said by tschmidt:Usage caps are entirely different issue. Residential ISPs made certain assumptions about typical broadband customer usage. They assumed customers would not use the service heavily allowing them to purchase/rent less back-haul capacity keeping prices low. They assumed a "data consumption" model not a server model where customers both download and upload data.
Unfortunately for ISPs usage has often been different then anticipated causing congestion and impacting broadband profitability. This is especially a problem for Cable due to technical issues.
Charging by usage and imposing usage caps would not be a problem if service had not been advertised as "unlimited." Users rightfully claim service was marketed as unlimited that is how they ought to be able to use it. ISPs on the other hand are struggling to keep up and tweak a business model that does not reflect how customers actually use broadband.
/Tom
Well put.
