Fair Use Policy

Benjamin Krueger benjamin at seattlefenix.net
Thu Aug 23 00:52:21 UTC 2012


Yeah, totally can't be done. It especially can't be done profitably.

http://fiber.google.com/
http://gigaom.com/2012/07/26/the-economics-of-google-fiber-and-what-it-means-for-u-s-broadband/

On Aug 22, 2012, at 5:41 PM, Jimmy Hess wrote:

> On 8/22/12, Bacon Zombie <baconzombie at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I how you are talking about 3G or there is a typo.
>> An ISP with a 5GB cap that is charging the end user more then 5$ total
>> {including line rental} a month should not be allow to operate.
> 
> I don't believe $5 even covers an ISP's typical cost of having a line,
> let alone getting data through it, maintaining, supporting it, and
> providing upstream networking.  Last I checked you can't even buy
> dial-up services from national ISPs for that low a price,  before the
> per-Hour usage charges,  and those require simpler less-costly
> infrastructure to maintain for the ISP.
> 
> With residential broadband, if there is not a heavy degree of
> oversubscription,  the ISP will either go broke, or the cost of
> residential service will be so high that the average person would not
> buy it.   "I want my line speed 24x7"  is a technical argument,  it is
> a numbers game, and  the average subscriber does not make that
> argument,  or at least,  rather, the
> average res. subscriber is not willing to bear the actual cost
> required to actually pay
> what it would cost their ISP to satisfy that  for every user trying to
> utilize so much.
> 
> Why should the end users who transfer less than 1GB a month, with only
> basic web surfing, have to suffer periods of less-than-excellent
> network performance  or pay increasing costs to subsidize the purchase
> of additional capacity for users at the same service level expecting
> to use 100GB a month?
> 
> There is a certain degree of fairness there.
> 
> Even if   the metric is wrong --  the idea of metering bytes
> transferred is broken,
> because it does not positively reinforce the good behavior.
> 
> It's like trying to reduce congestion during rush hour on the freeway
> by imposing a  "40 miles of travel per day"  limit  on each vehicle
> owner.
> 
> That gives no benefit for those effected by the limit to adjust what
> time of day they travel those 40 miles,  however.
> 
> A  "X=10 gigabyte per  4 hours"   rolling average  limit  would make more sense.
> 
> 
> Where "X"  is varied,  based on the actual congestion of the network between
> other users of the same service level.
> 
>> And if your infrastructure and handle 25% at a minimum maxing out their
>> connect them don't advertise " unlimited " since you can't provide it and
>> it is false advertising.
> 
> There's no such thing as unlimited, period.    Even if the provider wanted to,
> there will be some physical limits.
> 
> I agree the use of the word is confusing... when they say unlimited
> what they are
> often indicating is  "You are not  limited  by the provider in the
> number of hours a day you can be connected to the service".
> 
>> The world would be a better place if ISPs that either throttled, cut off or
>> added on extra charges to the end users bill were fined to hell for false
>> advertising and repeat offenders were named and shamed on a public website.
> [snip]
> 
> There might be no residential ISPs left
> 
> --
> -JH
> 





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