4 ms·

My relatives in /another country/ are on metered connections for everything (home internet, mobile, etc.). It's not a smart assumption for Apple to make.

leogiertz 10y ago
I disagree, it's a very valid assumption to make given that mobile data quotas are increasing and metered broadband connections are most likely going to be a thing of the past. Edit: Also, Apples targets the premium segment of the market. Who are less likely to have such limitations.
- Animats 10y ago
  It's a very valid assumption to make given that mobile data quotas are increasing and metered broadband connections are most likely going to be a thing of the past. The trend is in the other direction. AT&T now has data caps even on DSL lines. Almost all "unlimited" plans really have some limit.
  - leogiertz 10y ago
    Isn't fiber being rolled out across the US?
    - jedberg 10y ago
      Yep. And it has a cap too. In fact, that cap is so low that if you max out your connection for just over two hours you'll be over the cap for the month.
      - leogiertz 10y ago
        Seems like AT&T are increasing the caps and adding the option to have an "unlimited" version: http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/03/att-boosts-data-caps-for-home-internet-and-steps-up-enforcement/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/03/att-boosts-data-caps...
        jedberg 10y ago
        That calculation was based on the new "increased" cap. And yes, for $30 you can have unlimited bandwidth. And for $30 more you can opt out of them scanning and recording your activity for ad targeting. So now the price has literally doubled to have decent internet. How can they get away with that? Lack of competition. And that is what this thread is really about. Until there is some competition, we won't see ubiquitous, cheap, high-speed internet.
        duncan_bayne 10y ago
        > And for $30 more you can opt out of them scanning and recording your activity for ad targeting. Ouch, is that actually a thing with American ISPs these days? :( That said I haven't asked _my_ ISP whether they do that.
        jedberg 10y ago
        I think AT&T is the second one to admit that they do that and then charge you money to get out of it. The first was a small local ISP that didn't offer any way out and quickly backed down after pushback from their customers. Chances are the other American ISPs do it, they just burry it in the terms of service. So AT&T figured out they could make some extra cash off of their privacy conscience customers who don't know how to use VPN. And chances are they still collect and aggregate the data, they just don't retarget you specifically.
    - blakeyrat 10y ago
      Not in my area. Verizon was working on it, then they threw in the towel and sold all their non-mobile business in Washington State to Frontier, who has made it crystal clear they won't be doing any more fiber roll-outs any time soon.
- etrautmann 10y ago
  As bandwidth gets cheaper our usage will increase. Adding the capability for privilege certain usage (I just want to check my email while I'm tethered) is crucial for the foreseeable future.
  - leogiertz 10y ago
    This is a great argument, but I suspect that we'll see a similar pattern as we did with processing power: We got to the point where we really didn't need more horsepower and could focus on other things, such as energy efficiency. That won't happen at the same time everywhere but where I'm from it's almost here already. Every apartment in the city either has fiber or really fast cable, it's cheap and the limitations are so high that you really have to try hard to run into them. For mobile data you can get 4G with 20+ gigs per month for less than $20.
    - majewsky 10y ago
      And where I live (Germany), ISPs are monopolized enough that they are literally selling 4G plans with 3 GB per month at €40 per month. I'm on 1 GB (3G speed) for €10, about the cheapest plan that I could find. EDIT: And to add insult to injury, German Telekom is still connecting new buildings with 6 megabit connections or less in some places. (And I mean downtown. Some rural regions can be lucky to get 1 megabit.)
- flashman 10y ago
  > Apples targets the premium segment of the market. Who are less likely to have such limitations. I frequently tether my MacBook Air to my phone's data connection, which is limited to 1.5GB a month (on an overage rate of 20c/MB). It would be nice if I could permanently designate my phone as a throttled connection and expect the OS and apps to respect that (even so far as having, say, Chrome limit the amount of images and Javascript it downloads from sites).

leogiertz 10y ago

I disagree, it's a very valid assumption to make given that mobile data quotas are increasing and metered broadband connections are most likely going to be a thing of the past. Edit: Also, Apples targets the premium segment of the market. Who are less likely to have such limitations.

Animats 10y ago
It's a very valid assumption to make given that mobile data quotas are increasing and metered broadband connections are most likely going to be a thing of the past. The trend is in the other direction. AT&T now has data caps even on DSL lines. Almost all "unlimited" plans really have some limit.
- leogiertz 10y ago
  Isn't fiber being rolled out across the US?
  - jedberg 10y ago
    Yep. And it has a cap too. In fact, that cap is so low that if you max out your connection for just over two hours you'll be over the cap for the month.
    - leogiertz 10y ago
      Seems like AT&T are increasing the caps and adding the option to have an "unlimited" version: http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/03/att-boosts-data-caps-for-home-internet-and-steps-up-enforcement/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/03/att-boosts-data-caps...
      - jedberg 10y ago
        That calculation was based on the new "increased" cap. And yes, for $30 you can have unlimited bandwidth. And for $30 more you can opt out of them scanning and recording your activity for ad targeting. So now the price has literally doubled to have decent internet. How can they get away with that? Lack of competition. And that is what this thread is really about. Until there is some competition, we won't see ubiquitous, cheap, high-speed internet.
        duncan_bayne 10y ago
        > And for $30 more you can opt out of them scanning and recording your activity for ad targeting. Ouch, is that actually a thing with American ISPs these days? :( That said I haven't asked _my_ ISP whether they do that.
        jedberg 10y ago
        I think AT&T is the second one to admit that they do that and then charge you money to get out of it. The first was a small local ISP that didn't offer any way out and quickly backed down after pushback from their customers. Chances are the other American ISPs do it, they just burry it in the terms of service. So AT&T figured out they could make some extra cash off of their privacy conscience customers who don't know how to use VPN. And chances are they still collect and aggregate the data, they just don't retarget you specifically.
  - blakeyrat 10y ago
    Not in my area. Verizon was working on it, then they threw in the towel and sold all their non-mobile business in Washington State to Frontier, who has made it crystal clear they won't be doing any more fiber roll-outs any time soon.
etrautmann 10y ago
As bandwidth gets cheaper our usage will increase. Adding the capability for privilege certain usage (I just want to check my email while I'm tethered) is crucial for the foreseeable future.
- leogiertz 10y ago
  This is a great argument, but I suspect that we'll see a similar pattern as we did with processing power: We got to the point where we really didn't need more horsepower and could focus on other things, such as energy efficiency. That won't happen at the same time everywhere but where I'm from it's almost here already. Every apartment in the city either has fiber or really fast cable, it's cheap and the limitations are so high that you really have to try hard to run into them. For mobile data you can get 4G with 20+ gigs per month for less than $20.
  - majewsky 10y ago
    And where I live (Germany), ISPs are monopolized enough that they are literally selling 4G plans with 3 GB per month at €40 per month. I'm on 1 GB (3G speed) for €10, about the cheapest plan that I could find. EDIT: And to add insult to injury, German Telekom is still connecting new buildings with 6 megabit connections or less in some places. (And I mean downtown. Some rural regions can be lucky to get 1 megabit.)
flashman 10y ago
> Apples targets the premium segment of the market. Who are less likely to have such limitations. I frequently tether my MacBook Air to my phone's data connection, which is limited to 1.5GB a month (on an overage rate of 20c/MB). It would be nice if I could permanently designate my phone as a throttled connection and expect the OS and apps to respect that (even so far as having, say, Chrome limit the amount of images and Javascript it downloads from sites).