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 customer speeds. This is complete bullshit.
AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
21–30 of 68 posts
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't it a bit disingenuous to suppose that we don't know exactly what those 2% are doing?
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.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#23Comcast has the same thing 250GB cap and has such for 3 to 4 years. No one is blowing through 250GB watching netflix, hulu and such, which I think is the reason behind this move by AT&T.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#24Bullshit. 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 charity, it's not a public utility, and it's not a monopoly.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#25Bullshit. 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…
Bullshit. Nearly every broadband ISP in the US has cut you off with varying levels of warning if you use "excessive bandwidth" for years and years now. It's been a continuous stream of complaints about such things over the years. I actually give kudos to Comcast for finally putting a marker down on "excessive usage" a couple of years ago, and even more kudos now to AT&T for not only being explicit but providing an overage plan that is not terribly unreasonable for consumer internet. Despite my disinclination to give kudos to either company for anything.
There's no such thing as a truly unlimited service. I prefer that they be upfront about the limits.
Since Comcast put the 250 GB cap in place, I've had a hard time breaking 100GB, and I do several things that chew through bandwidth, like hi-def Netflix and a lot of OS updates and downloads. (Been shopping around for a Linux distro the last couple of weekends, for instance.) I have a hard time complaining.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#26Earlier 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.
And websites like http://www.graboid.com repackaged usenet to make is accessible to the general population. Movie studios don't seem to mind since they have a DMCA process and most content never gets one.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's funny, that's exactly what people said about binaries on Usenet.
And websites like http://www.graboid.com repackaged usenet to make is accessible to the general population. Movie studios don't seem to mind since they have a DMCA process and most content never gets one.
And Usenet died. But sure. Graboid. Whatever that is. Yay!
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#28Bullshit. 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…
Bullshit. Nearly every broadband ISP in the US has cut you off with varying levels of warning if you use "excessive bandwidth" for years and years now. It's been a continuous stream of complaints about such things over the years. I actually give kudos to Comcast for finally putting a marker down on "excessive usage" a couple of years ago, and even more kudos now to AT&T for not only being explicit but providing an ov…
Broadband and wireless ISP's have for years have been advertising unlimited plans of service while silently cutting you off if you cross some vague limit deemed as "excessive". You're right, kudos to Comcast and AT&T for putting a hard number out there to monitor against, but forgive me if I don't have the least bit of trust or respect for the ISP community.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#29Comcast has the same thing 250GB cap and has such for 3 to 4 years. No one is blowing through 250GB watching netflix, hulu and such, which I think is the reason behind this move by AT&T.
Actually I burn up about 190GB with netflix, hulu, Xbox 360 games, OS updates, Zune pass, pandora, etc.
I don't use any illegal means to acquire content and am already flirting with the cap regularly. The "bandwidth hogs" of today are the "regular users" of tomorrow. Imagine telling somebody from 10 years ago "the average internet user will be using 10 GB of bandwidth a month." Their mind would be blown.
Re: AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees
#30I 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…
We're a house of 4, we watch the majority of our TV via a Mac Mini, and don't come within 150GB of this limit.