Broadband connectivity isn’t just a problem for third world countries like the Philippines. In the United States, it’s even a bigger problem that Internet Service Providers have started capping bandwidth usage of their customers.
On August 29, Comcast announced that they will be capping users to 250GB monthly bandwidth. Customers who exceed the cap will be disconnected {via}.
Time Warner Cable is also doing a similar strategy with tiered plans ranging from 5 GB to 40 GB. Bandwidth overage is billed at an additional $1 per 1GB. (This is still an experimental pricing plan on selected areas. – GigaOm)
On the other hand, Qwest customers are also facing an “unofficial” bandwidth cap. The limit is yet unknown and Qwest has not divulge this but once customers hit the magic number, they’d get a notice the next time they fire up their browser:
“We have noticed extremely high usage on your Qwest Broadband account. Your service is subject to the terms and conditions in your Subscriber Agreement. We ask that you please reduce usage on your Qwest Broadband account in order to continue using Qwest’s broadband service.
Qwest does provide alternative business-class service that accommodate high-volume, commercial usage and will work with you to upgrade to those services, if necessary.”
If these move becomes successful in the US, local ISPs in the Philippines might get the hint and try them out as well.
For regular users, a 250GB may seem more than enough. My personal all-time high DSL bandwidth usage is about 40GB a month doing a lot downloads (tracked by AnalogX Netstat). Would people prefer bandwidth capping in exchange for better broadband speeds? This will be a split debate depending if you’re a light user who’s looking for better speeds or a heavy user that’s operating 24/7.
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I just can’t understand why this is happening. I just don’t get it.
I think it’s a NO-NO! It would be fine if our download speeds is the same as with America like with Charter (60 Mbps) but here in the Philippines, like 5 Mbps (regular DSL subscriber) and the worst of all some subscribers only commit 512 Kbps which isn’t comparable to US and other countries in Asia.
As long as the cap is reasonable, why not if it results to better speeds and reliable service.
But they should disclose this bandwidth capping when they make TV and print ads.
It’s misleading to say that they offer unlimited internet when they limit the amount of data that subscribers can access.
is Verizon going the same direction with their FIOS service?
i’m not sure if this has any negative effect on verizon’s network but i was just wondering,if verizon fios can offer speeds between 10 mbps to 50 mbps,would it slow down their network if their customers were going over 250gb a month for their bandwidths necessitating a bandwidth cap? or will the cap probably be just higher?
Like Eizan, only heavy torrent users will not agree with this capping bandwidth.
But the issue here in the Philippines is connection speed and reliability. ISPs should address these first before thinking of regulating our bandwidth usage.
ngak..ngayon lng uli ako magcocoment ha..
it’s been here for quite a while na sa UK.i mean, d2 may mga fair usage policy na even last year pa.ung usual range ng home broadband na limit d2 is 50-60Gig which i think is fair enough for me, i mean, i use torrents but not often, i just stream movies pag walang pasok, ang minsan lng nga ako umaabot ng 20Gig(DL lng) pero if it’s the Philippines, iba na cguro kc uso msyado torrent, nung andyan pa ako, everyday ung mga Zero Day Downloads lahat kinukuha ko, mapa games, MP3 Albums or Movie.and i don’t think na ganun ka heavy ung internet usage sa pinas para i-cap, unlike most first worlds na parang 95% ung may internet connection sa bahay.. eheheh
No no no! Please not here in the RP. My torrents are online 24/7, hehe. Although, if it does happen, I wonder what will be the reaction. For now, I’m happy as a subscriber to PLDY myDSL’s UNLIMITED plan. Yey!