lyndon.

Charging by the Byte to Curb Internet Traffic – NYTimes.com

Some people use the Internet simply to check e-mail and look up phone numbers. Others are online all day, downloading big video and music files.

For years, both kinds of Web surfers have paid the same price for access. But now three of the country’s largest Internet service providers are threatening to clamp down on their most active subscribers by placing monthly limits on their online activity.

Internet metering is a throwback to the days of dial-up service, but at a time when video and interactive games are becoming popular, the experiments could have huge implications for the future of the Web.

Millions of people are moving online to watch movies and television shows, play multiplayer video games and talk over videoconference with family and friends. And media companies are trying to get people to spend more time online: the Disneys and NBCs of the world keep adding television shows and movies to their Web sites, giving consumers convenient entertainment that soaks up a lot of bandwidth.

Moreover, companies with physical storefronts, like Blockbuster, are moving toward digital delivery of entertainment. And new distributors of online content — think YouTube — are relying on an open data spigot to make their business plans work.

Critics of the bandwidth limits say that metering and capping network use could hold back the inevitable convergence of television, computers and the Internet.

There are usually caps on most “unlimited” Internet plans, but usually around 40-100GB per month – which is more than enough for almost everyone. Although I do know at least a few people who go well over 100GB (I think I know what they’re downloading…). As for setting a 5GB cap, I think it’s reasonable for certain people, but the providers need to make sure that they price such a plan lower and not just increase the price of their regular plan.

At UBC, those staying at the residences can use up to 15GB per day (effectively 450GB a month) and there are still many who exceed that. This doesn’t even include internal transfers such as using p2p software DC++ (if you live in any sort of college dorm, you will know what this is!). We don’t charge them for going over, we just throttle the speed of their connection to curb their usage until they’re below their daily quota.