As of January 31, 2020, Canada’s RTC (Radio and Telecommunications Commission) put in place new guidelines to help reduce consumer bill shock related to charges for excess data usage. While many ISPs were notifying for 75% and 100% usage, an interim alert closer to the limit was desired. Two of PerfTech’s large Canadian ISP customers needed to extend their communications to include a 90% alert. Fortunately, PerfTech’s in-browser messaging system can create new and/or modify existing message content in a matter of minutes. Even adding time for review and testing in both French and English, both Providers were able to implement the new 90% alerts in minimal time and far ahead of the January 31 deadline.
Once the 90% usage alert was added to the in-browser message sequence, PerfTech looked at delivery reports generated automatically by the system during the first 2 months thereafter. The reports both log acknowledgement rates and show how many subscribers curtailed usage so as not to go over 100%. Results are as follows:
Usage Alert Level 75% Alert 90% Alert 100% Alert
Acknowledge Rate for:
First month 76.0% 70.7% 70.5%
Second month 75.6% 69.0% 71.5%
Usage Alert Level 90% Alert 100% Alert
% of Recipients of 75% Alert:
First month 63.6% 45.4%
Second month 59.6% 30.9%
In other words, in both months after the additional 90% usage alert was implemented, approximately 60% of those subscribers who received a 75% alert then went on to hit 90% of their usage allowances. However, some change in usage behavior is indicated by the fact that in the first month, about 45% went on to use 100% of their data allowances, and the second month, about 31% hit their limit. While there is not enough data to gauge whether users are truly paying attention to the additional 90% warning, the ISPs are complying with CRTC wishes to keep subscribers well informed of usage. It is also noteworthy that subscriber response rates to the alerts at all levels is high, 69-76% in all cases.