It seems like the telephone companies are starting to regret the way that internet access has always been charged. Since dial-up faded away and broadband came in, it has been charged at a flat rate by the Internet Service Providers regardless of how long the user is online or, more importantly, how much data they download; the "all you can eat" buffet model. It does seem kind of ridiculous now that heavy users, streaming movies and downloading music and games 24/7, pay the same as the occasional user who is just sending a few emails. Particularly given that the latter may be adversely affected by the former i.e. light users subsidize heavy users but everyone suffers equally when the network runs slow at peak hours. From my experience this is early evenings with my Telefonica connection when I imagine a lot of kids are downloading stuff after school and people are illegally putting movies in their memory sticks for the night's viewing.
Telefonica's CEO Julio Linares has called the current situation "unsustainable" quoting figures that 5% of mobile internet users produce 75% of the traffic -
Telefonica wants to charge more to customers who connect more
It will be difficult to change the status quo however sensible some kind of metered charging appears to be in theory. People have got used to paying a flat rate and will not take kindly to feeling like they have to watch every minute they are online or, more likely, pay for every Byte they download.
It might be OK if the majority of light users got a big benefit from the new regime i.e. monthly bills halved (Telefonica's ADSL charges are very high when compared to the UK) but I suspect they won't. If they can get away with it the ISPs will be looking to increase overall revenues and only they will benefit (both from lower usage of their networks and increased charges from heavy users while light users pay about the same). We'll see but enjoy the free, all you can eat option while you can.
From our website: time to do your non resident Spanish taxes?
Hello! I enjoy your blog, but as an IT professional I really have to step up and give you some "IT Insight" to think about here - The Telefonica has hoodwinked you as to what the real issue is, and it will be to all our detriment if they get their way. Metered internet is a really bad idea, a backward step for the worst - but not for the reasons you imagine (i.e. 5% of users want their cake and eat it to). For starters your idea the kids downloading are robbing your bandwidth is a myth and a lie - every ADSL subscriber has upload/download limits for starters, but you can read more details on the deception of Telco-ISP's like Telefonica at internet users expense here (look for "ISP Over-subscription"):
ReplyDeletehttp://thecommandline.net/2009/12/04/debunking-the-bandwidth-hog-myth/
See "ISP Oversubscribing, how does this affect me?" in following link:
http://www.ispgeeks.com/wild/modules.php?name=CapacityTest
Plenty more references:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=hog+bandwidth+myth
The real elephant in the room issue here is Net Neutrality. To sum it up quickly: At the moment the internet is "Neutral" - it does not matter to me as a Telefonica/ISP customer if I am accessing Amazon.com or your small blog - I can access the two at the same speed (where speed is measured from my ISP to me - the final leg of the data's journey). We call this "Net Neutrality". Telefonica and many other Telco run ISP's want to destroy this neutrality. Instead they want to charge you as a customer for access to bandwidth, and they then want to turn around and charge Google, Amazon, anyone else with money for _exactly the same bandwidth_. If they do not pay, then these websites will be regulated in speed or blocked all together - OR you as a customer will have to pay a higher price for the privilege of accessing the "All internet" tier! If your little website can't pay all the big ISP's in the world a fee - tough luck your data cannot be accessed fast/cheap/easily by users from users at those ISPs - your websites data gets put on the lowest most expensive to access tier for end users - effectively cutting it off or severely reducing it's access by the masses. The internet reduced to a pay per view type subscriber model. If this comes to pass then little blogs like yours may just become a thing of the past. Note that the telcos like Telefonica are pushing hard, paying political lobbyists worldwide for this to happen - not to mention spinning the issue in the media every chance they can get towards mythical "bandwidth hogs" and other bogeymen - to get the less informed on side.
