4 ms·

I look forward to the day when Mobile & Cable companies are just dumb pipes of data.

• ars 11y ago
  And then you pay per byte? It used to be that way, people hated it.
  • sliverstorm 11y ago
    Among techies, the most popular model seems to be the "fixed pipe" model. A set max data rate, unlimited bytes. Conveniently for them, the model essentially results in non-techies subsidizing their consumption. That wouldn't be the case if it wasn't for fractional allocation, but nobody wants to pay for true fixed allocation.
    • Aleman360 11y ago
      The problem is that a max data rate usually doesn't some with an SLA. ISP's obviously don't have enough bandwidth for all customers to fully utilize 10 gbps 24/7, for example. Paying based on usage solves that tragedy of the commons problem and works for utilities.
  • choward 11y ago
    What does this have to do with paying per byte? The problem is that the pricing is based off of data speeds, but you don't even get to use them the entire month. You hit a 300GB data cap with 75Mbps connection in less than 9 hours. If you want to be able to use your connection for the entire month you would get just under 1Mbps. They should charge for the total data or the rate, but using both is ridiculous. Infinite Internet speed with a data cap is worthless to me.
• TeMPOraL 11y ago
  "But value-added!" (an universal term meaning something that has absolutely no value whatsoever, but is the newest invention designed to rip customers off)