Back in 1996 when my parents took the plunge and signed-up for the Internet for the first time, they had three different options for plans. Either they could choose something like 15 or 30 hours per month, or they could pay quite a bit more to get the unlimited hours plan. I was in 7th grade at the time and between my brother and I, we convinced them that we definitely needed the unlimited option – especially with how slow our Internet actually was with our 14.4 kilobits per second modem! Who wants limited hours of Internet anyhow? Several years after we signed-up, it seemed as though every ISP moved to only offering unlimited plans and it’s remained that way up until today. That could be about to change though with Time Warner Cable announcing that they’re going to begin experimenting with a new pricing structure. To sum it up, the more bandwidth you use, the more you pay.
Can you even imagine going from unlimited data downloads to a limited package? I certainly can’t. While it’s understandable that they feel the people who are downloading large amounts of high definition video content should pay more than someone who only goes online to check email, limited plans just aren’t appealing to anyone. Being limited to 15 or 30 hours wasn’t appealing back in the mid-90’s, and being limited to a certain amount of bandwidth isn’t appealing now!
Time Warner is the second-largest cable provider in the United States and they will start trying this new system out in Beaumont Texas for new customers sometime in the 2nd quarter of this year. There’s been no word on the download limits each tier would offer, or the pricing of them. For tech savvy individuals, selecting a plan wouldn’t be difficult at all. But, can you imagine your mom or dad signing up for cable Internet and having to decide which tier would work best for them? It would almost be as bad as someone walking into Best Buy with no knowledge of Windows Vista and trying to determine which version they should get. And if the Time Warner sales reps are anything like Best Buy sales reps, people would be signing up for the most expensive plan possible even if they use the Internet to check mail – much like how uninformed individuals can easily walk out of the store with Windows Vista Ultimate.
How would you feel if your ISP ended up following in the footsteps of Time Warner? Would you end up switching to a new provider if yours did something like this? If Time Warner is successful, do you think other ISP’s will follow?
Source: Associated Press
You mean monthly bandwidth limits are new over there? Pretty much since ADSL became commonplace over here three/four years ago most companies have offered limits, usually somewhere between 1 and 5 GB per month, 20 to 40 GB per month and Unlimited. When we first got broadband (November 2004) it was just before all that kicked off so we got an Unlimited package that runs to this day. Only one of my mates ever hit a download limit (I don’t think his parents knew how much he used it) and it reduced their speed to about 5 KB/s for the rest of the month.
I think this is inevitable. I’ve heard several predictions that we’re going to see serious slowdowns soon, because the nationwide broadband infrastructure is not ready for full-length HD movies and other sources of increased traffic.
Here’s a USA Today article that I found by googling “internet going to slow down”:
[usatoday.com]
I’m actually happy to see it. We pay for bandwidth by proxy now, with payment based on speed. Wouldn’t it be better to offer everyone the same speeds, charge for the bandwidth? Of course, they’ll probably offer a confusing and complex tiered system, with slower speeds AND lower bandwidth allowances at the low end, and unlimited plans coming with higher speeds.
This is just another way of making pirates miserable. Those who torrent will inevitably use the most bandwidth and spend the most money. While that’s a good thing, I think that there are still some things that would mess up users.
For example; those who offer some of their bandwidth to Tor so others could use their computers as a proxy might have a charge a little more then others. Plus, I’m sure friends would joke around and set up their computer to download tons of HD Movies just to screw with the other guy.
The worst part of this is that most people don’t even know how much bandwidth they are using. If you ask people who don’t classify themselves as geeks or nerds “How much bandwidth are you using?” you’d end up with blank stares. People just don’t keep track of how much they download because they have unlimited hours.
This is the reality down here in Australia right now, Ashley. We have numerous plans based on usage and speeds. Yep, sucks to be Aussie.
All I say to internet customers in the US… get Verizon Fios ASAP… I’ve had it for a couple years now and I LOVE IT!!
If Verizon starts charging me based on bandwidth use, I’m moving to Japan.
For me there isn’t much choice; Dial-up (yeah right!) or cable. DSL is not available and looking at DirecTV’s website, it appears satellite internet service is not available.
Consumers are at the mercy of monopolistic cable companies.
If they need limits because of their server loads, doesn’t that usually signal a need to UPGRADE!? Lazy companies…if Cox did this (they don’t to me as far as I know) I’d ditch them in 1/2 a second.
People need to start making some noise, this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! I would to see an interview where they just get baked!
I was actually surprised to read this! In India, we didn’t have broadband until 3 years ago. Ever since we got broadband, we’ve been on limited plans. It’s very pricey here!
500 Rs ($13) plan gives you 2 GB free of bandwidth. Anything more than that will be heavily charged. I can’t imagine how many homes will disconnect their internet connection after receive a heavy data usage bill. Think of those poor nerdy kids!
For us that’s pretty cheap. In Panama, Cable & Wireless (based in London) charges $28.95 for 1 MB of bandwidth until you download 6 GB. After that, you are restricted to 256 kbps until the beginning of the next month, where your service will be restored again 1 MB.
Regards,
Omar.-
From the sounds of it, Aussie’s aren’t the only ones with limitations! I’m thinking now that the U.S. are the odd-ones out there by not setting limitations. I guess it is inevitable then that we’ll be restricted here soon.
In all I’m pretty shocked to hear about all of the limits on the Internet services around the world. What confuses me is that this is supposed to be the start of heavy digital media streaming. How are we supposed to stream shows from providers like Netflix when they are capping the Internet?
Unfortunately the areas that is available in is still rather limited, but I’m sure it will continue to spread.
Maybe this means there will be less people watching YouTube, renting movies from iTunes, downloading songs, etc. Also this might signal a better fought battle against piracy! But I don’t know. If they do do this, I’m forcing my dad to get another provider. Its hard to be bundled up even if they claim to lower the prices a bit.
If there will be no choice, my life on the internet will be from school! Haha!
I don’t understand why certain companies think that it’s okay to give you less for the same amount of money that you’ve been paying for years. If Time Warner rolls this out in my area I WILL switch to DSL.
You guys should be delighted with this move. Now they can’t legally throttle your bandwidth if they think you exceeded “fair use” limits. Unlimited doesn’t exist. At least you know what you’re gonna get now…
Most of the cable providers in Canada (don’t know about DSL) have limits on their plans, which vary based on the speed. Regular HS, which gives about 5Mbps download is typically limited to 60GB/month. If you exceed that, IMHO, you’re probably doing something illegal.
Or you could be faced with the prospect that they have to raise your monthly fees so that they can afford to upgrade all their equipment.
I hate the thought of going back to a limited plan. Just consider the company I manage used to get 7GB of bandwidth a month and anything over was charged by 1GB levels. We regularly hit 12 GB and thus got $20 tacked on to our bill a month thus raising our $35 per month account to $55. I hated that and when we finally got an unlimited plan I have been much happier. But we pay $500 for our T1 which really does get guaranteed 1.5Mbps both ways 24 hours a day. No consumer level service will provide that; I just hope there will always be a reasonably priced plan that is unlimited in the consumer space.
I’m sure I exceed that number, and I’m not doing anything illegal. I just like to download and test out various Linux distributions. If I download a few Linux DVD’s every month that would come out to 15 or 20GB alone. Not to mention music and movies I download from iTunes.