Do you consider accessing Google being a "Bandwidth Hog"? Here is an example of this particular boogyman being trotted out to justify destroying Net Neutrality:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/07/1610222
Further reading on the real issue, Network Neutrality:
Father of the WWW, Tim Berners-Lee: "Never stop fighting for net neutrality"
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=458612
Googles take:
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/search/label/Net%20Neutrality
Wikipedia:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Network_neutrality
A video of Telefonicas CEO - destroying Net Neutrality is exactly Telefonicas plan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVADWAxOZtg
On a personal level I (and many other Informaticos) consider this issue is so important to the future of the internet, that we usually never recommend anti-internet telcos like Telefonica unless in exceptional circumstances or there is no other choice. Boycotting against their anti-internet behaviour while they are lobbying politicians to allow the destruction of Net Neutrality. I hope this email prompts you to study this important issue of further, and perhaps provider insight into the issue in a future blog article.
Sincerely,
Keith Nelson
The real elephant in the room issue here is Net Neutrality. To sum it up quickly: At the moment the internet is "Neutral" - it does not matter to me as a Telefonica/ISP customer if I am accessing Amazon.com or your small blog - I can access the two at the same speed (where speed is measured from my ISP to me - the final leg of the data's journey). We call this "Net Neutrality". Telefonica and many other Telco run ISP's want to destroy this neutrality. Instead they want to charge you as a customer for access to bandwidth, and they then want to turn around and charge Google, Amazon, anyone else with money for _exactly the same bandwidth_. If they do not pay, then these websites will be regulated in speed or blocked all together - OR you as a customer will have to pay a higher price for the privilege of accessing the "All internet" tier! If your little website can't pay all the big ISP's in the world a fee - tough luck your data cannot be accessed fast/cheap/easily by users from users at those ISPs - your websites data gets put on the lowest most expensive to access tier for end users - effectively cutting it off or severely reducing it's access by the masses. The internet reduced to a pay per view type subscriber model. If this comes to pass then little blogs like yours may just become a thing of the past. Note that the telcos like Telefonica are pushing hard, paying political lobbyists worldwide for this to happen - not to mention spinning the issue in the media every chance they can get towards mythical "bandwidth hogs" and other bogeymen - to get the less informed on side.
ReplyDeleteDo you consider accessing Google being a "Bandwidth Hog"? Here is an example of this particular boogyman being trotted out to justify destroying Net Neutrality:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/07/1610222
Further reading on the real issue, Network Neutrality:
Father of the WWW, Tim Berners-Lee: "Never stop fighting for net neutrality"
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=458612
Googles take:
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/search/label/Net%20Neutrality
Wikipedia:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Network_neutrality
A video of Telefonicas CEO - destroying Net Neutrality is exactly Telefonicas plan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVADWAxOZtg
On a personal level I (and many other Informaticos) consider this issue is so important to the future of the internet, that we usually never recommend anti-internet telcos like Telefonica unless in exceptional circumstances or there is no other choice. Boycotting against their anti-internet behaviour while they are lobbying politicians to allow the destruction of Net Neutrality. I hope this email prompts you to study this important issue of further, and perhaps provider insight into the issue in a future blog article.
Sincerely,
Keith Nelson
First part of my comment, sorry it looks like it was too long to post together:
ReplyDeleteHello! I enjoy your blog, but as an IT professional I really have to step up and give you some "IT Insight" to think about here - The Telefonica has hoodwinked you as to what the real issue is, and it will be to all our detriment if they get their way. Metered internet is a really bad idea, a backward step for the worst - but not for the reasons you imagine (i.e. 5% of users want their cake and eat it to). For starters your idea the kids downloading are robbing your bandwidth is a myth and a lie - every ADSL subscriber has upload/download limits for starters, but you can read more details on the deception of Telco-ISP's like Telefonica at internet users expense here (look for "ISP Over-subscription"):
http://thecommandline.net/2009/12/04/debunking-the-bandwidth-hog-myth/
See "ISP Oversubscribing, how does this affect me?" in following link:
http://www.ispgeeks.com/wild/modules.php?name=CapacityTest
Plenty more references:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=hog+bandwidth+myth
Thanks for taking the time to explain - best comment the blog has ever received I think
ReplyDelete