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Why won't ISPs stop advertising 'unlimited' service that is actually limited to N gigabytes a month, where N is substantially lower than what's possible given t

Why won't ISPs stop advertising 'unlimited' service that is actually limited to N gigabytes a month, where N is substantially lower than what's possible given the speeds they provide? Because they can get away with it.

colechristensen 6y ago
Because it is insanely expensive to actually provide that. The nature of internet traffic is short bursts, not 100% utilization. In a commercial setting you can purchase fixed pipes that are entirely yours and they’re tens or hundreds of times more expensive. Why wouldn’t you want to pool bandwidth with your neighbors so you could all get faster speeds when you were using it instead of rate limiting everyone?
- jeromegv 6y ago
  The issue is that there's no way to know what this limit is. I understand the cost, but then tell us exactly how many GB I can use at full speed and when does it start to throttle. Instead I have to rely on internet anecdotes.
  - selectodude 6y ago
    They do. I'm pretty aware of what my data transfer limits are on both my home and wireless connections. Granted my new ISP has no data caps and symmetric gigabit speeds so I'm a bit spoiled.
    - rand49an 6y ago
      Unless you work for that ISP though, you don't know what the limits to their network are or how many people you actually share that line with. It's gigabit speeds until all your neighbours suddenly want to download something too.
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    The problem is my fiber gigabit duplex internet throttles me from the first KB. Net neutrality is dead.
- serf 6y ago
  >Because it is insanely expensive to actually provide that. So, the defense of using a misnomer to name your service is because the service warranted is actually impossible to supply given the margins? Call me a fool, but that still seems like a company that is getting away with lying to the vast majority of people that don't bother reading the asterisk ( like T-mobile style "Unlimited" plan that gives X amount unthrottled, and some arbitrarily low rate after). Criminal issue? Of course not, that's why the companies present such things this way. Dishonest? You bet.
- liability 6y ago
  The question was not "why won't they provide it." The question was why won't they stop advertising it? I can't sell you a pony made out of diamonds because that's impossible. Consequently, there is no legitimate reason for me to be advertising the sale of a diamond pony!
- p1necone 6y ago
  Plenty of other countries have actually unlimited high speed internet with little issue and reasonable pricing. It's obviously not so "insanely expensive" that it can't be done.

colechristensen 6y ago

Because it is insanely expensive to actually provide that. The nature of internet traffic is short bursts, not 100% utilization. In a commercial setting you can purchase fixed pipes that are entirely yours and they’re tens or hundreds of times more expensive. Why wouldn’t you want to pool bandwidth with your neighbors so you could all get faster speeds when you were using it instead of rate limiting everyone?

jeromegv 6y ago
The issue is that there's no way to know what this limit is. I understand the cost, but then tell us exactly how many GB I can use at full speed and when does it start to throttle. Instead I have to rely on internet anecdotes.
- selectodude 6y ago
  They do. I'm pretty aware of what my data transfer limits are on both my home and wireless connections. Granted my new ISP has no data caps and symmetric gigabit speeds so I'm a bit spoiled.
  - rand49an 6y ago
    Unless you work for that ISP though, you don't know what the limits to their network are or how many people you actually share that line with. It's gigabit speeds until all your neighbours suddenly want to download something too.
- proverbialbunny 6y ago
  The problem is my fiber gigabit duplex internet throttles me from the first KB. Net neutrality is dead.
serf 6y ago
>Because it is insanely expensive to actually provide that. So, the defense of using a misnomer to name your service is because the service warranted is actually impossible to supply given the margins? Call me a fool, but that still seems like a company that is getting away with lying to the vast majority of people that don't bother reading the asterisk ( like T-mobile style "Unlimited" plan that gives X amount unthrottled, and some arbitrarily low rate after). Criminal issue? Of course not, that's why the companies present such things this way. Dishonest? You bet.
liability 6y ago
The question was not "why won't they provide it." The question was why won't they stop advertising it? I can't sell you a pony made out of diamonds because that's impossible. Consequently, there is no legitimate reason for me to be advertising the sale of a diamond pony!
p1necone 6y ago
Plenty of other countries have actually unlimited high speed internet with little issue and reasonable pricing. It's obviously not so "insanely expensive" that it can't be done.