Comments on: What Happens When the Cloud Meets a Bandwidth Cap

By: Kristoffer

Kristoffer — Thu, 19 May 2011 06:13:15 +0000

THANKS – I have (well now had) this exact issue!

By: williamlouth

williamlouth — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:02:41 +0000

This is why you need activity (your action/context) based metering and not to be completely reliant on high level billing masquerading as metering.

http://williamlouth.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/cloud-computing-a-tale-of-two-machines/

http://williamlouth.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/abc-for-cloud-computing/

By: Kalorii

Kalorii — Sat, 07 May 2011 03:54:52 +0000

I can’t help but notice that you were in the same boat I was last month. That “one particular day” is probably sometime in the beginning of April, I’m betting. You’re not the only one that had “excessive usage” according to Rogers and their bandwidth monitor. In the beginning of April, our usage went up to about half of our 125GB cap. I don’t think the problem is things using up the bandwidth but Rogers and their faulty metre.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Sat, 07 May 2011 02:56:43 +0000

Thanks a lot, Jens — another thing to be jealous of Sweden for :-)

By: Jens

Jens — Fri, 06 May 2011 17:42:15 +0000

Data caps?!?! Really?
No ISP in Sweden has data caps except for mobile broadband. I have a 1000 megabits (not a typo) fibre connection at home and pay $80 / month. No data cap or bandwidth throttling. My iPhone has a 6 megabit 3G data plan at $12 with a data cap at 10Gb plus no cap usage at 4300 “surf zones” available at most public buildings in the cities.

The US and Canada are not some third world countries. Your ISP’s better start acting like it.

By: Drew Bernstein

Drew Bernstein — Fri, 06 May 2011 16:52:57 +0000

It amazes me that anyone could support the notion of bandwidth caps. Some companies keep pushing higher and higher net speeds while at the same time limiting bandwidth. It’s like leasing a Ferrari and being told you can only drive 2 miles a day. Maybe those same companies should stop charging me for cable when my TV is off? Bandwidth caps are entirely a marketing / profit decision. It is not a resource like fossil fuel and anyone supporting the notion either has stock in the companies, works for them or needs to take their tablets!

By: G

Fri, 06 May 2011 13:31:27 +0000

This is understandably bad (for you), but it hardly represents what most users would experience. I don’t think it’s an indictment of the cloud as much as an indicator that “cloud technology” is still evolving and that developers and ISP need to be proactive in dealing with it. Of course, ISPs would rather just charge you for bandwidth usage or leave it to “the nerds” to figure it out. So, yes ISPs are the devil; but no, the cloud is not at fault.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:59:33 +0000

Very true Al. And you can take a quick look at the duopolies’ SEC filings to see how much those costs are and whether they are increasing or decreasing. But let me save you the time – bandwidth costs in the US are absurdly low and even with record numbers of people signing up for broadband those costs are decreasing rather than increasing.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:10:37 +0000

No, I actually forgot to lock it down after I swapped out the Rogers modem a few months ago.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:02:15 +0000

I think that’s exactly what this is. A chance to capitalize on everything going to the web and trying to save the dying TV subscription model.

Something has to give. Either they’re going to have to correct downward on TV service pricing, finally offer a la carte plans (unlikely due to back-end licensing), or just give up and compete with each other on BW/per$.

Unfortunately I think we’re only just entering that painful in-between stage, where it’s finally happening in the US too. I’m waiting for the moment where average-joe netflix user starts dealing with regular overages from his HD streaming, online music library and backup service.