Bandwidth Caps

[Big Dan]

I'm wondering how everyone feels about bandwidth caps? Here in the states they keep trying to get us used to the idea by testing in certain markets here and there. So far resistance has been strong but sooner or later I suspect most people will be the little sheep that they are and just accept it as fact.

I'm against bandwidth caps only because since wide spread consumer internet in the US we've been spoiled with unlimited access. All these years Road Runner has gladly taken $50 a month from me. I haven't seen anything in the way of better speeds or more reliable service. All my $50 a month got me is a modem swap a couple of times.

My other thought is upstream bandwidth keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. Our ISP's providers keep cutting prices. Compared to 2001 when I first got broadband price per GB for my ISP was a lot more then it is today. I don't know about you but my price never dropped. How much of the ISPs monthly fee is pure profit? How long have they been collecting it with no service improvements?

It seems as though now that we have wide spread adoption and internet access is practically a necessity they want to cap us and essentially bleed the pig for more money. The internet would've never taken off as much as it did here in the states if we had caps implemented from day one. So, they got us hooked and now want to change the rules. Sounds like something a crack dealer would to me.

 

[Big Dan]

Another thing you have to look at is if caps are successfully implemented there goes a huge chunk of Netflix and Hulu's business. Who benefits from that? The cable companies who just happen to own some of the largest ISPs in the nation to implement the caps in the first place.

Who's going to stream Netflix/Hulu and worry about overage charges when they can buy on demand movies from the cable co at inflated prices and not worry about bandwidth overage?

The thing that kills me is whether your streaming from Netflix or your cable co it's still just ones and zeros using the same amount of bandwidth. Sounds like monopolistic business practices to me.

 

[EQ Admin]

Time Warner's Road Runner service has been slowly degrading. I have the feeling they have not been spending to maintain their network in an effort to reduce costs while we're going through the rough times for the economy. I am against bandwidth caps because too many services can quickly use up bandwidth. Streaming movies from Netflix, watching Youtube videos, all of the devices in your house such as XBOX Live and all the Apple devices that support wireless connections all chew up your bandwidth. If you are paying $50/moth you are paying too much. You need to call Time Warner once in a while and threaten to leave unless they reduce your bill. I have other options such as Frontier DSL so it's a real threat. I bounce around the service levels but have had the lowest tier road runner for $15/month and currently have the high speed + turbo boost for $34.99/month.

 

[Big Dan]

Time Warner's Road Runner service has been slowly degrading. I have the feeling they have not been spending to maintain their network in an effort to reduce costs while we're going through the rough times for the economy. I am against bandwidth caps because too many services can quickly use up bandwidth. Streaming movies from Netflix, watching Youtube videos, all of the devices in your house such as XBOX Live and all the Apple devices that support wireless connections all chew up your bandwidth. If you are paying $50/moth you are paying too much. You need to call Time Warner once in a while and threaten to leave unless they reduce your bill. I have other options such as Frontier DSL so it's a real threat. I bounce around the service levels but have had the lowest tier road runner for $15/month and currently have the high speed + turbo boost for $34.99/month.

We actually just did that our price lock was up our bill went from $120 something to $150 something I hit the roof. The rep kept trying to sell me on phone service from them (at inflated prices) to get a new price lock. I finally threatened to leave and supposedly our bill is only going to be $99/mo now. That's the promotional price for cable, basic internet, and phone service though..We have 2 boxes, a DVR, and the standard tier of RR service. It's cheaper than our last price lock so as long as the bill looks Kosher when it comes in I'm not going to complain.