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Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

arstechnica.com

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Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#2
Companies like Netflix are "putting a great stress on the Internet and there's no incentive for companies to invest in maintaining the Internet." Usage-based billing would encourage people to adopt more bandwidth-efficient technologies

Charging more for less won't provide incentive for companies to "invest in maintaining the internet", though.

Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#3
post #2

Companies like Netflix are "putting a great stress on the Internet and there's no incentive for companies to invest in maintaining the Internet." Usage-based billing would encourage people to adopt more bandwidth-efficient technologies Charging more for less won't provide incentive for companies to "invest in maintaining the internet", though.

Actually, yes it will. It'll set a low standard for cheap internet, thus making it economically viable for new boutique entrants to the ISP market, bringing with them new technologies and strategies. Google? Wireless?

I don't believe in government interference.

Giving more incentive for better encoding is also a valid point. Netflix offered 10 million for better recommendations. I'd like to see them offer the same thing for better encoding.

Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#4
post #3
post #2

Companies like Netflix are "putting a great stress on the Internet and there's no incentive for companies to invest in maintaining the Internet." Usage-based billing would encourage people to adopt more bandwidth-efficient technologies Charging more for less won't provide incentive for companies to "invest in maintaining the internet", though.

Actually, yes it will. It'll set a low standard for cheap internet, thus making it economically viable for new boutique entrants to the ISP market, bringing with them new technologies and strategies. Google? Wireless? I don't believe in government interference. Giving more incentive for better encoding is also a valid point. Netflix offered 10 million for better recommendations. I'd like to see them offer the same th…

I'd have more sympathy for this argument if government interference didn't play a large part in the construction of the status quo.

In Canada, government regulation and taxpayer money played a significant role in building the infrastructure. In the US, government granted monopolies built the infrastructure and still serve to squeeze out competition.

Government interference isn't a shiny new monster imposing itself on private sector infrastructure. Rather it has been a key player since the beginning and shaped the market in ways that need to be accounted for.

Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#5
post #2

Companies like Netflix are "putting a great stress on the Internet and there's no incentive for companies to invest in maintaining the Internet." Usage-based billing would encourage people to adopt more bandwidth-efficient technologies Charging more for less won't provide incentive for companies to "invest in maintaining the internet", though.

Have you seen the selection from netflix Canada ?

Nobody is downloading that crap - there is no way there is any bandwidth

Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#8

I couldn't believe the gall behind the claim that the Internet is as limited a resource as electricity. The whole article seems ludicrous. "Discipline" internet usage? As if it's inherently bad or something?

Well, obviously everyone can't download at full speed at once and expect any kind of performance from the shared network, so some kind of sharing arrangement is needed. The usual method is to price the scarce resource somehow. The spectre of usage-based billing was already motivating third-party ISPs to investigate building their own routing infrastructure. Seems like the market will sort it out, no?

Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#9
post #8

I couldn't believe the gall behind the claim that the Internet is as limited a resource as electricity. The whole article seems ludicrous. "Discipline" internet usage? As if it's inherently bad or something?

Well, obviously everyone can't download at full speed at once and expect any kind of performance from the shared network, so some kind of sharing arrangement is needed. The usual method is to price the scarce resource somehow. The spectre of usage-based billing was already motivating third-party ISPs to investigate building their own routing infrastructure. Seems like the market will sort it out, no?

Billing by total bytes transferred over the month has got to be the worst way to get a "sharing arrangement". Given the prices for exceeding the limit (a couple dollars per GB), we can sort of rule this out as just an idea to help avoid congestion.

The issue, AFAIK, with the market "sorting things out", is that there are few companies that have gotten government permission to build out end networks. I'd guess it's near impossible for a new company to get access to actually lay out copper everywhere.

Re: Canada still wants to "discipline the use of the Internet"

#10
post #8

I couldn't believe the gall behind the claim that the Internet is as limited a resource as electricity. The whole article seems ludicrous. "Discipline" internet usage? As if it's inherently bad or something?

Well, obviously everyone can't download at full speed at once and expect any kind of performance from the shared network, so some kind of sharing arrangement is needed. The usual method is to price the scarce resource somehow. The spectre of usage-based billing was already motivating third-party ISPs to investigate building their own routing infrastructure. Seems like the market will sort it out, no?

But it's not a scarce resource. When you get more clients you have more money and can build more interwebs.
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