When you have an unregulated monopoly, usage-based billing is just one tool in their book for extracting more money from customers. If internet service in the

When you have an unregulated monopoly, usage-based billing is just one tool in their book for extracting more money from customers. If internet service in the US were not effectively unregulated or not effectively a monopoly, usage-based billing would not be a problem. Consider the lowly restaurant. Say a buffet restaurant comes out to $20 per diner. If you're not a top-10% eater, you could probably go to a menu-based restaurant and eat as much food as you would care to for just $10; or you could go to a $40-a-plate restaurant for food of a quality you simply don't get at either of the other choices. In my scenario, unless the quantity itself is what you want (and, with data as well as with food, trust me—it's not), you get neither the cheapest product nor the best product when you buy the unlimited-quantity product. If we had a working market for broadband in this country, you would find the same thing: the cheapest ISP will be cheaper than the unlimited ISP, and the unlimited ISP will not have the best quality of product available.