As more and more Canadians are making the Internet -- that is, its extremely high prices and limited access -- an election issue, telecom giant Bell Canada is getting ready to change its tune.

OpenMedia.ca has learned that Bell has buckled under public pressure and will propose an alternative scheme for the imposition of usage fees on independent ISPs. Bell is expected to come out with its plan this afternoon: today is the filing deadline for the first round of submissions to the CRTC's usage-based billing (UBB) hearing.

Through local meet ups, Internet supporters from communities across Canada are participating in a National Day of Action on Saturday, Feb. 26. Canadians will creatively educate members of their local community, and encourage their friends and neighbours to add their names to the nearly half-a-million who signed the petition online at StopTheMeter.ca.

Thousands of pink "Data Usage Tickets" have been printed and will be given out to unsuspecting civilians accessing the Internet in coffee shops and other public places.

Canadians have been in an uproar about the CRTC’s latest catastrophic move, the decision to allow Bell Canada to implement usage-based billing. Usage-based billing (UBB), which has also been described as Internet metering, means that users are charged a penalty on top of their regular monthly bill for exceeding a predetermined threshold of bandwidth use. Many suspect that this is also the first step toward ISPs charging us per byte, the way they do with data plans for smart phones.