Following yesterday's news that Time Warner was expanding their metered Internet trials to a few new cities, Charter Communications has also announced that they will be introducing bandwidth caps on their cable Internet service. Charter, the fourth largest cable company in the US, will set tiered caps, meaning "customers who purchase speeds of up to 15 Mbps to 100 gigabytes a month, while ...
Read full articleQuote:Geez... then why even bother putting caps in the first place?
a Charter spokesperson: "More than 99% of current Charter Internet customers use less bandwidth than the threshold allows and therefore will not need to change their surfing habits in any manner."
Originally posted by Run4two:There's a free program that I use called netmeter. Here's the official site for it: http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/
With all these discussions of bandwidth caps and such, is there any way I can check my bandwidth usage. I know what I download, but I really don't know how much I stream effects my usage. I'd like to know what I use.
Quote:Quote:Geez... then why even bother putting caps in the first place?
a Charter spokesperson: "More than 99% of current Charter Internet customers use less bandwidth than the threshold allows and therefore will not need to change their surfing habits in any manner."
Originally posted by bigfamei:Good article. I switched from DSL to cable recently to save money. Got rid of my phone for VOIP and my monthly bill decreased by $50/month - even with paying an extra $10 for Boost, which gives me about 4MBps down and 700kBps up (you do the conversion). I've uploaded and downloaded tons and have had no problems. No caps for customers who pay for the higher tier. $10 more a month is nothing when I am saving $50 a month from DSL and getting the highest speeds.
There is never a bandwidth issue when you pay. lol
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/06/inter...tml
Originally posted by maryjayne:I can tell you that cable in Canada SUCKS. Nothing but reality shows and lame "reality" game shows which costs 70 bucks per month. The spouse likes it but I hate it. Cogeco gets you to upgrade in "theme" packs which make no sense at all. Liberal? Youll get a theme pack with 3 conservative channels and 3 liberal. Conservative? Same deal. Last year I saw a great article outlining what the web would be like in a few years time from now..you wont have the buffet deal you have now. No, youll have to pick from the cable companies THEME packs, say YouTube, MSN, Google, Hotmail/Yahoo and Digg for 50 bucks a month. If you want Ars Technica, Gamespot, CNN and FOxnews, youll have to ante up another 30 bucks per month.
@ nesNYC
I was going to post a similar comment to yours (I still am...) but I would have to disagree with your last statement.
I too agree that the only reason Cable Companies are starting to put Caps on their internet services is because they are actually looking at the demographics and seeing the consumer moving more and more toward internet streaming for thier video, music, and video game needs. They are placing caps on the bandwidth now so no one should notice an increase immediately as the online business models are not fully developed by all yet.
As for the ISPs going back to unlimited, I do not see that happening. Once people start watching their TV on the internet then they will no longer need to have cable pumped into their TV. That would be a huge loss at $60 per household (I have no idea what the current rate is since I have not had cable for over 2 years). These companies like the money they are making and they have to keep the stock holders happy so they are going to have to make up the difference somewhere. Where is the most obvious place??? The internet. At charging $1/GB over the limit they can easily make their money back (plus probably more) for all of the TV junkies that are currently in the US.
Originally posted by cousinkix:
Chater stinks on ice. They can't even provide decent TV reception in some nearby communities. People who live there, would be crazy to use them as their ISP...
Originally posted by Hopium:
you should see how bad it is in aussie land
Quote:because it's a bastard company and the people in charge want to squeeze every last penny out of its customers with minumum liabilityQuote:Geez... then why even bother putting caps in the first place?
a Charter spokesperson: "More than 99% of current Charter Internet customers use less bandwidth than the threshold allows and therefore will not need to change their surfing habits in any manner."
Quote:
Once people start watching their TV on the internet then they will no longer need to have cable pumped into their TV.
Originally posted by windsong:I could see it in 10 but more likely 20.
In 7 years no one will own hard drives except non-end users (i.e. corporations/companies). Everything will be "streamed". Music, video, apps, even games over FIOS. You'll login to your "PC" using a biometric device. Everything including bills, will be paid for online to phase out the cash economy.
Remember that Germany was an enlightened nation (i.e. Einstein, Von Braun, etc) prior to the Nazi takeover. If it can happen to them..
Originally posted by bassdog69:Cant remember exactly where but..I read THIS slashdot article that is even more scarier and only confirms my fears. They wnt to turn the web into another AOL:
"Last year I saw a great article outlining what the web would be like in a few years time from now.."
Windsong, Do you remember where you saw this article? I would like to read it...
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