Monday, June 16th 2008
Charging by the Byte to Curb Internet Traffic
Not everyone uses the internet for the same purposes. Some simply check their e-mail and/or scan the news for the latest headlines and promptly log off, while others download gigabytes of data every day, if not every hour. For years the internet was an egalitarian service with both types of users paying an equal amount despite the amount of bandwidth they used. Now it seems the major ISPs are preparing to implement some form of bandwidth limiting for users that utilize the most. Earlier this month Time Warner cable began a trial program of "Internet metering" in one Texas city. Customer will be asked to select a monthly plan with a certain amount of allotted bandwidth. When a user exceeds the bandwidth of their plan he or she will be forced to pay a surcharge, similar to exceeding the allotted minutes of a cell phone plan. The same week Time Warner announced its plan Comcast announced that it will be expanding its plan to manage Internet traffic, which involves slowing down the connections of the heaviest bandwidth users. While, as of yet, AT&T places no restrictions on bandwidth they stated that limits on heavy use were inevitable and are considering pricing based on data volume. The three companies insist these forms of billing will insure fair access to the internet for all users. Critics of the bandwidth limits say that metering and capping network used could hold back the inevitable convergence of television, computers, and the Internet. Internet metering could have serious consequences for companies such as Blockbuster and Netflix who are providing more and more downloadable/streaming content.
When asked how many gigabytes an average customer uses, Time Warner would only reveal that 95 percent of customers use under 40 gigabytes per month. This means that 5 percent of customers use more than 50 percent of the network, and it is assumed that many of those people are sharing copyrighted video and music. Only time will tell whether these bandwidth limiting plans will provide fair internet access to everyone like the ISPs insist or whether they will stunt the growth of the internet economy. It seems that bandwidth limiting is here to stay and will most likely get worse, at least for the time being.
Source:
The New York Times
When asked how many gigabytes an average customer uses, Time Warner would only reveal that 95 percent of customers use under 40 gigabytes per month. This means that 5 percent of customers use more than 50 percent of the network, and it is assumed that many of those people are sharing copyrighted video and music. Only time will tell whether these bandwidth limiting plans will provide fair internet access to everyone like the ISPs insist or whether they will stunt the growth of the internet economy. It seems that bandwidth limiting is here to stay and will most likely get worse, at least for the time being.
143 Comments on Charging by the Byte to Curb Internet Traffic
I have a 60 GB download / upload (combined) monthly limit but, however, from 1 AM GMT until 9 AM GMT, i have unlimited downloads / uploads. Using this feature (called "happy hour"), i downloaded 1254.6 GB in January ...
Only once i crossed the limit: back then i had a 1 Mb connection with a 10 GB monthly max and i downloaded 13.4 GB. With each 100 MB over the top @ 1.78 euros ... do the math ...
This is why i increased my connection to the biggest available because i actually pay less with it then i would with the 1 Mb connection if i crossed the limit by just 2 GBs ...
That i know of, pretty much all of the other ISPs in Portugal work similar to this: some have their version of "happy hour" and some don't.
You pay for a service which cant be sustained, the terms and conditions say 'upto' X speed with no guarantees... and when other people tell you they get better you get all huffy (australia has a law, 80% of advertised speed 95% of the time, something close to that)
we bitch about telstra... but dont worry, comcast and your ISP's are turning out to be exactly the same. at least we get the speed we pay for.
I can imagine Time Warner have a similar system/network.
time to face the facts. this isnt at all for improving the experience for certain users, its for making a profit.Charging 1 dollar a gig would set me back a good 5 dollars a day most of the time.There's one added benefit for the corporate world as this heavily hinders piracy, but sure as hell wont stop it. This is the first step before the Internet becomes limited content wise instead of just by bandwidth.
uh im glad i plan on moving to Japan when im done with education :P, 100mbit ¦3
They should quit squeezing all this money out of the consumers for so little cost to them.
They inforce monopolies in the telecoms through paying off politicians. FCC shouldn't be able to sell wide spectrums to companies. All of these things let corporations have free reign on overcharging consumers. If you do the same thing to a corporation, they sue you or you will simply disappear.
They are doing it with power, greed, and corruption. They are turning capitalism into slavery of the common man.
It will be like V for Vendetta one day.... only worse while using higher technology. :(
Because they have small amounts during the day and large amounts starting at midnight, many users simply setup their download programs to start at midnight - and the effect was massive. within 30 seconds i'd go from 8Mb to 256Kb. The ISP added the graphs to allow people to see this.
Now they've implemented various solutions to reduce that strain on the network, but its a very serious and real problem - just because you cant understand why they shape it or want to charge more, doesnt mean its not real. Networking is more complex than most people realise, particularly in regards to the internet.
I know it works because he showed it to me. They won't offer it until the software is less buggy, but they already have the bandwidth and they are almost done buying all the necessary hardware.
So don't tell me that its puts a strain on there system. LOL
If it does, that means they need to upgrade it and quit being so greedy with not setting up the proper hardware just so they can save money.
In this thread alone we've already had complaints and reports of people getting less speed than they pay for... does it occur to you that the network infrastructure is not owned by the ISP, so they CANT do anything about it? the only options is to wait for whoever does own it to upgrade it, or reduce users usage.
they CAN support the heavy users fine they ARE just doing it for profit.
by saying that its some users causing the problem, they cann limit and charge as much as they want and they stop being the bad guy.
but meh, whatever.
this is one step away from internet packages which offer you access to certain websites and no others.
Then you say you could sue.... right? Try winning a lawsuit with a massive corporation. Its literally impossible is you are an individual.
The only individuals that get settlements from companies are not because the corporations think they will lose the legal battle. Its because they fear the "bad press" associated with it. Unless your friend is Rupert Murdoch, and then it won't even be reported on in most media outlets. ;)
I love how a handful of rich sons-of-bitches control and RUIN everything for EVERYBODY. But don't expect to find me with a note left on my bed, pistol in my hand and bullet in my head. Viva la revolution! The end is near, who's with me? Ground Zero--Oshkosh, WI--were sick of high gas prices (rolls eyes), and we will NOT PAY BY THE BYTE.