3 ms·

100MBs up and down would be great, but not if we have data caps! Who wants a faster car when you'll just reach the "end of the road" sooner? Policy: https://ww

100MBs up and down would be great, but not if we have data caps! Who wants a faster car when you'll just reach the "end of the road" sooner? Policy: https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/data https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/data News: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/11/comcasts-data-cap-finally-goes-nationwide-in-expansion-to-12-more-states/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/11/comca... Update: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/comcast-responds-to-pressure-cancels-data-cap-in-northeast-us-until-2022/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/comcast-responds...

vel0city 6y ago
I'll start off by saying I don't like caps, I don't think they accurately solve the problem they're trying to solve. This is not to be construed in defense of caps, but only to acknowledge they do currently exist for many. Lets say a provider sells all plans with a 1TB cap. I have an options of 1Mbit, 10Mbit, 100Mbit, and gigabit, I'll take the gigabit plan nearly every time assuming the price is fine. Because while I still only have a 1TB cap actually getting the data I want will be faster. Most consumers have extremely bursty throughput needs, having a faster plan still benefits them even if there's the same cap. Why would you want a car capable of going 60 miles an hour when a car that only goes 10 miles an hour will still get you there? Because it saves you time.
- josefresco 6y ago
  > Why would you want a car capable of going 60 miles an hour when a car that only goes 10 miles an hour will still get you there? Because it saves you time. The analogy isn't perfect but let's play... What if your Ferrari just stopped working each month once it went 100 miles? Sure it saved you time when it was working, but now you can't use your Ferrari AT ALL for 2/3 of the month. What about if you need to get milk later in the month? Doctors appointment? etc. To expand on this, what if your kids drove the Ferrari, full throttle. They might reach that 100 mile limit in one day! That's how data works now. Netflix, YouTube and others detect my fast connection, and throttle the quality up, thereby exhausting my cap quicker. Exhausting my cap at high speed in 2 days doesn't benefit me for the remaining 28 days of the month. This would be solved if I had better controls over this behavior from either my ISP, device, service or local network.
  - vel0city 6y ago
    The car going faster didn't make me drive more miles. I still put in the same number of miles as I would have gone. I just finished my errands much faster than if I had a car that only went 10mph. So yeah, if my theoretical car had a 100mi range I'd still take the Ferrari over a cart that maxes out at 10mph. This exact scenario of capped miles exists for many people, it's called leasing a car. I imagine people still lease fancy cars because the experience driving one is better than driving a slower, crappier one. Are you honestly suggesting in the above scenario you'd take the 1Mbit connection over any of the higher speeds?
    - josefresco 6y ago
      > Are you honestly suggesting in the above scenario you'd take the 1Mbit connection over any of the higher speeds? No, my point was that we now drive 50MPH sedans that stop working after 1000 miles. Instead of a sedan that drives 100MPH I'd rather have it keep working after 1000 miles, or at least not price gouge me when I do. Or, in your analogy, if this was an actual open competitive market (it's not in the US) I could decide whether I want to buy or lease a Ferrari or Honda.

vel0city 6y ago

I'll start off by saying I don't like caps, I don't think they accurately solve the problem they're trying to solve. This is not to be construed in defense of caps, but only to acknowledge they do currently exist for many. Lets say a provider sells all plans with a 1TB cap. I have an options of 1Mbit, 10Mbit, 100Mbit, and gigabit, I'll take the gigabit plan nearly every time assuming the price is fine. Because while I still only have a 1TB cap actually getting the data I want will be faster. Most consumers have extremely bursty throughput needs, having a faster plan still benefits them even if there's the same cap. Why would you want a car capable of going 60 miles an hour when a car that only goes 10 miles an hour will still get you there? Because it saves you time.

josefresco 6y ago
> Why would you want a car capable of going 60 miles an hour when a car that only goes 10 miles an hour will still get you there? Because it saves you time. The analogy isn't perfect but let's play... What if your Ferrari just stopped working each month once it went 100 miles? Sure it saved you time when it was working, but now you can't use your Ferrari AT ALL for 2/3 of the month. What about if you need to get milk later in the month? Doctors appointment? etc. To expand on this, what if your kids drove the Ferrari, full throttle. They might reach that 100 mile limit in one day! That's how data works now. Netflix, YouTube and others detect my fast connection, and throttle the quality up, thereby exhausting my cap quicker. Exhausting my cap at high speed in 2 days doesn't benefit me for the remaining 28 days of the month. This would be solved if I had better controls over this behavior from either my ISP, device, service or local network.
- vel0city 6y ago
  The car going faster didn't make me drive more miles. I still put in the same number of miles as I would have gone. I just finished my errands much faster than if I had a car that only went 10mph. So yeah, if my theoretical car had a 100mi range I'd still take the Ferrari over a cart that maxes out at 10mph. This exact scenario of capped miles exists for many people, it's called leasing a car. I imagine people still lease fancy cars because the experience driving one is better than driving a slower, crappier one. Are you honestly suggesting in the above scenario you'd take the 1Mbit connection over any of the higher speeds?
  - josefresco 6y ago
    > Are you honestly suggesting in the above scenario you'd take the 1Mbit connection over any of the higher speeds? No, my point was that we now drive 50MPH sedans that stop working after 1000 miles. Instead of a sedan that drives 100MPH I'd rather have it keep working after 1000 miles, or at least not price gouge me when I do. Or, in your analogy, if this was an actual open competitive market (it's not in the US) I could decide whether I want to buy or lease a Ferrari or Honda.