said by dhthwy :

The notion that if you're a heavy downloader means you're a software pirate is utterly ridiculous.

Just because YOU don't doesn't mean that everyone else that does is doing something wrong.

Streaming music at 128kbps running at 8 hours per day = ~ 13GB's a month by itself.

Did you know that many applications nowadays are available for download? Does this mean it must be pirated? No.

I'm guessing you never downloaded an album off of any site like itunes. Or used any movie download service. But under your thinking those that use those services on a regular basis should be booted just because they were given unlimited service and chose to use it. Oh, and if they voice concerns over a possible change in billing scheme then they're automatically labeled a pirate. Because legit users don't complain about such things, right?

For a single person the highest tier at 40GB is pretty generous. If this person happens to use over that , then this person could very well have a legitimate reason. There is plenty of ways to go over this cap, and downloading illegal software is just one of many.

However, people also have kids. Did you know that? There might be several computers in a single household. Jimmy might download a game now and then off steam and play video games a few hours a day on the internet using his PC or Xbox, etc. Jimmy could use a few Gigs a month just by playing those games himself. Sarah might have an Ipod where she goes to itunes and downloads a few albums a month. Their parents might subscribe to the netflix service where they download a few movies a month. Sarah also likes to stream music on winamp. Maybe this family has webcams streaming, some people like to leave their webcams on. Oh, they also have unlimited VOIP and their phone is practically tied up all night long. Add all that up and you can easily go past that 40GB mark.

People want unlimited service, even if they dont use it all. Many people get VOIP just to get cheap unlimited calls. Just because people have concerns over a possible change to a tier plan doesn't mean they're heavy downloaders, it doesn't necessarily mean they're downloading illegal software. You'd have to download a bunch of illegal software to approach the 40GB cap. I don't know anyone that sits there and downloads 40GB of illegal software every month.

If company X offers unlimited, and company Z offers a tiered plan. Which one would be the best value for your money? Regardless of how much you download, unlimited is the best value. It gives you peace of mind. Knowing that you don't have to worry about whats running on your comp so you don't wake up the next day and find that you're mysteriously used up 20 GB.