Is the End of Unlimited Internet Near?

[Astraea]

Comcast, Frontier and Time Warner Cable Are Moving Toward Imposing Internet Usage Caps

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology...5689480&page=1

[Lazy Bastard]

On Aug. 1, Frontier Communications changed its policy to define acceptable use for high-speed Internet as 5 GB per month. In June, Time Warner Cable launched a test program in Beaumont, Texas, that imposes monthly Internet usage limits of 5 GB to 40 GB on subscribers.

A 5GB limit is fucking insane.

"This is about protecting the 99 percent of people who don't use a massive amount of bandwidth from the small percentage that does use an extreme amount," he said.

True, there is only a limited amount of bandwidth per area in broadband communications. Still, there's no excuse for capping anywhere near 5GB per month.

[ugetab]

Let's try this:
Dialup: About 4 Kbps average if you're lucky.
4 KBPS * seconds * minutes * 12 hours * 30 days = Monthly half-day usage of dialup.
4 * 60 * 60 * 12 * 30 = 5184000
5184000 KB / 1024 = 5062.5 MB
5062.5 / 1024 =
4.94384765625 GB

Hmm. Seems like they're turning a month worth of high-speed internet into a month worth of dialup. Isn't that worth $40 instead of $20? I'd probably rather just have the cheap-ass dialup if that's the case. At least then I'd know why I couldn't use more bandwidth.

[Lazy Bastard]

Sure, but why do that when you can use all of your monthly bandwidth in a day?

[MIR]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13512_3-10...6246&subj=news

[bfoos]

A 5GB limit is fucking insane.




True, there is only a limited amount of bandwidth per area in broadband communications. Still, there's no excuse for capping anywhere near 5GB per month.

40GB is insane. I'm by no means a bandwidth hog, yet I easily average between 50 and 80GB a month. Comcast at least has a decent cap at 250GB. Anyone who couldn't live with that, should probably consider getting a business account. Time Warner's caps on the other hand, are absolutely ridiculous. In this day and age of Netflix, Steam and other high bandwidth content delivery systems, not to mention multi-user home networks, all with their own hardware plugging away at the net, 40GB just won't cut it.

If Time Warner implements those caps nation wide, I'll have no choice but to spread my ass cheeks Kirk Johnson style, and pay over a $100 a month for a telecommuter or small business account. It's either that, or back to free dialup, as there are no other viable alternatives to Time Warner in my area.

[Lazy Bastard]

Yeah, if that occurs, I might have to go fiber, and just eat the horrible costs.

[Gtlcpimp]

If Comcast or TimeWarner do cap the monthly bandwidth, then they are violating their user agreements and their service contracts. The contract / user agreements do indeed say Unlimited. They are held to that contract of UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH which was agreed upon by the people who signed it. If they dare breach the contract, then they are placing themselves in a legal bind, which will further put them in the perfect condition to lose every lawsuit set against them over this issue. If you set a service with a contract for customers to agree, where the customers must pay for the service, then you are held to keep that contract valid. If you fail to maintain that contract or modify that contract without further agreements by the customer, then that customer has every right to sue you for every penny your worth and they will win. The only way that you can violate your own contracts / agreements without further agreements of the customer is when your service is FREE. Comcast and Time Warner, however, do not offer Free Internet.

If you ask me, it's just another act by the government to further restrict the rights of the people in order to control the people.

[bfoos]

The government has nothing to do with it. All this is is a blatant money grab by huge corporations. They are manufacturing a "bandwidth crisis" all in the name of deeper pockets and more bandwidth to use for HD programming and their own online offerings.

[Helder]

Seems that comcast is trying to go for an appeal,and as far as I have known comcast has had the 250GB limit for a long time,which is why I never go past 220GB a month.

[aarathy]

I think it was the trick of all internet service providers. The ultimate goal of all internet providers is to transform the internet into the cable television pricing model. Through it they got a lot of money.

[xibalba]

.

[Lazy Bastard]

lol, nicely put.

[OldSchoolGamer]

This thread was started in 2008... so are they still contemplating reducing people's internet to 5 GB?

Does that count just visiting a website like espn.com but not downloading anything from it? Ya know how when you visit a website, temporary internet files from that site gets stored on your computer, well are those files included in the 5 GB? Or would the limit imposed only include 5 GB of stuff that you actually download?

[Lazy Bastard]

I'm not sure if they're still contemplating throttling, but I wouldn't be surprised.

The limit would include everything you download, including things your browser downloads.