HardOCP News
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Did we really need a study to tell us that everyone hates broadband caps? What's that you say? This was a government conducted study? Never mind, that explains it. 
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Everyone Hates Broadband Caps
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VladDracule
[H]ard|Gawd
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Its absolutely bogus that these companies with the profits that they see are even considering this type of crap.
I say the same thing about Verizon Data Caps,there is in no way they were losing enough money that they actually saw a loss on their services.
These greedy companies who want record profits and increases every year are disgusting, just provide the service and make a decent profit and be done with it. Stop trying to squeeze every last dollar you possibly can
I say the same thing about Verizon Data Caps,there is in no way they were losing enough money that they actually saw a loss on their services.
These greedy companies who want record profits and increases every year are disgusting, just provide the service and make a decent profit and be done with it. Stop trying to squeeze every last dollar you possibly can
MavericK
Zero Cool
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Capitalism. Companies that go public very rarely stick to the founding business practices once the shareholders get someone in the CEO position. Look at Costco - they've been public but held to their original structure because they've had the same CEO (until recently). As soon as someone shareholder friendly gets involved, it'll be all about pumping profits. Hence you get inferior products, raised prices, nickel and dime management, outsourcing, tax inversion/evasion, and every other scheme you can think up.
sfsuphysics
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As soon as my slice of pizza costs more than $2 I'm out!
Did we really need a study to tell us that everyone hates broadband caps? What's that you say? This was a government conducted study? Never mind, that explains it.
Yes we do. Just because you and I know it, doesn't mean your congressman or senator does. To hear the ISPs you'd think that only a a tiny portion of their users are affected. A few years ago, I would have agreed, but we're now using more online video and audio, and if you watch an hour show on HBOGO, it uses about 1.5GB. 1 person probably won't hit a 300GB cap, but a family with a netflix acct can.
That's just my desktop's data, so that's not even counting streaming video to a TV etc..... keep in mind I enabled vnstat on the 9th, so only ~22 days of the month.
Godmachine
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Data caps will fall to the way side. They can't exist with the ever growing data requirements. Simple as that. I think companies realize this and are attempting to milk the short term fearing sweeping fiber network installations over the next few decades. Once you have fiber directly to your home its a very straw man argument.
Especially for large ISPs which can pretty much write their own standards and can't really account for low data caps (weak infrastructure is not an excuse anymore) after spending millions upon millions advertising things like DOCSIS 3.0 and aggressive fiber expansion.
More than likely as wireless becomes more and more efficient it'll just be so cheap versus physical line installs that networks won't be simply locked down by corporations.
Especially for large ISPs which can pretty much write their own standards and can't really account for low data caps (weak infrastructure is not an excuse anymore) after spending millions upon millions advertising things like DOCSIS 3.0 and aggressive fiber expansion.
More than likely as wireless becomes more and more efficient it'll just be so cheap versus physical line installs that networks won't be simply locked down by corporations.
Such optimism. I'm afraid the caps will stay with some adjustment and the companies will be banking on increased data consumption to increase revenue.
kbrickley
Supreme [H]ardness
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I think the hard line caps will disappear, just like the old dial-up caps did (if folks can remember back that far) ... mobile, on the other hand, I would agree that they are here to stay ... there is likely to always be a capacity constraint for mobile (especially in larger cities), and if people have access to hard lines they should be using them for high capacity activities anyway
Insula Gilliganis
[H]ard|Gawd
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I can't have bandwidth caps.. it would affect my surfing/class room experience!!
sfsuphysics
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Yup. First it was cable companies with data caps, then AT&T said "hmmm that sounds like a good idea, lets slap that shit on our ancient ass DSL technology too"
It's a business model of "why should I spend money building more infrastructure when I can simply put in artificial data caps then continuously throttle customers until everything works mediocre"
/dev/null
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What caps?
Unexploded
Limp Gawd
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Plus they'll likely move away from paying their staff a decent wage, as they do now.
I've also seen similar things things at HP, lots of short-sighted borderline (or flat-out) stupid decisions geared towards a temporary bump in a given quarters share price (which are tied to executive bonuses) vs. long-term thinking likely to be better for the company (and it's people) in the long term.
AthlonXP
Fully [H]
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Sadly everyone is going in that direction, I really hope soon enough people realize that is not good overall and these type of practices stop. I am all for capitalism but when it just turns into blatant and utter greed it's bad for everyone.
