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I use a water company analogy. If you use the water for irrigation, you pay $X. If you use it for showering or dishes you pay $Y. If it's for drinking or cookin
by tunap 10y ago
I use a water company analogy. If you use the water for irrigation, you pay $X. If you use it for showering or dishes you pay $Y. If it's for drinking or cooking you pay $Z. Different applications for the same commodity that makes no difference to the provider outside of volume, which you already pay per unit. Should you pay more per unit if you water your lawn, if you have a pool? This is what the data providers are doing to the 'other' supply pipe coming into your home.
- foodstances 10y agoI think that's a bad analogy. I'm in support of net neutrality but your analogy just made me want to support different pricing for water. Water is a finite, possibly scarce resource, and there are shortages in places in the US. If I lived in one of those places, I would sure as hell want some asshole filling his pool during a shortage to pay more than the rest of us pay for basic drinking water. Similarly, I would want companies that bottle that water up and sell it at a premium to pay more than everyone else. Municipalities already limit outdoor water usage for exactly this reason. You can drink all the water you want but you can only use it outside to water your grass or fill your pool on odd or even days. Your analogy is saying that shouldn't be allowed, because internet.
- creeble 10y agoPerhaps electricity might be a better analogy?
- amelius 10y agoNope, it's also a scarce resource. And similarly to water, excessive use is (usually still) bad for the planet.
- creeble 10y agoBut internet connectivity is somehow inherently limitless and deliverable for free?
- mjevans 10y agoInternet connectivity is all about maximum capacity. Everything past that is just sunk costs. It doesn't cost anything more to use it at maximum capacity than it does to just leave it on standby. (The end points MIGHT use a TINY bit more power, but we're talking on the order of cents per month for terrabytes/month of traffic; it's a rounding error.)
- tunap 10y agoThe electrical analogy is more closely comparable, but I've found water is a simpler concept for most to comprehend.
- shuntress 10y agoBandwidth is also limited.
- Spivak 10y agoWhich is why you pay for 'speed' which is basically a proxy for bandwidth.
- jperras 10y agoFantastic analogy. Will be using this one in the future.
- qq66 10y agoI think you should pay more per unit for a pool or massive outdoor fountain than for drinking and showering. And the water company does, too -- many water companies charge very little for the first X gallons (for basic needs) and then charge a higher price for usage over that.
- tunap 10y agoIt's not a line-item comparison, it's an explanation of how I pay an agreed upon price to use their resource and delivery system. And what my bits represent does not deserve a premium as long as I pay the agreed upon price per volume, IMO. The ISPs already offer and charge accordingly for home, business and commercial accounts(all pay more for more volume & speed).