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> The costs for your ISP are fixed whether they serve you 1MB or 1TB. That's only true in a very abstract sense. If everybody went from using 1MB/day to 1TB/da

by 542458 3y ago

> The costs for your ISP are fixed whether they serve you 1MB or 1TB. That's only true in a very abstract sense. If everybody went from using 1MB/day to 1TB/day there would be massive congestion issues and costs would increase as ISPs rush to install higher-bandwidth equipment. Put a different way: It is cheaper to construct a network where all subscribers consume only 1MB/day than a network where all subscribers consume 1TB/day, because the former can be done with much lower end equipment.

paxys 3y ago
Well it should be true in the concrete sense. If they can't consistently serve you at 100mpbs or whatever else then they shouldn't advertise it. "But everyone else is using it at the same time so too bad" wouldn't work as an excuse in any other industry.
- 542458 3y ago
  > If they can't consistently serve you at 100mpbs or whatever else then they shouldn't advertise it. But that's true of almost every industry. Your bank advertises that you can withdraw your money at any time, but if everybody withdrew their money simultaneously there would be issues. A store advertises next-day shipping, but if everybody ordered simultaneously there would be issues. A house might have 100A power service, but if every house started burning 100A simultaneously there would be issues. Put another way, what you're proposing is dramatically slower speeds for most users. ISPs are profitable, but they're not that profitable. Actual average usage on most lines is probably low single digit percentages, if not sub-1%. I just checked my line - my average use is about 200kB/s (for a total of about 500GB per month), or about 1% of my speed cap.
- vasachi 3y ago
  Yes it would work in any other industry. Users can overload a power grid. Users can overload a telephone network. Users can overload a grocery store. NO industry can deal with critical overload without problems.
- cortesoft 3y ago
  If you want every ISP to provision the full bandwidth for every customer, so that their network can handle all their customers using their full bandwidth at the same time, it is going to cost each subscriber a LOT more money or get a lot lower peak bandwidth. I think MOST people would prefer to pay less and be able to use the full speed for a fraction of the time. If you want to know how much more expensive the connection would be if you expect to use the full bandwidth 24/7, just look at the cost you pay for transit in a datacenter. It is multiples of the cost home consumers pay at a per-bit level. Most users are best served by being told the speeds they will usually get if they stay within average usage patterns, because that is what most people do.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  > "But everyone else is using it at the same time so too bad" wouldn't work as an excuse in any other industry. Go to a grocery store in Florida before a hurricane and try to buy bread.

by 542458 3y ago

paxys 3y ago

Well it should be true in the concrete sense. If they can't consistently serve you at 100mpbs or whatever else then they shouldn't advertise it. "But everyone else is using it at the same time so too bad" wouldn't work as an excuse in any other industry.

542458 3y ago
> If they can't consistently serve you at 100mpbs or whatever else then they shouldn't advertise it. But that's true of almost every industry. Your bank advertises that you can withdraw your money at any time, but if everybody withdrew their money simultaneously there would be issues. A store advertises next-day shipping, but if everybody ordered simultaneously there would be issues. A house might have 100A power service, but if every house started burning 100A simultaneously there would be issues. Put another way, what you're proposing is dramatically slower speeds for most users. ISPs are profitable, but they're not that profitable. Actual average usage on most lines is probably low single digit percentages, if not sub-1%. I just checked my line - my average use is about 200kB/s (for a total of about 500GB per month), or about 1% of my speed cap.
vasachi 3y ago
Yes it would work in any other industry. Users can overload a power grid. Users can overload a telephone network. Users can overload a grocery store. NO industry can deal with critical overload without problems.
cortesoft 3y ago
If you want every ISP to provision the full bandwidth for every customer, so that their network can handle all their customers using their full bandwidth at the same time, it is going to cost each subscriber a LOT more money or get a lot lower peak bandwidth. I think MOST people would prefer to pay less and be able to use the full speed for a fraction of the time. If you want to know how much more expensive the connection would be if you expect to use the full bandwidth 24/7, just look at the cost you pay for transit in a datacenter. It is multiples of the cost home consumers pay at a per-bit level. Most users are best served by being told the speeds they will usually get if they stay within average usage patterns, because that is what most people do.
ceejayoz 3y ago
> "But everyone else is using it at the same time so too bad" wouldn't work as an excuse in any other industry. Go to a grocery store in Florida before a hurricane and try to buy bread.