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AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

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Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#31

Post by wtallis »

bretpiatt wrote: post #15
bherms wrote: post #2

I feel like this is less about ability to handle the 2% who go over the bandwidth limit and more a means to fight piracy. I would assume the 2% who go over 150/250gb/month are people sharing large amounts of media (sure people like me download tons of legal soundboard recordings from bands, etc, but probably not the majority of that 2%). By capping the bandwidth, they can effectively cripple the ability for some to s…

This isn't just piracy, it is IP video streaming, it is roughly 1GB per hour for HD content. For somebody single, 150-250GB/month is plenty, for a house of 4 if everyone watches Netflix, Hulu, etc.. it isn't hard to use that up. This is about revenue protection for their U-Verse TV business. They want to control the share of wallet and they'll use the tools they have available to do that. They don't want to become "j…

My household of 4 uses upwards of 100GB per month without even paying for services like Netflix. Our usage of ad-supported SD streaming sources is such that buying even one game on Steam is likely to push us over the limit. The next time Steam has a big sale, we're likely to spend several times more on downloading the games than on purchasing them.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#33

Post by adbge »

ronnier wrote: post #19

We are having big shifts to content distribution over the internet with things like itunes, netflix, Amazon streaming movies, Apple TV, Skype, video chat, games, and software. Comcast (xfinity) and AT&T are going to do their best to cripple the internet to protect their other sources of revenue. I recently moved to Seattle and had no choice but to sign up with Comcast. I wanted to have streaming video of NHK Japan co…

> I'm to worried about eating into my monthly limit to do so.

Depending on the area, the limit may not even be enforced. I've pretty drastically gone over the cap every month since it was implemented and have yet to receive a warning, and I've heard the same thing from other users. Of course, YMMV.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#34

Post by jrockway »

amock wrote: post #3
bherms wrote: post #2

I feel like this is less about ability to handle the 2% who go over the bandwidth limit and more a means to fight piracy. I would assume the 2% who go over 150/250gb/month are people sharing large amounts of media (sure people like me download tons of legal soundboard recordings from bands, etc, but probably not the majority of that 2%). By capping the bandwidth, they can effectively cripple the ability for some to s…

I think it's more about making things more difficult for services like Netflix and Hulu as well as extracting some extra revenue from their top users who don't have any other choice for internet service.

I think anyone that has AT&T DSL could also have Speakeasy DSL. It's just that Speakeasy costs a lot more.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#35

Post by Lost_BiomedE »

gs8 wrote: post #9

It's amazing how much has been given to ATT & Verizon to build out new fiber networks (which they still haven't finished) and now when people start using them to their potential we will be hit with overages, awesome. It won't get any better until the cities/localities remove exclusive territory rights for companies that provide phone and cable.

Telecoms also fought hard to make it illegal for cities to offer ubiquitous broadband for free. It started being a small trend for cities to do this as incentive to live there, but it was quickly squashed.

They also sat on DSL for over a decade until the telecom act of '96 allowed others to roll-out DSL. They finally started to market it themselves when they were forced.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#36

Post by adbge »

tptacek wrote: post #24
geuis wrote: post #21

Bullshit. Nearly every broadband ISP in the US has had unlimited download and upload for the last 12+ years. When I got my first cable modem in 1997 and since then, its always been unlimited. While our access speeds have gone up, they haven't gone up in comparison to other nations. What AT&T and other providers are saying is that they haven't been investing in their backbone and regional connections, while increasing…

What is something legitimate that you can do with 250GB in a month (that's 83 HD movie downloads), and, when you identify it, can you also tell me why the 98% of people who pay for U-Verse should have to pay for that level of service, which they will never come close to using/ There is no such thing as a free lunch. Either the top 2% pay a noticeable premium, or everybody pays a less noticeable premium. AT&T is not a…

> can you also tell me why the 98% of people who pay for U-Verse should have to pay for that level of service, which they will never come close to using

They are now effectively paying the exact same amount for a reduced level of (potential) service. Unless you're willing to speculate that this will eventually lower costs for the 98% (doubt it, are Comcast's users better off?), there is no gain for any end user in this scenario.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#37

Post by adbge »

tptacek wrote: post #22
oneplusone wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because people are downloading a ton of illegal content right now doesn't mean 5 years from now the average person won't be downloading it legally. This is how progress is made.

It's funny, that's exactly what people said about binaries on Usenet.

Are you suggesting that average bandwidth usage isn't going to increase?

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#38

Post by jarpadat »

jrockway wrote: post #34
amock wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more about making things more difficult for services like Netflix and Hulu as well as extracting some extra revenue from their top users who don't have any other choice for internet service.

I think anyone that has AT&T DSL could also have Speakeasy DSL. It's just that Speakeasy costs a lot more.

I have a 6Mbit DSL line but I checked Speakeasy's availability for my address and no dice.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#39

Post by sounddust »

tptacek wrote: post #17
oneplusone wrote: post #13

The idea that 2% of users using 20% of the bandwidth is hurting "normal" people is a PR move that is going to do great harm to future innovation. The way I see it those 2% of users are early adopters and a couple of years from now "normal people" will be using as much bandwidth as the current 2% does. Limiting bandwidth now hurts future innovation.

Isn't it a bit disingenuous to suppose that we don't know exactly what those 2% are doing?

Nowadays, a significant portion of those "bandwidth abusers" are people who are just watching movies and TV shows on Netflix. The use of Netflix instant streaming has grown tremendously over the past year, and for many people, it's become the exclusive source for non-live video content.

Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

#40

Post by tptacek »

sounddust wrote: post #39
tptacek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it a bit disingenuous to suppose that we don't know exactly what those 2% are doing?

Nowadays, a significant portion of those "bandwidth abusers" are people who are just watching movies and TV shows on Netflix. The use of Netflix instant streaming has grown tremendously over the past year, and for many people, it's become the exclusive source for non-live video content.

To bust a 250GB cap with NetFlix, you have to watch 250 hours of exclusively HD content; 8 full hours a day, every day, nonstop.
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