Telus is set to charge customers for any data they use over their monthly limits.
The telecommunications company has announced that, starting on March 30, customers who go over their data allowances will be charged a fee on top of what they already pay.
"... In the last 16 months alone our customers’ monthly Internet data usage has more than doubled," Telus said in a news release.
"Further, much of this consumption is being driven by a minority of our customers — in fact, less than five per cent of our Internet customers are consuming 25 per cent of the data on our network in any given month.
"This has required us to reconsider our approach to ensure we continue offering a smooth and seamless Internet experience for all customers."
Anyone who exceeds their monthly limit will be automatically provided with extra "buckets" containing 50 GB of data. The first bucket will cost $5, and any individual bucket after that will cost $10, up to a maximum of $75.
If you haven't used up a data bucket at the end of a billing cycle, your data use will go back to zero and you will then start using your normal allotment.
Telus will also start telling users by email when they've hit 75 or 95 per cent of their data usage, and when they've gone over.
The company offers data packages of anywhere between 30 and 500 GB for its users.
It has 1.5 million Internet customers in B.C., Alberta and Quebec, The Vancouver Sun reported.
The newspaper noted that Netflix users streaming movies in standard definition (SD) use approximately one gigabyte of data every hour, and three gigabytes when they watch films in high definition (HD).
It also pointed out stats showing that online gamers may have to be careful. A number of PlayStation 4 or Xbox One games can require more than 25 GB of data to download. Some apps need more than 100 GB, the paper reported.
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