Even modest Internet users may hit usage caps
source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/23/BU6I12GMQQ.DTL
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Three months ago, Guy Distaffen switched Internet providers, lured from his cable company to his phone company by a year of free service on a two-year contract. But soon the company quietly updated its policies to say it would limit his Internet activity each month.
"We felt that we were suckered," said Distaffen, who lives in upstate New York.
The phone company, Frontier Communications Corp., is one of several Internet service providers moving to curb the growth of traffic on their networks, or at least make the subscribers who download the most pay more.
This could have consequences not just for consumers - who would have to learn to watch how much data their Internet use entails - but also for companies that hope to make the Internet a conduit for movies and other content that comes in huge files.
Cable companies have been at the forefront of imposing and talking about usage caps, because their lines are shared between households. Frontier's announcement is noteworthy because it is a phone company - and it is matching a seemingly low ceiling set by a main cable rival: just 5 GB per month, the equivalent of about 3 DVD-quality movies.
"We go through that in a week," Distaffen said. "If they start enforcing the caps, we're going to have to change service." Other subscribers on Broadbandreports.com, where the cap was first reported, echoed his feelings.
"We felt that we were suckered," said Distaffen, who lives in upstate New York.
The phone company, Frontier Communications Corp., is one of several Internet service providers moving to curb the growth of traffic on their networks, or at least make the subscribers who download the most pay more.
This could have consequences not just for consumers - who would have to learn to watch how much data their Internet use entails - but also for companies that hope to make the Internet a conduit for movies and other content that comes in huge files.
Cable companies have been at the forefront of imposing and talking about usage caps, because their lines are shared between households. Frontier's announcement is noteworthy because it is a phone company - and it is matching a seemingly low ceiling set by a main cable rival: just 5 GB per month, the equivalent of about 3 DVD-quality movies.
"We go through that in a week," Distaffen said. "If they start enforcing the caps, we're going to have to change service." Other subscribers on Broadbandreports.com, where the cap was first reported, echoed his feelings.
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Brockie
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That really sucks. Especially for the high speed broad band that the cable companies offer. They know that customers wll use the internet more than they did with dial up or dsl.
- 3 years ago
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Brockie