Explain why you think data caps are necessary. I could possibly see their effectiveness in a wireless environment since wireless spectrum is finite, but in wired broadband there is no need for it. It's been proven that its costs ISP pennies to move gigs of information. Also, we haven't even began to realize the full potential of fiber optics. You shouldn't let companies fool you that there are issues with your next door neighbor using more data than you do. Data caps are an artificial way to create more profit for ISP's. It's also been said already, but with the move to streaming media and just generally where society is headed with data consumption, data caps are bad. They could limit progression. So, no, data caps are just flat bad on a wired environment.
VladDracule
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That website is HORRIBLY designed i dont even want to look at it
Sure, but it doesn't cost pennies to put the infrastructure and place and to maintain it. If all of this were so insanely profitable then the market would sort it out. Why don't you go ahead and create a local ISP and see how far your "I will give everyone unlimited data"-business will go. That would be the most convincing way to prove that the evil ISPs are ..., well ..., evil, and the no-caps concept is viable.
What's artificial about it? That's how capitalism works. Supply and demand and all.
Profit is good, profit drives innovation and progression. If you aren't happy with the price you have to pay then don't use the service, or stand up your own service.
What's wrong with your view is that you feel that you are entitled to unlimited data. You are not. You get what you pay for, and if you don't like the price then don't buy. Sellers will charge what the market will bear, so do your part and unchain yourself from the Internet if you want lower prices for better service.
That's just like, your opinion, man.
Profit drives innovation, free lunches and something for nothing does not.
You want a more "equitable" life? Move to Denmark.
/dev/null
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Companies haven't had long term vision in a long time. There are exceptions, but if you're giving quarter-quarter guidance, then you're playing to the short term investor. I don't care what next quarter looks like. Tell me where you'll be in a year as well as 3-5 years
Red Squirrel
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I'm glad my ISP does not have broadband caps. In fact they used to have them on the higher packages and silently got rid of them. The cellular data caps on the other hand are a joke but I don't care that much since I don't really need data on my phone anyway so I just have a voice only plan. I rather them cap cell than landline internet.
I've seen much worse, at least the site actually loads with noscript. So many sites nowdays overuse javascript so badly that they wont even load at all without allowing like 30 domains.
I've seen much worse, at least the site actually loads with noscript.
So many sites nowdays overuse javascript so badly that they wont even load at all without allowing like 30 domains.Godmachine
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How many ISPs are actually created from the ground up these days? I'm willing to bet almost none. Most lease lines from other well established ISPs or "attempt" to lease dark fiber which can be a massive headache.
So those who are in control of what we consider a modern day ISP are basically in FULL control with little interference from the Government (which may or may not change soon) and the ability to dictate terms to consumers based on their ability to absorb negative feedback (which commonly doesn't seem to stop them from pushing for absurd terms and conditions).
No , bandwidth isn't free , it takes dedicated teams of people to keep an ISP going and long hours but at the same time they manage an overall network of users they do not manage individual users like the power company does in the same way. They don't dial up bandwidth for heavy users either. They just pack them together and deal with it accordingly.
The problem with bandwidth is that it isn't in demand until its needed , just like power. But power is planned for in blocks by power companies (even those creating power onsite have to plan for overflow). Sometimes they buy more than they need and pass the cost onto the consumers in order to meet demand. Bandwidth isn't "purchased" its created on the spot. There are not bandwidth "farms" that sell it to ISPs in order to meet their demand. This is why the way power companies charge you can not be adopted to the way ISPs charge regular consumers. Mind you this is a different story when providing bandwidth to a business/corporation that has much greater needs.
Bandwidth limitations can be a concern but only in a case by case basis and not the broader sense that's being heavily discussed. The way its being dealt with by the largest ISPs is against consumer growth and that means its against the growth of many industries and small business owners that rely on it and have been comfortable with the model being at a flat rate for sometime.
If the FCC allows ISPs to start ransoming any cross connection they interface with then you can kiss good bye any small start ups. No one will be able to afford a block purchase of the "fast lane" to kick off a successful business. They will require massive capital investment which will prevent anyone but those with the biggest pockets from having a chance against much larger and better founded businesses.
The approach rarely works well with massive hammer to nail tactics.