Price to Play
Category: Soapbox
For your cellphone you pay for the minutes you use, although as new plans come out with unlimited talk time, we realize that data is the real suck.
In Japan you can get 100mbps for $25 a month. I am currently paying $30 a month for 6mbps, yuck. For the most part I am seriously using that 6mbps almost all day; with a new focus on bandwidth and content, ISPs are looking to hurt you in the wallet.
Before it was Bit torrent and P2P services, now netflix and hulu are being blamed for the suck. The truth is these ISPs are delivering content over the same wires, and if you are not buying the content they deliver... they will make you pay for it. Comcast has announced they will be using a 250gb per month bandwidth limit, which for some is no scare tactic; but what about me ?
3 netflix movies per week
15 TV shows streamed per week
10 albums per week
5 video podcasts per week
7 audio podcasts per week
Live Mesh sync services
Mozy backups
flickr/vimeo uploads
Not sure what it equates to, but what do I do if I decide to start streaming video or delivering HD content.
I think the tide is changing for data, there may be a day when we can get internet as much as we want, as fast as we want it. For now though... get ready for the pain, as the companies grow and compete things will get better, but this is just the beginning.