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All posts tagged "broadband"


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Data Caps Coming To AT&T Broadband

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 10:30 AM

http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-bri...adband-data-too

"Now, customers who have AT&T's DSL service will be capped at 150 GB of data per month. Those using the less traditional U-Verse service will get a 250 GB monthly limit. For all customers, going beyond the limit during any month will result in a $10 charge for every additional 50 GB."

Internet providers in North America (and a few other lucky countries) seem intent on implementing data caps for their broadband options. AT&T is the latest to announce their intentions with caps for both their wireless and broadband connections. I have to say that I am amazed at the limits imposed. Based on my experience here in Canada, AT&T is somehow able to offer a base data cap for DSL that is six times what Bell Canada is suggesting with Usage Based Billing.

Fact is that the Internet usage patterns are changing for consumers, and the traditional models may no longer be suitable for most areas. While Usage Based Billing does have its benefits, there are other options that could also be beneficial. My greatest concern is cost. With the increasing importance of the Internet as a communications tool, it is nearly at the point where it could be considered a utility. It may be time that municipalities, or governments in general consider how to manage the "last mile" in order to guarantee equitible access for all.


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Two-Thirds of US Internet Users Lack Broadband

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 12:30 PM

http://www.networkworld.com/news/20...nd.html?hpg1=bn

"Two-thirds of U.S. Internet connections are slower than 5 Mbps, putting the United States well behind speed leaders South Korea and Japan. The United States places ninth in the world in access to "high broadband connectivity," at 34% of users, including 27% of connections reaching 5 Mbps to 10 Mbps and 7% reaching above 10 Mbps, Akamai says in its latest State of the Internet Report. That's an improvement since a year ago, when the United States was in 12th place with only 24% of users accessing fast connections. But the United States is still dwarfed by South Korea, where 72% of Internet connections are greater than 5 Mbps, and Japan, which is at 60%. Hong Kong and Romania are the only other countries or regions to hit the 50% mark."

Nothing surprising here - the US is a big country, with a significant number of its 307+ million people spread across the land, and it's hard to give high speed access to everyone. There will always be people living in places where high-speed wired Internet will be hard to get to, but there are certainly wireless technologies that will do the trick - but only if they're willing to pay for it!


Monday, April 20, 2009

Cost Analysis of Metered Broadband

Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home News" @ 03:00 AM

http://gigaom.com/2009/04/14/the-me...-rent-twilight/

"When it comes metered broadband, most consumers don’t understand how its implementation could affect what it costs them to download content. So I decided to compare how much, depending on which of the nation’s top ISPs’ metered bandwidth plans you choose, it would cost to rent the teen vampire flick “Twilight." And what did I find? That in almost all cases, the decision to download the movie will cost more than just the $3.99 rental fee — sometimes much more."

While I understand the sentiment, the conclusions are inherently flawed since it does not differentiate between fixed and variable costs. If you don't go over your allotment, there is zero extra cost involved in the download. This is similar to your cell phone plan, sure there is a variable cost per minute if you go over your allotment, but if you don't you really don't care what the variable cost is. If anything, I think metered broadband is a good idea as long as the included base bandwidth is high enough to cover the needs of 99.9% of customers. The remaining 0.1% is probably so far from the norm that it seems reasonable for them to pay extra for their much higher than average usage. But, the concept of metered bandwidth will probably create a huge amount of confusion and fear amongst customers, that it may not be worth the effort, case in point, Time Warner just decided to back of on their attempts at metering service.


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