Derfel
join:2004-06-06
Winnipeg, MB Reviews:
 ·MTS
| Transfer the idea... Take this idea, that 5% of the ISP's users are "bandwidth hogs", and move it to the realm of cycling.
Say that 5% of the population "cycle" more than 45% of the total cycling mileage for a given city. Should they be punished? Made to pay more taxes for sidewalk/bike trail repair? Or did they choose to use the available "trail service" as supplied by the municipality for their own uses? Should the people who only cycle on Sunday afternoons for leisure be refunded part of their taxes because they do not contribute as much to trail wear and tear as those who commute to work by bike?
It's so odd that ISP's like to whine when people use their product as advertised. If they wanted people to just email and check their stocks, why not just advertise their service as such, rather than using music and movie downloads in their ads? |
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| You cannot equate government taxation to private business practice.
I agree with the above user who said we will move to metered bandwidth eventually. It will probably look a lot like cellular plans. "X' dollars for up to "X" gigs, then "X" dollars for each additional gig. And then offer various minimums based on usage stats. Sure there are more issues with this program than cellular as justbits stated. However the ISP's will find a way to make it kinda work, while letting customer service deal with anomalies and those truly hacked/attacked.
With the advent of NetFlix downloadables and other heavy BW usage sites that are available for mass public use they will have to do something to stop the Googles/Yahoos/YouTube etc from clogging "their tubes", as one older than dirt senator put it. |
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Derfel
join:2004-06-06
Winnipeg, MB | Simple - make broadband a utility. |
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 MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | reply to Derfel
said by Derfel:Take this idea, that 5% of the ISP's users are "bandwidth hogs", and move it to the realm of cycling. Say that 5% of the population "cycle" more than 45% of the total cycling mileage for a given city. Should they be punished? Made to pay more taxes for sidewalk/bike trail repair? Or did they choose to use the available "trail service" as supplied by the municipality for their own uses? Should the people who only cycle on Sunday afternoons for leisure be refunded part of their taxes because they do not contribute as much to trail wear and tear as those who commute to work by bike? It's so odd that ISP's like to whine when people use their product as advertised. If they wanted people to just email and check their stocks, why not just advertise their service as such, rather than using music and movie downloads in their ads? If those 5% of the people take up 90% of the sidewalk 24 hours a day causing normal users to have to stop or slow down to avoid them, then yes they should be taxed more.
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Use the OS tool for the job. |
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| reply to Derfel
That's a great idea as broadband is needed for survival.
Oh wait, no it isn't.
Now lets go back with something that works better than that idea. Get people to READ what they get for a TOS/AUP for service instead of assuming things.
Granted that wont work very well either.
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People want economy and they will pay any price to get it. - Lee Iacocca |
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 dadkinsCan you do Blu?Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
kudos:18 | WTF?
READ the TOS/AUP? You're kidding, right? 
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| reply to Matt
Maybe, but only if the city is up-front about it and provides a tool so the user knows how much they use (for broadband, a bandwidth meter). Currently there's no way of knowing. The city doesn't just keep it a secret, and when someone reaches the limit slap them with some kind of charge or fine they know nothing about.
Or, how about the telcos just upgrade their crappy networks so people can use it as advertised?
The sidewalk obstruction analogy is flawed, if you're blocking it up it's obvious and people around you will be pissed. With broadband, what's normal for one person might be excessive to another. This is especially true now with VoIP and internet video services (for example some people I know use iTunes instead of cable for TV shows). |
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| reply to Derfel
I agree, if it says unlimited, to the average Joe it means they can use it as much as they want. Unlike 10, or even 5, years ago there's much more data to download, with things like video-on-demand and online games and networks offering TV shows online. It's only a problem anyway because the telcos can't, or won't, upgrade their crappy networks.
I'm not an expert or IT person, but out of curiosity does anyone know what specific effect constant download has? I mean if a cable modem user is using it all the time, how much of a "drain" is it on the system? Is it like these networks are only designed for a certain percentage of people to be using it at a time or something? |
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