RE: An Attempt at Economically Rational Pricing: Time Warner Trial

[Mark Foster <blakjak () blakjak net>]

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008, Buhrmaster, Gary wrote:

> > My guess is the market will work this out. As soon as it's implemented,
> > you'll see AT&T commercials in that town slamming cable and saying how DSL
> > is "really unlimited".
>
> If I were the DSL companies, I would consider advertising
> with a commercial recalling the fable of the tortoise and
> the hare.  You see a starting line, the rabbit jumps out
> early (8mb/s), and then crawls forward (64kb/s).  The
> turtle starts a little slower (3mb/s), but just keeps
> going, beating the rabbit easily.
... except that for the majority of users, the length of the racecourse is 
well and truly within the sprinting distance of the rabbit.

Guys, this isn't exactly a new idea if you include parts of the world 
outside of the USA.

For example, on my residential DSL service i've used 4.7G this month. With 
1/3 of the month left, I have more than half of my self-selected 10Gig cap 
available.  (And I grabbed at least two CD ISO's the other day.)

The model works.  What remains to be seen is whether it's actually 
feasible in a market where truly flat-rate services are hitting the market 
at margins where they can barely pay for themselves.

Mark.