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Throttling/deprio only makes sense when your network sucks or you are spectrum constrained (as in the case for mobile isp's). Comcast could make the argument w

Throttling/deprio only makes sense when your network sucks or you are spectrum constrained (as in the case for mobile isp's). Comcast could make the argument when they were overprovisioning their nodes like crazy the network sucked, but higher order modulation and more channels in newer DOCSIS standards, fiber being run everywhere to nodes has really improved the situation. Less of a cash grab, more of a bandaid to handle misallocated resources. The final argument could have been made for peering costs, but Comcast is really big now, so I doubt they have to pay much if anything for transit.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> Throttling/deprio only makes sense when your network sucks Throttling is a reasonable response to the power-law distribution of network usage combined with flat-rate pricing. At a certain point on the curve, a marginal user will cost more to service than they will produce in revenue. This means (a) you service them at a loss or (b) distribute their loss over everyone else, i.e. increase prices. The problem with (b) is as you raise prices, people at the other end of the distribution (the unusually light, i.e. profitable, users) will start de-camping. Balancing these factors is difficult, and almost necessitates capping or throttling. The dumb move was promising unlimited data for an unlimited period of time.