ZDNET: The Evil EFF's Quest For Metered Bandwidth > Metered bandwidth will never work

reply to gatorkram

Re: Metered bandwidth will never work

The problem with unlimited service, like we sort of have now in the residential sector, is just what we are seeing now. The networks can't handle what the users are trying to do. There is no penalty for abusing the network. If you make people pay for what they use, they won't be for free for all about how much they use.

Some say there is no cost, for the bandwidth, so there shouldn't be a pay-for-what-you-use model. Well, the pipe is only so big, and if there is no drawback to everyone using it 24/7/365 they will.

Much like why long distance calling wasn't sold as unlimited, it was because the lines to make those calls were not an unlimited resource.

Sure, I wish we could all have 100mbit pipes, and use them at full utilization 24/7, but the money has to come from someplace, to buy all the equipment and the lines to support all that usage.

I realize, this is the usage model the ISPs chose, and I realize they should be spending more money to upgrade their networks, but I also understand everyone is in the game to make money, and if they started to charge more, to the people who use more, we could hope they'd use that money to support the users who are paying for it.
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Give me bandwidth or give me death!
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The only reason to "upgrade" is if their user base grow duh...
if you have a 100mbs pipe, give 10 users 10mbs each then of course you will need to upgrade the network if you acquire 5 more users, otherwise now you got certain user using "their" allotted bandwidth but this now slows down a few of the others because the pipe is small. so either upgrade the network to accommodate new users or do not over sell the pipe. DON'T say i got 10mbs of a 100mbs pipe that is shared by 20 others who you promised 10mbs as well.

with this type of thinking i should sell my car multiple times to bob, joe, and Ernie and tell all of them the are sole owners.

You clearly have no clue about how residential bandwidth markets work. So called "oversubscribing" is how they're able to offer 10Mbps for $40 (or whatever low prices we've become used to). It's based on statisically how much aggregate bandwidth is needed to support X number of typical subscribers.

Under your scenario I assure you, you wouldn't be paying less than $50 a month. Price out a dedicated 10Mbps business class circuit sometime and you'll see what "fair" pricing is.

"business class" exactly a term coined by marketers to imply that the service is somehow more special. its a pipe, a pipe just like any other. their statistical analysis is to maximize users and bandwidth, this model obviously has flaws they gotta use a new model. ISPs gotta realize that people will having their PCs up day and night, their network "the network we pay for" should accommodate that.