your netflix account page, then select manage video quality you can choose between good, better, and best settings. good setting uses about 0.3 gigs per hour (this is about 30 hours for 9 gigs), and best uses about 2.3 gigs per hour (this is about 30 hours for 70gigs). I watch almost all my movies on the good setting and other than some blockiness when the screen is black, i see no quality problems at all.
I kow this applies to canadian accounts, i do not know if it is done elsewhere.

hope this helps some of you out there
Che

I don’t know if this will help or not but my internet is with Bell and we pay $57/mth for 60 GB. I have been using netflix since Dec 05 2011. Dec12 – Jan 11 (billing cycle) we watched a few movies and the entire Buffy series (7 seasons x 22 episdoes) in a period of 3 weeks. We used 40gb total. So far for our Jan-Feb billing cycle we’ve used less than 30gb and we’ve watched the seasons of Dexter that they have.
Tamiellia_68

We started using Netflix in early December of 2011. I must say that it’s sad that we are well down graded compared to the Americans, but I still love my Netflix. We have high speed internet with Rogers & we pay $69.99 for 150GB monthly. We’re 4 adults at home with 4 gaming consoles (online), 2 PC’s, & a laptop. With that, Netflix is on in our home quite a bit throughout the day/evening. We received our bill in mid January of 2012 from Rogers & we didn’t even use 3/4 of our allowed usage. We’re cancelling our cable as soon as our full cycle is complete with Rogers. That alone will save us close to $100.00. So to me/us, it’s well worth it indeed.
From very happy Netflix fans in Ottawa, Ontario.
Guest

For working for a big company in Canada I have to say everyone blames
the companies for alot of the problems but let me tell you most of the
time when people are complaining about a billing/tech/usage issue it is
there fault 90% of the time. I do this for 9 hrs a day of people
complain about problems, which get fixed for the most part ( yes
sometime really stupid mistakes can happen). If people looked into all
the info about what they buy even more problems will stop. Like do you
know all telecommunication companies ask for 30 days to cancel your
service or that it is listed on there site saying if you think you are
pay to much call us and we will look into it.
Bdidol

Guest, I guess you are a CSR in Rogers & you are an idiot.
Mike

For those looking for an Inexpensive ISP have a look at this site: http://www.canadianisp.ca/

In Ontario you can for example select TekSavvy and if you go to their site they offer the following:
Ontario Residential Cable Internet. There are plenty more to choose from.
Product                                Speeds Up To
                                            Down/Up)        Bandwidth
                                                                                     Price

TekSavvy Basic Cable 3             3Mb/256kb     25GB         $24.95     Order Now
TekSavvy Lite Cable 3             3Mb/256kb       300GB         $30.95     Order Now
TekSavvy Lite Cable 3       3Mb/256kb        Unlimited     $40.95     Order Now
TekSavvy Express Cable 12     12Mb/512kb     300GB         $39.95     Order Now
TekSavvy Express Cable 12     12Mb/512kb     Unlimited     $54.95     Order Now
TekSavvy Extreme Cable 24     24Mb/1Mb     300GB         $46.95     Order Now
TekSavvy Extreme Cable 24      24Mb/1Mb     Unlimited     $61.95     Order Now

In Toronto TekSavvy uses the Rogers network and the only difference if it is cheaper and you get more bandwidth. Bottom line is shop around as Bell and Rogers are not the only players. Teksavvy also offers DSL and Dry Loop as well.
My2Cents

I didn’t read everyone’s comments, but I just wanted to say that you can control the quality that you stream your netflix shows at. If you are really worried play at the lowest or middle quality(it’s in your netflix options). I’m also with Teksavvy for internet, with 300gigs and I never reach that (constantly streaming from tv channels or netflix).
Acglovers

We cancelled out cable in sept 2011. Found a local Internet company that charges a flat rate for unlimited Internet data and haven’t looked back. We love netflixs, don’t miss cable and love not having to pay the HUGE Internet and cable bills each month. PLUS if you do it through apple tv you also have access to unlimited NHL and MLB for the sports lovers, for a nominal fee each month and iTunes for whatever you want to rent just like a movie store.
Netflixuser

I don’t know about the Rogers but with shaw the entry level plans include 125gb and upto 400gb that’s 30 to 400 movies per month. If your watching that much web content in a month you need to find a new hobby
Faramir

It is not a secret that Bell, Telus and Rogers like to rent seek. Meaning they use the government to make it too costly for new entrants in the marketplace. The Egyptian owner of Wind Mobile had a great article on that not too long ago. The big players tried to buy him off to keep him out of the cell phone market.

So the less business I give them the happier I am.

