Comments on: Welcome to Consumption-based Broadband

By: Will Internet TV Be a Victim of Bandwidth Caps?

Will Internet TV Be a Victim of Bandwidth Caps? — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:01:48 +0000

[...] now that users are getting “good enough” IP video streams delivered to their TV sets, consumption-based or capped broadband, as it is currently being tested by service providers like AT&T and Comcast, could end that [...]

By: Raj1

Raj1 — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:36:59 +0000

Well, instead of looking at the over all population, look at the population which has access to internet. Even though India has a very large population, only 15-20% of it actually has access to internet. And that is much less than the population in US which has access to internet.

Even then, India has metered plans because not everything here is done online: i) 95%+ pay bills at the offices after standing in a line. ii) Grocery shopping isn't done online. iii) There is hardly anything as "return within 30 days for full refund". iv) People don't rely on Google Maps (coz all og India hasn't been chartered properly yet).

The companies just want to make money. So they term 256kpbs and higher as "broadband". I had Comcast connection and used to pay $40/month for 16Mbps plan (was a limited time offer). Whereas, airtel give 4Mbps for $30 with a FUP limit of 25GB/month. :(

By: Raj

Raj — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:14:35 +0000

By: The End of the Broadband Buffet Is Nigh – GigaOM

The End of the Broadband Buffet Is Nigh – GigaOM — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:07:01 +0000

[...] Verizon’s CTO Dick Lynch said in September that Verizon was also in favor of some kind of consumption-based billing, it was kind of like watching your favorite indie rocker sell out. Why would Verizon, which is [...]

By: joe

joe — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:54:43 +0000

Agreed. I am expecting antitrust suits to follow in the next few years. Since local governments usually sanction an isp monopoly per district (much like phone companies, and often the same phone company), you can expect to see law suits when these deals go down, charging for one type of data and not another. It is like the gov’t indirectly saying for example, “facebook is ok to use, but we’re going to ‘tax’ you for myspace.” I hope people will realize this and respond swiftly.

By: joe

joe — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:47:42 +0000

Actually, the way to think about it, Shankar, is that India has over a billion people packed into a much smaller area than the U.S. with only 350million people. It isn’t that we’ve “woken up,” it’s that we don’t need these pricing strategies because our country isn’t as poor or overpopulated as yours, but companies are finding a way to squeeze an increasing amount of profit out of us — in spite of the fact that we are all well aware that it is unnecessary for them to make a profit.

By: Metered Broadband Is the Future: Verizon CTO

Metered Broadband Is the Future: Verizon CTO — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:03:30 +0000

[...] world, rather than a per-GB pricing model. Verizon has been one of the last holdouts on the idea of metered broadband, in which an ISP charges users based on the amount of data they consume as opposed to charging a [...]

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:32:43 +0000

Tom from N.J, you hit the nail on the head pal. CONTROL

By: ISPs Should Decide If They Provide a Utility or a Service

ISPs Should Decide If They Provide a Utility or a Service — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:02:19 +0000

[...] to figure out exactly how much different services cost consumers on a per-byte basis. And once you train someone that downloading a 2 GB video costs $2 in overage fees, then they rightly wonder why sending a text message that consumes a mere 160 bytes (you can cram [...]

By: NY Congressman Massa Files Bill to Stop Tiered Broadband Pricing

NY Congressman Massa Files Bill to Stop Tiered Broadband Pricing — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:00:11 +0000

[...] after it was proposed, the trials were canceled after the public and members of Congress protested. AT&T has a similar trial underway in Beaumont, Texas and in Reno, [...]