Yellowknife (Jan 10/07) - What is 10 gigabytes? It's not something that can be touched, seen, smelt nor tasted.

But NorthwesTel provides 10 gigs per month to its residential subscribers. However, once Yellowknifers go over that limit they get hit with additional charges.

Dustin Moore, owner of the Frostbyte Cafe, can explain 10 gigabytes (or 10 gigs) in terms that people can understand.

It can amount to seven or eight downloaded movies, or 10,000 minutes of music downloaded.

Divide that by 4 minutes per song and it comes to 2,500 songs.

"Basically if people are just checking e-mail or Web browsing they're never going to hit it," he said.

Anyone who exceeds 10 gigs will be charged an extra $15 per gigabyte, NorthwesTel's Becky Brotherston said.

Brotherston and Moore both cautioned that one culprit for overages is the new trend in wireless routers, which can allow a signal to be used by others, by accident or otherwise.

"If they have a wireless router make sure it's protected," Brotherston cautioned.

Moore agreed that securing one's Web connection is wise.

He and Brotherston also recommended turning off file sharing from programs that let you download songs and movies (Limewire and Kazaa, for example).

That move can result in lower bandwidth usage.

Moore said that getting his overage bill, though costly, means that his Internet Cafe is attracting business.

"If we didn't have the overage it would mean no one was coming in," he said.

Through his business, Moore receives 30 gigabytes from his Internet provider, but his enterprise tends to use 80-90 gigs a month. This means a bill of approximately $500 extra a month.

One Northwestel Cable customer sent the Yellowknifer an unsigned letter regarding Internet usage. The writer outlined differences in prices.

"I noticed that most high-speed cable Internet providers down south offer 60 gigabytes (GB) for their very basic service, as compared to (NorthwesTel's) 10 GB," the letter stated.

The writer also inquired about the cost. "...I'm only getting 16 to 17 (per cent) of what Canadians in the south can affordably have access to and I'm paying more. Why?"

The cost for NorthwesTel's cable Internet, at 10 GB, is $49.95 to $59.95. In comparison Telus, from which NorthwesTel gets its bandwidth, offers a 10 GB option at $15.95 a month in the south.

Anne Kennedy, the director of corporate communications with NorthwesTel, said that their cost is higher than Telus because of the number of users.

"Internet...is very market driven," Kennedy said.

She explained that if more people had the Internet then "prices would be adjusted accordingly.

"We don't have the same (number) of people that Telus does," Kennedy said. Telus customers spread across Alberta and British Columbia, which means more people and lower prices.

SSI Micro offers five GB to its customers, but offer them a choice of either having their accounts frozen when they reach their max or pay the overage, which is $15 per GB, said Jennifer Horton SSI Micro's executive assistant.