Verizon to introduce metered bandwidth?

[Justin]

As the Internet grows, so does the demand for bandwidth. A gigabyte of transfer was astronomical ten years ago, but you can burn that by watching a single movie through Netflix these days. This has put a lot of pressure on ISPs to deliver bandwidth reliably, and they have responded in many different ways. The Comcast fiasco is still up in the air, which ultimately resulted in them implementing (or rather admitting to and then enforcing) a 250GB per month cap on the majority of their customers. Many other ISPs also practice this, with varying caps. Now, another large U.S. ISP may follow suit. This time around, it is Verizon.

Verizon has stated recently that they see a radical change in pricing structure for Internet services down the road, one that may introduce metered bandwidth -- presumably based primarily on how much someone downloads per month. Rather than selling strictly on speed, Verizon mentions they may switch to a point where they are selling "packages of bytes". This statement came along with some apparent disdain for the FCC, which shows Verizon's concern over how the agency is seeking to become involved in monitoring Internet service in the U.S.

While bandwidth caps may seem harsh to those who currently have unrestricted ISPs, the practice is very common around the world. Though it originated amongst ISPs with limited resources available (Satellite and Cellular come to mind), it is spreading to the largest of networks, such as cable and DSL. Even if it's not what people want to hear, it might be a plain truth that all large ISPs may move down the path of metered bandwidth.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/36409-verizon-to-introduce-metered-bandwidth.html

 

[Guest]

I don't trust big business, I believe that they will calculate it just near the top of the normal usage and then do something to make us need more bandwidth then make it seem like the extra charges for overages are our doing, sort of like cell phone companies making half a city roaming. Big business will turn a buck if bad or good happens to them. If bad happens to them they'll over estimate the damages, start charging more before they are haveing money problems for it and charge a time after the problem is gone, and if something good happens they wait till they just have to lower prices.

 

[Guest]

As I've started doing lately.... Follow the story...
http://www.ftthconference.com/FTTH09/public/enter.aspx

; Is where the PDF is that is a conversation with Robert Lynch. No where in that article is there mentioned of the quoted piece from: http://telephonyonline.com/residential_services/news/verizon-cto-metering-092909/ of which you pulled your story.

Furthermore... the leading title of the post... "Verizon to introduce metered bandwidth" is simply flamebait fodder for fan boys of FiOS to get up in arms over your news story or to deny that Verizon will ever introduce that.

The article in which you pull your story from seems to be an off the cuff comment from the CEO in which things may or may have not been taken out of context.

I'm really hating this trend on the net lately.

-Aaron

 

[skitzo_zac]

Welcome to Australia people.

 

[DelJo63]

I really wish we would see the source(s) for these blog entries -- It would enhance the credibility of the information greatly. Without such a citation, these blogs are just another form of FUD. IMO, you owe it to the community.

 

[greyd]

haha, we have "Packages of bytes" here in South Africa. I just upgraded to unlimited. it costs me R1000 (about $125) per month on a 2.4 MB/s device, However, I only reach 300 Kb/s - 700 Kb/s. Therefore downloading 250 GB a month can only be a dream to me!

Internet is dam expensive here! well, I suppose the amount im paying is cheap thanks to Neotel who arrived on the scene recently. The other service provider is more expensive. and take note, I said the other service provider. there is only one other! TELKOM aka HELLKOM!