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Data Pricing Sanity Maybe?

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Re: Data Pricing Sanity Maybe?

#61
This article has a self contradiction: it is correct in stating that unlimited bandwidth deals put all the players in a position of poor incentives, but then fails to realize that "developers pay for bandwidth used by their users" is the only way to make that model (which is pretty much what we have) work.

On day -1, the price of unlimited (or "very large cap that no one notices") bandwidth is based on average usage cost (which is really small, as there is nothing to do). On day 0, Netflix is released, and now there is something fun for a large number of users to do with an obscene amount I bandwidth. This violates the pricing model set by day -1.

So, on day 1, either: 1) the price of bandwidth for /everyone/ needs be drastically increased, 2) the people using "excessive bandwidth" (and who are now likely in "negative profit" category) need to be separated and shunned (poor incentive), or 3) Netflix needs to include the bandwidth their service is driving in their price and send it to the carrier.

Of course, we could 4) bill people for what they actually use (specifically, not over-billing some and under billing others, all the while hoping the numbers work out), which is exactly what the article is asking for, but it is important to realize that that isn't what we do now, so it should only be surprising if carriers did /not/ ask developers to chip in for bandwidth.

Re: Data Pricing Sanity Maybe?

#62
post #7

This all sounds great up until I get to the "How?" part. All of his suggestions are sane and sound reasonable, but I don't trust any of the current data providers to implement any of them in a sane way. > Ruthless transparency from the telco as to how much you’ll pay for every MB. When have any of the telcos even been translucent when it came to pricing? They hide real prices in pages and pages of fine print and don'…

While I understanding your general cynicism, may I observe that except for the easy API part, Comcast already does all this transparency stuff. (Different pricing plan, but it is transparent, and mostly adequate.) If market pressure could get Comcast to comply, I don't think it's that hopeless that it can get the telcos to comply. Your cynicism is perhaps a little too cynical.

Um, no. Maybe they are transparent once you've signed up, but until you do, they are opaque. My best source of information on their actual speeds, rather than just the burst rates they advertise, was Wikipedia, and I'm sure that was at least a little out of date. As for pricing, I can't find any concrete information on that past their special offer period, even if I give them my exact address.

Re: Data Pricing Sanity Maybe?

#63
post #55
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the US has a duopoly (AT&T/Verizon), for the most part. We have two smaller national carriers (T-Mobile/Sprint) and many regional carriers, but they are not competitive, nationally. With the duopoly, they can maintain the status quo as there's no real competition or innovation going on.

Very few countries in the world have more then a few national networks.

Very few nations are as big as the US.
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