mod_wastrel
join:2008-03-28
 ·magicjack.com
| Too "smart" for your own good...
Caps are not about managing a network. Caps are all about managing customers. If Comcast truly wanted a well-managed network, then they'd have no caps at all--not on speed and not on bandwidth/capacity. They would rely on priorities, as in the more bandwidth/capacity you use the slower you go (rather, the longer you wait), which would only matter when the network is "congested" (as in truly congested, as opposed to what an ISP likes to call "congested"). All customers pay for the same thing: access... 24/7 access... at "up to" speeds (when they can get them).
Of course, the only reason for speed caps is to allow an ISP to create tiers and charge more for higher speeds (while not offering anything that might truly be called "economy broadband"--meaning still useful without being pitifully slow nor too expensive to be a true value). What's the point in restricting a customer to using only one thousandth of their potential bandwidth during periods when the network is relatively unused? Just more money for the ISP. Without the speed cap during a low utilization period a task (download/upload) would complete faster by several/many orders of magnitude, but with the speed cap that task you started during low utilization will simply continue till it finishes (well, unless your ISP "resets" it for you  ) even to the point of impacting customers who would not have been impacted at all if there were no such speed cap.
The bandwidth/capacity cap, a la Comcast's, is just more protection for their own video and phone services, neither of which are "counted" in the "meter" (which they still don't provide so as to keep you informed of how much you might be using). So, now Comcast wants to control where you go on the Internet and what you use your connection/access for and how much you get to use it. Sorry, that's not what customers bought into. Some customers won't care... yet. But is Comcast going to raise the cap as the "median" usage increases? Or will they simply lower it in order to choke off the competition for their own services that compete with Internet-based services? Gee, that's really tough to answer... not. Since when has Comcast been a proponent of network neutrality? (answer: never)
Dear Comcast: Your customers are your biggest investors. If you want to keep them, then you'll start doing what it takes to make them happy. And not all of the "Comcastic" commercials you can come up with will convince anyone (with a brain) to believe that you have their interests in mind (instead of your own mindless money grabs). I'm sooo sorry if you're tired of providing a "dumb pipe", but that's what Internet access is, well, used to be. A dumb pipe, however, is the only thing I'm willing to purchase from any ISP: 24/7 access... period. As it is, I'll never be a Comcast customer again (for any of your services), even to the point of having no Internet access at all (which, fortunately, I don't need to worry about). I hope your network becomes as unused as you hope it will, more so even. |
