 wolfoxGentle Wolfox
join:2002-11-27
Dunnellon, FL | Vote With Your $$$'s And Feet I had 56k dialup with a local ISP. I went with them because they had #1) A HUGE huntgroup. #2)"Super Modems" that supported my X2 and V.90 USR. (That was smokin' back then in the day) They advertised their service as being completely unlimited. They only required that you be actively using your account in the time that you are logged in. So, no pingbots or open e-mail clients were counted as being "active". Fine I can deal with that. I sign up, send my check, and then happily go home.
For 2 months the service was excellent. My E-mail always works, never had a busy signal, they were a model ISP for a local gig.:) Then one day...my login does not work. I call up, "Yeah, my password's rejected by the server, there is a good chance this is not user error." Turns out, that "unlimited" access is just that, but you could only use their modem pool for 8 hours a day.
I asked then and there at that point "What part about unlimited access is suddenly no longer unlimited access?" To which they had no clear answer. Right there on the spot I cancelled my account. It was no big deal to me when another ISP is just down the road. I signed up with a nationwide provider after that, and they advertised, and GAVE unlimited access. I held onto them until DSL broadband was available in my area 3 years later.
Now, this anecdotal story sorta has a point, but only if the conditions are right for it. If my broadband ISP suddenly were to cap me - I would bail. I signed on for Unlimited, 24/7-365 service, I *pay* for that level of access, and the moment they torque a cap on it I am gone. Therein lies the problem...where do you go when the only viable broadband solutions in your area are all capped???
It's a bad Idea(tm) in my opinion. It will just hamper the growth of broadband technologies and slow the roll-out of future technologies. The few people left, still die hard users - will be left to foot the bill all by themselves. Thus, raising the rates for available services, as limited as they are, across the board...
Oh, and the ISP I moved away from collapsed within 6 short months after "capping" the dial-up modem pool to 8 hours a day...Once a week the cops go through the building and pick up the vagrants that squat there.
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| Just look at Australia all the ISP's cap their services and now the people singing up for broadband has dropped. I have broadband to play online, download demos download video clips off IGN and I also like to download anime and Video game/ anime OST (all un-licensed in North America) I have an average download of 40GB a month and a upload of 20GB a month. On the account I have now w/ my isp they say in the contract that I can only download 10GB a month and upload 5GB a month and anything over that I get charged 10$ a GB. So far they dont have a Transfer counter available to the public site so they don;t charge extra yet. But once they do I probably will end up cancelling my account and using school and work to download all my goodies 
ISP's will be advertising 40$ a month for their service but neglect to mention the "hidden fees" in advertisements. This will result in bills double or triple of what people were expecting if they are un-aware of what a "bit cap" is.
I was with Bell sympatico last year and left because I racked up a 200$ bill the month they started to impose a bit cap. I never knew about the cap until they had the nerv to phone all angry that I didint have the 200$ in my bank acc. for them to take. I laughed at them, asked them if they would remove the over charge and just take the regular monthly fee. The man said no (until I said I wanted to cancel my account w/ them). I still cancelled the account and will never deal w/ that ISP again. |