As to Netflix, you can’t beat the price. There are a number of shows I like such as all 4 seasons of the Unit, Heroes, Soap, ect. You also have movies that are a couple years old that are fun to revisit such as Star Trek or Iron Man 2. But what clinched it for me is a decent selection of anime. Including the Airbender series. I started watching it, and then got my 5 and 7 year old girls hooked on it as well. My daughters and I love Avatar and also Astro boy and the entire series on there on netflix.
Faramir

It is not a secret that Bell, Telus and Rogers like to rent seek. Meaning they use the government to make it too costly for new entrants in the marketplace. The Egyptian owner of Wind Mobile had a great article on that not too long ago. The big players tried to buy him off to keep him out of the cell phone market.

So the less business I give them the happier I am.

As to Netflix, you can’t beat the price. There are a number of shows I like such as all 4 seasons of the Unit, Heroes, Soap, ect. You also have movies that are a couple years old that are fun to revisit such as Star Trek or Iron Man 2. But what clinched it for me is a decent selection of anime. Including the Airbender series. I started watching it, and then got my 5 and 7 year old girls hooked on it as well. My daughters and I love Avatar and also Astro boy and the entire series on there on netflix.
Babygal905

Not to sound ignorant or racist,

But WTFF ARE BOLLYWOOD MOVIES DOING ON NETFLIX… If the CCA OR CRTC or whoever can add the Bollywood foolishness on Netflix then they can add the American selection.

Canada is multicultural, we don’t just have Bollywood fans!!!!
Whocares

Yeah im sick of the steady stream of Bollywood movies showing up on Netflix for months now comprising a good portion of new arrivals each time, that and crappy Z grade indi horror movies even a hard core horror fan wouldn’t watch.
They keep removing good classics and they fill up empty space mostly with crap at the rate they are going they are removing more than adding good stuff pretty soon its going to be like any of those crappy places where they have foreign films and public domain movies with no copyrights like Night of the Living Dead (1968).
Wheres the CRTC when you need it, most of the Bollywood movies only have subtitles…How about i dont know more French culture they have a huge movie industry too and the movies arent all the same and they are good! And specifically more French Canadian movies, the only Canadian movies worth watching and that have international succes, why arent we represented…i know there’s a lot of Indians in Canada but i bet there’s more French Canadians and were the fouding fathers, Chineese, Natives not that the latter have a big movie industry.
Diemedes

Anyone subscribing to Netflix canada is just perpetuating our the retrictive, nanny state, socialistic Kanada hijinks. Our governments (fed,prov, civil) control everything in our lives as if we were helpless tots in diapers. Netlix Ca sucks bigtime and anyone putting up with substandard treatment (crap offerings versus the US version) is already brain-dead and part of the sheep brigade. Wake up ! Don’t encourage getting screwed. Don’t use Netflix UNTIL they offer you the same service as USA, which will probably be never.
Kajen22

hmm its easy getting around the netflix.ca site using vpn. i use a program called hotspot shield, google it download the program hit connect. There are some ads that run but other than that you’ll be able to connect directly to the US website for netflix…..trust me the content is like a million times better and is one of the reasons im gonna keep paying for netflix instead of cancelling.
- Anonymous
  
  yes, hotspot shield works great. To stop the annoying ads use google chrome as your browser and download the adblock extension, then open a new window for netflix.com and you are able to access all US content ad free. Check your IP address if it does’t work, every once in a while hotspot assigns an address in the Carribean and it will not work. Just sign off and try until you get one in the US.
Onecalljohn

Keep Netflix in check so you work for Shaw? Have you ever compared costs of cell service, cable, phone service, and internet to what they pay in the US? We are getting seriously overcharged and the CRTC lets them get away with it. If they charged a reasonable rates Netflix would not look so tempting.
Ash862010

I find with some TV shows that they do not have all the seasons like united states of Tara, which i really in joyed besides netflix only having one season, i don’t see the point of that. Where’s the rest of the seasons, and this is not the only TV show on netflix that does this.
Al

Dump Rogers and Bell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go with the little guy
Most offer unlimited band width
All we do now is stream
The only down fall?????
We sometimes have to wait an extra day to watch current shows online
Netflix gives us every thing else we wish to watch
A little more current programing would be nice
But (think about it!!!!) 7.99 a month
There’s not to much you can complain about
http://twitter.com/vpnfreedom VPNfreedom

The content on Netflix in Canada sucks compared to the US version. Here is how to access the US version in Canada: http://vpnfreedom.com/netflix/how-to-access-us-netflix-in-canada/

MoviesOnline

NetFlix Canada In Review, The CRTC, Bandwith Bills & More.

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