more on BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "W.B. McNamara" <whitney () absono us>
Date: March 30, 2006 9:39:06 AM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE


Hi there -

It may be that BT misunderstands something, but at least they're
thinking about broadband usage in a more reasonable way than
most US providers.

Take a look at the BT Broadband information and signup page:
http://www.bt.com/broadband/bb_info.jsp

Note that all of the plans that they offer note the same
downstream speed, and that the key differentiator between
the plans is the "usage guideline" -- from 2GB/mo at the
bottom, up to 40GB/mo at the top.  Whatever one might
think of the limits (or "guidelines"), BT is considering
volume of data as well as "download speed," and is being
relatively straightforward about where they draw their
lines.

Now compare that to BellSouth's DSL page:
http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/index.html

The differentiator between their plans is download speed,
with absolutely no mention of usage at all.  This "fast,
faster, fastest" mindset made sense when pretty much
everyone was using the Internet to access some HTML pages,
a few GIFs and JPEGs, and maybe an occasional low-quality
audio stream, but it just doesn't make sense anymore.
Hence US providers' recent interest in charging both
their customers and the sites that their customers access
for the privilege of sending bits across the providers'
networks.

Consider this:  in the absense of an explicit cap or
guideline such as BT imposes, a contract for always on
broadband access that is expressed as a download speed
can be accurately translated into a volume of data that
may be downloaded.

If you've got a 1.5Mbit downstream (best effort, of course),
then the maximum theoretical data transfer that you should
be allowed is 475GB of data per month.  While 24/7 usage
at full speed seems unreasonable (and technologically
unlikely, for that matter), what about using that
connection fully about 9% of the time and downloading 45GB
of data per month?

BellSouth's Chief Architect estimates that their average
broadband customer currently pulls down about 2GB of data
per month...less than one half of one percent of their
theoretical data transfer capacity.  And that amount is
still a concern for BellSouth.

So while I wouldn't say that I support BT's caps, at least
they're thinking about the right issues and being pretty
honest with their customers about what they should expect.

I wrote a little more on this topic, with a couple of
relevant links, here:  http://tinyurl.com/hlghd

- Whit

whitney () absono us

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: March 29, 2006 10:31:52 PM EST
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE
> Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from reader Mike Cheponis.  DLH]
>
> From: Mike Cheponis <mac () Wireless Com>
> Date: March 29, 2006 6:52:20 PM PST
> To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Subject: BT's bandwidth hogs
>
> BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE
> U.K. Internet service provider BT has sent letters to 3,200  
> subscribers
> letting them know that their usage exceeds the 40GB per month download
> limit to which they agreed in the terms of their service. The letters
> inform customers that they must either pay a surcharge for the extra
> usage or their service will be disconnected. The ISP does not have an
> automatic shutoff for users who exceed the limit, and officials  
> from BT
> said they are willing to tolerate occasional violations. The users
> contacted, however, are regularly downloading far more than the limit,
> with some routinely downloading 200GB every month. Such a volume of
> downloads corresponds to approximately 50,000 songs. A spokesperson
> from BT said it would be fair to call these users "broadband hogs" and
> noted, "You would have to be downloading pretty much all day, every
> day, to manage that level of downloading." BT sent similar letters to
> 1,800 individuals in October, and while some users did agree to pay  
> for
> their usage, most were cut off from BT.
> ZDNet, 27 March 2006
> <http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6054223.html>
>
>
> -----
>
> BT misunderstands.  They should be -encouraging- use of their pipes.
> Geez.
>
> When can we get rid of the old-line telcos?
>
> Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------
> You are subscribed as whitney () alienabductions com
> To manage your subscription, go to
>   http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
>
> Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- 
> people/


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/