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AT&T considers bandwidth caps
Following Comcast and others, another major ISP in the U.S. is playing with the idea of bandwidth transfer limits for their Internet customers. AT&T is considering imposing tiered bandwidth caps, with the intent of improving quality of service. They have tossed out some initial figures, with their lowest-priced packages coming with a 20GB limit per month and their highest-priced packages having 150GB limits.
These plans fall short of the 250GB limit Comcast has imposed. To avoid irate customers, AT&T has claimed they will contact people who exceed 80%. That would definitely be important, as once they hit the cap a customer can be expected to pay $1 per gigabyte for additional bandwidth.
While all of these companies make similar claims – that a small percentage of users consume most of the bandwidth – most of them blatantly ignore the fact that the Internet as a medium is changing. In a few years, streaming video is likely to be the norm, rather than the exception.
These plans fall short of the 250GB limit Comcast has imposed. To avoid irate customers, AT&T has claimed they will contact people who exceed 80%. That would definitely be important, as once they hit the cap a customer can be expected to pay $1 per gigabyte for additional bandwidth.
While all of these companies make similar claims – that a small percentage of users consume most of the bandwidth – most of them blatantly ignore the fact that the Internet as a medium is changing. In a few years, streaming video is likely to be the norm, rather than the exception.
User Comments (7)
Post a comment| windmill007 on November 4, 2008 1:13 PM | Ya a new service called PlayOn for your PS3 or Xbox lets you
stream Netflix, Youtube, Or Hulu videos directly on your TV
with ease. As these services graduate to HD quality over
time I see all the bandwidth easily being eattin up.
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| howzz1854 on November 4, 2008 1:53 PM | are we the only country with our heads so far up our a$$!!?
everyone else is evolving but we're going backwards into the
stone age. why don't we just tell the lower tier customer,
dial up is all you get. this is just FUBAR!. lets see how long this last, with a few hours of netflix streaming and a few more hours of gaming, BOOM!.. your'e up!. get your heads out of your a$$ you money sucking big fat ceos.
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| KingDingDong on November 4, 2008 1:55 PM | i say f all you companies who want to cap bandwidth i agree
with howzz1854, why are we going backwards and everyone else
is evolving.
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| viperpfl on November 4, 2008 2:23 PM | It's ridiculous what these companies are doing. To say that
you can still download 50,000 webpages, that is insulting my
intelligence. All they are creating is a glorified news
service and limiting the true potential of the internet. On
top of that it's a transparent price increase. Any ignorant
person wouldn't know the difference. Everytime the ISP's limit something, take something away or give a price increase, they always say it is to enhance the users experience. The only thing it enhances is users aggravation. I have always wondered how limiting something enhances something? edit: I also like to add that since people may use less of the internet, that means less advertising dollars for the ISP's. If I can't stream movies or do some other things, what do I need the internet for? ISP's want to turn away the heavy users but they will turn away the light users as well Right now I have Brighthouse which is a reseller of Time Warner Cable. Time Warner Cable is also doing test trials for metered bandwidth in Texas. If Time Warner Cable rolls it out in my area, I will be switching to Verizon which so far don't have caps. [Edited by viperpfl on 2008-11-04 14:43:40]
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| Acclamator on November 4, 2008 5:47 PM | Well if they do I'm switching ISPs.
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| old101 on November 4, 2008 6:13 PM | If you think this is bad, wait till The Ways & Means
Committee of the House of Representatives discovers
Internet.
|
| DadH on November 6, 2008 8:44 PM | Having worked for AT&T for 30+ years -- The Customer
benefits?
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