ISP Bandwidth Capping Could Set Us Back

You know I was asking questions on this very issue in my recent posting:

 http://www.internetevolution.com/messages.asp?piddl_msgthreadid=198382&piddl_msgid=164579#msg_164579

 Though was'nt quite bothered about Carbon Footprint issues,rather I was more concerned about the Health of the US Economy.I absolutely hate the fact that when we have all kinds of deficits,we are paying on Average $15-17 Billion every month(yes every month) to countries like Russia,Venezuela and Iran,Countries that frankly don't like us very much.

 Obviously,not everybody is going to be happy with 250GB limit.But what putting limits like this will do will slow down the spread of botnets,P2P traffic and Spam.Not to mention unneccesary wastage of electricity-So many people keep their Modems on 24/7 and download stuff they don't need only because Internet Downloads are unlimited.

 I don't really know much about S.Korea but I do know this,its a very small(Geographically) country,to put fibre/Data Pipes all across the country will cost a fraction of what it does in the US.And plus,on a per capita basis its much richer than America.But you never know,with WIMAX coming on the horizon,we might actually get our wish for Unlimited Broadband for super-cheap rates.

I am not a huge movie and music download fan from the web yet, but I slowly getting there...

My current concern is that I perform 1/3 of my work from home (yes i am workacholic) and planning to make a oneday-work-from-home to reduce my carbon footprint.  As part of my job, I download files, upload files, email (usually with huge attachments), etc.,  For now, it does put a pause on my "Green hat".  As employeers are getting used to work from home, the issue of paying for the bandwidth usage is going to give them cold feet.  May be we should become like south korea where broadband internet is free...

Hopefully, the ISPs while increase the cost on the usage, might also work on improving the quality and additional service for the users...

Personally, I think its a very good idea.Comcast and other ISPs have spent a lot of money on this infrastructure and they need to recover their investment.We software poeple tend to forget maintaining infrastructure costs money too.

 250GBs is a good reference level.All ISPs should stick to these kind of levels.What this also does is it prevents  wastage of Bandwidth with P2P traffic and electricity.The lesser data there is out there,the lesser Data centres required and so lesser electricity that is wasted.

Also P2P traffic is responsible for majority of the Viruses,Spam and Botnets that exist on the Internet. This will  put a Spanner in the works of malicious authors out there big time.

is this cap the outcome or the same as 'metered' bandwidth?

I've been against it from day .05 of the bandwidth limitations.

I too feel like it's a downward force.  you would think that the bandwidth + tv would be the same.  The 250 gb a month seems 'fair' now, but is that going to adjust as we move forward?  I recall having a 107 mb hdd, then a 10 gig, 80 gig, 160 gig and 250 gig.  A terabyte seemed so far a way but you can buy one now for less than $200. 

Hi Paul.  I don't think that the sky is falling, I'm more interested in the action and the outcomes that are already occurring.  Comcast's cap is larger than many others.  It's the reaction that the presence of a cap of any kind brings out in many customers that is the real risk.  

Of course, we can agree to disagree.  Sorry if you think I'm on a bandwagon or overhyping but that too is life.  Thanks very much for posting your thoughts.

Peace

Ross 

Hi Ross,

I really don't want to join the bandwagon of bloggers who have over hype this comcast intitiative as if the sky is now falling on us. I think Comcast has been very reasonable here and there is no way I could believe that they are attempting to change our internet usage pattern. 250Gbytes/Month for a Residential plan is just suffice. There are 720hrs in a month and the only way i could possible exceed that cap is to be watching one new movie after another, which of course s just impossible.

Those who think that the cap is still small, they have the liberty to sign up for the 'commercial plan' which does not have any cap and that would allow them to still use the internet as before. But the argument that this cap will redefine our internet usage just does not make sense to me. We have to respect the fact that the ISPs are busines entities and not public corporations and as such entitle to do what serve their profits well. Bandwidth hogs should just resign to the fact of having to pay for more internet usage!!