Somehow I get the feeling they mean that latter definition.

Let's be very clear about why Bell and Telus are scaring you. They OWN the means by which you access the network. It's technology, and someone had to build it, and someone has to maintain it, and that costs money. It ain't free. They own it, they want to make money off of it,...

...and more and more people are putting bigger and bigger demands on the systems they own. Where once the average customer just read e-mail and surfed a few sites, now it's streaming-video-this and music-download-that. More and more customers are getting more and more sophisticated, and so are the sites they access, and the tech is just moving in the direction of needing even more speed and capability to deliver newer and fancier services. The result? Bell and Telus need more and better equipment to serve the demand, which costs more money, enough more that at some point the old model just doesn't make money anymore - or rather, you'd have a lot of trouble getting customers to pay what it would cost to deliver all of that to all of them at the same time.

Options? Several - most involving curtailing what the customer can access and charging more for it. Per-hour plans are being talked about and are in fact pretty common. Per-megabyte plans are in the air as well. Tiered services are another option - one rate for access to a range of basic services, another for the good stuff. Your ISPs' proposals are just another option.

Don't like it? Well, your choices are:

1. Convince them that they can make more money using a different approach. Are you willing to pay a lot more for your "free" world?

2. Don't do business with them. If the alternatives are as lean as you suggest elsewhere, that might be your "doomsday" option - essentially boycotting them until they realize that a different strategy would be more profitable. Of course, if others don't support you then you end up like the guy who refuses to work because he doesn't want to pay taxes: instead of the company losing, you'll end up the deprived loser. On the other hand, if there are alternatives then doing business with them will make them more successful, perhaps eventually successful enough to truly rival your two current powerhouses.

3. Go communist. Nationalize their equipment or pass laws that essentially put their private property under the control of the government - and hope that your government will actually serve your interests and not someone else's.

4. Build your own. Get all your like-minded buddies together and fund a system that reflects your beliefs. You can do this privately or under government auspices - perhaps your government can build and maintain a public system based on some sort of user-tax model. Please note, the caveat at #3 applies here as well.

5. Go capitalist. Get all your like-minded buddies together and buy a controlling interest in one or both of the companies. You own it, you make the decisions. You can do this privately or under government auspices - basically the "go communist" model with the exception that you're reimbursing the owners. Uh, caveat applies again.