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Until that infrastructure no longer handles the demand and they have to build out again. So no, bandwidth isn’t free

• AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  There is no "build out again" -- they use the same wires, which was the expensive part. They just replace the cards in the box. The upgrade itself is a tiny fraction of their costs. It's also something you benefit from regardless of how much data you use, because when they go from DOCSIS 2.0 to DOCSIS 3.0 you get 1000Mbps downloads instead of 40Mbps whether you're downloading 40GB or 40TB.
  • SV_BubbleTime 6y ago
    > There is no "build out again" -- they use the same wires, which was the expensive part Who told you that? ISPs run new fiber all the time.
    • AnthonyMouse 6y ago
      The bandwidth of fiber is astronomical. Once you have it somewhere, that's pretty much it. They'll install it in places where it isn't, but that's a one-time cost, not a recurring upgrade cost. Amortized over the "indefinitely" that it will then be sufficient for, it's still negligible.
      • SV_BubbleTime 6y ago
        > The bandwidth of fiber is astronomical. The bandwidth of a multi mode line is high. The bandwidth of the modems, switches, routers and data centers is much more finite. You don’t really seem to understand the concurrency of transmissions, redundancy, and how much copper there still is. ISPs are adding fiber all the time.
        • AnthonyMouse 6y ago
          > The bandwidth of the modems, switches, routers and data centers is much more finite. Those are all the things they can upgrade without expensively replacing the wire on the pole. The dominant cost of an ISP is not replacing their switches every five years. That often saves them money when newer equipment uses less power per unit data. And is typically necessary regardless because the older equipment falls out of support.