 calvoiper
join:2003-03-31 Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| Re: letter to the editor... These analogies are all flawed.
While ISPs have generally priced by bandwidth alone, resulting in "all you can shovel" usage, their costs do vary somewhat by usage.
Shared facilities (particularly major connections to Internet backbone networks) are maintained at a level lower than what would be necessary for 100% "full-blown" usage. Vastly increased usage, whether it's caused by file-sharing, VoIP, or gaming, does carry the likelihood of increased costs to the ISPs, even if bandwidth offerings to particular end-users aren't broadened.
These increased costs have to be passed along somewhere. I'd just rather see it happen directly, where I (and other end users) get to choose what gets prioritized and what I don't care about, than indirectly, where those choices are made under the table by ISPs and content providers in a back room.
calvoiper -- VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |