morloc.com: Timothy Kline Talks Technology

morloc.com talks: Bandwidth capping

Imagine, if you will, sliding in to your brand new sports car. You’re nothing short of ecstatic. Without a further moment’s hesitation, you are flying down the road in a lap of luxury to see the sights. You’ve always wanted to see the countryside, and you decide to do it. You’re going to make a cross-country trip in your shiny new car. “Let’s take this thing for a ride. A real ride,” you say. And you’re off.

The wind in your hair feels splendrous, the music sounds like it never did before. The speedometer reads a solid 70mph, and before you is nothing but the wide open expanse of road.

Suddenly, you feel the car downshift. Oh no! You think. What’s wrong? Everything looks fine. The gauges are all within acceptable limits. No hot or burning smell. You frantically look around, trying to locate the problem as the car finally comes to a stop.

Angry, frustrated, you jump out of the car and pull out your cell phone to call the dealer that sold you the car. After several minutes of listening to “Your call is very important to us. Please hold, and the next available operator will be happy to assist you,” you finally reach a human.

You explain the situation, restraining the expletives that want to pour out between every other word. The dealer, nonplussed, says in reply, “Sir, your car has the speed and power you wanted, doesn’t it?”

Irritated, you reply: “That’s beside the point. The car has broken down already!”

“Actually, sir, it hasn’t. You car will only go so many miles and then you must wait until next month before you can operate it again, should you reach the monthly mile limit,” he responds coolly.

“What? That’s crazy! What’s the point of having such a fast, powerful car if I can only drive it 50 miles or so before it shuts off? That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard!”

“Nevertheless,” he tells you, “that is how it works. You can either park the car until next month, or, if you want to continue to operate the car, you can pay above and beyond what your monthly payments are, depending on just how many miles you wish to travel once you’ve exceeded your monthly mileage limit.”

Sound preposterous? Would you buy from that dealer? Highly unlikely!

And yet, unbeknownst to most people, this is exactly what Internet Service Providers are slowly integrating into their service, quietly capping the amount of travelling you can do on your broadband internet. Exceed their cap, and you can be looking at very stiff bills as they start charging you for each and every “mile” you go past their imposed limit.

Their reasoning is that you can have the speed, but you are not entitled to use the capacity of that speed. Instead, you can use the high speed connection to the internet to access a certain amount of the internet highway, and then you’re cut-off. Unless, of course, you want to pay for each additional mile you “drive.”

And what is troubling is that while people would never tolerate that from a car dealer or automotive maker, they seem to have no problem with putting up with it from their Internet Service Provider.

Why?

In many cases, they simply don’t know about the slow but steady restructuring of internet service. Few seem to remember the days of dial-up, when you couldn’t keep your computer continuously connected to your Internet Service Provider’s modem. But eventually, Internet Service Providers, in their attempt to achieve and exceed their profit margins, turned to “unlimited internet access,” thus doing away with hourly limits entirely. And the new marketing approach worked as people turned to those Internet Service Providers who provided “unlimited internet access.” AOL, originally an hourly-based Internet Service Provider, eventually adopted the new approach to internet access, and managed to become the largest Internet Service Provider in the world.

But then along came broadband. Cable and telephone companies entered the arena, offering broadband and DSL, respectively–and with it speeds previously unheard of. It was sold under the same philosophy as “unlimited internet access,” touting itself as an “always connected” or “always on” service.

The convenience was unparalleled. Being able to simply sit down to one’s computer and immediately be able to begin browsing the internet became a remarkable convenience for the masses. Over time, bandwidth speeds increased as the technology was refined and pushed forward. Along with it, more and more people jumped on the new bandwidth wagon.

Today, multimedia has become the norm for the internet. Companies are vying for their position as the best supplier of on-demand video, whether it’s amateur, television shows, or cinematic movies. Streaming radio, too, has found its niche–and along with it: podcasts, online gaming, social sites, and much more. The internet has truly become a force to be reckoned with.

But all of that information requires bandwidth as it’s moved from source to viewing public. According to Internet Service Providers (primarily cable companies at this point), bandwidth demands are exceeding their available resources, and as a result something must be done if the infrastructure is to be protected from potential failure.

Enter bandwidth caps.

Now, ironically, the Internet Service Providers are trying to force us back to the days before there was such a thing as “unlimited internet access.” Now, they want to make it so that you can only use so much of the bandwidth that you pay for every month–and charge you exorbitant overage rates, should you watch too many shows or online movies in a given month. That is, if they don’t suspend your service outright.

The obvious question here is Why? Why do they want us to return to yesteryear, to the same business structure that existed in the days of dial-up? Aren’t we supposed to be moving forward into the future?

It may very well be due to the conflict of interest that the modern Internet poses especially to cable companies and satellite companies that provide internet access. After all, they want you to subscribe to as much of their channel lineup as they can entice you to sign on for. But what incentive is there for you to do that when you can simply visit a site and watch your favorite shows and movies at your own leisure?

Frankly, there isn’t any reason to be confined to a rigid array of television channels with its rigid viewing schedule that forces you to seat yourself when they want you to sit down. And that certainly must concern cable and satellite providers.

Their answer, then, is to stifle your use of online access–or at least cause you to limit yourself to the extent that you will return to the sofa when you want to watch your favorite show. And if you refuse to be molded into their servitude, they will at least make you feel the consequences of your decision by either suspending your service, or limiting the amount of use you get from your internet service.

By all rights, such practices should be illegal, but through carefully constructed catch-phrases and double-speak, as well as finger-pointing, the cable and satellite providers seem to have slipped the notice of the public at-large. But it is only a matter of time before everyone realizes what they are doing, and by then they won’t be able to do much about it, because the cable and satellite providers will have managed to push through Congress their “right” to do this, leaving us–the public–powerless to do much more than whine and go along because there are no other available options.

So how about you? Do you mind driving a car that can take you anywhere as fast as you dare go–just so long as you go there in 50-mile bounds, a month at a time? Or, are you like me–one that fully expects to be able to go as far as that car can take you in a given month?

Definitely something to think about.

1. morloc.com: Timothy Kline Talks Technology » Blog Archive » Getting on the Bandwidth Wagon, Revisited said...
   8:46 am - November 20th, 2008

   [...] But if you think that there’s no need for YOU to worry about bandwidth capping by your Internet Service Provider, you’re absolutely wrong, and I will be giving my reasons in the next two blog installments as a follow-up to part one on this topic, Getting on the Bandwidth Wagon. [...]