Canadian cable provider Rogers recently gave American cable users a possible glimpse of the future when they started charging data consumption overage fees for their capped and throttled broadband service. They've also been using a new user alert technology from Perftech that could see broader use as an ad-injection engine. Perftech's technology lets the ISP inject a banner ad above, beside or below any existing web content.

Perftech's technology clearly can be of practical use: it was used as early as 2005 on Wide Open West's network to deliver Amber alerts. It can also be used to alert subscribers to possible infection or if their PC is being used as a spam relay. Rogers currently only uses it to alert customers when they get close to their monthly cap of 60GB.

However, Perftech also advertises the technology as a possible way for ISPs to subsidize certain lower-cost tiers of service. In this industry, it's hard not to think that a number of ISPs -- under constant pressure from investors to create new revenue streams -- will eventually use the technology to try and grab an additional slice of ad revenue. It's a good guess that users, ad networks and network neutrality supporters might get slightly annoyed.

Rogers does allow users to opt-out of the alerts, though users are forced to opt-out every billing cycle. One user in our Rogers forum highlights that the system is fairly easy to block if you want a more...absolute solution. You simply have to identify the server (in Roger's cap alert system's case it's 64.71.251.10), then use either a rule based firewall or a personal proxy server to block the IP. Might be useful information to keep on hand for down the road.