"Metered" Internet usage billing is a very bad idea

And I hope companies trying this way to rip off consumers either go out
of business or get a clue. I don't know why the FCC hasn't stepped in
yet.

Metered internet billing is a huge step backwards. It kills innovation,
disenfranchises the poor as well as creates a bigger burden for them.
Technology, like fiber optics, already exists so that there never has to
be bandwidth limits ever! It is not logical, not necessary, not fair. It
does not necessarily "preserve network quality" if the network has
shitty quality to begin with.

The companies claim increased fees will be used to "grow the network"
but it's really to line the pockets of greedy executives with bonuses
they don't deserve. They should have been "growing" their network all
this time!

Please register your outrage over this practice with your ISP if it's
one of these companies over the unfair (and probably illegal) proposed
practice of metered internet usage billing: Road Runner, AT&T, and
Comcast.

In fact, Comcast was punished by the FCC for interfering with users who
used file-sharing software on their network. There must be action taken
against ISPs who interfere with access to Usenet newsgroups, too!

And in today's paper, Road Runner's attempt at this "experiment" failed
in Rochester, New York in a big way, as hundreds of Time Warner
customers began calling the local phone company about switching to their
service instead.

It smacks of a huge conspiracy by the RIAA or even movie studios to
attempt to curb the spread of perceived "piracy" of media content,
stopping the spread of the business model of offering video over the net
by making it unaffordable.

It's also some cable companies' attempt to stop the use of video over
the net so that cable subscribers don't "cut the cord" on basic cable.
This wouldn't happen if cable TV rates weren't so sky high as it is,
with its continually rising fees, much of the time for the same service
or number of channels. Pay more but receive less.

You should go with any other ISP offering high speed access but without
usage caps. Verizon doesn't do it, but then they crippled access to
Usenet. Check with satellite broad band services, too, though by default
they're expensive anyway.

What have these ISPs been doing all this time, charging their fees and
all? Have they not been re-investing the money collected? It seems not.
So they're going to milk this cash cow using the same amount of
equipment, it seems, when they should have been building their networks.
It's their own fault when they go out of business and lose customers by
trying metered usage billing.

Even though utilities like electricity, gas, or water do this already,
Internet use doesn't face the same supply problems. There is no raw
material to supply. It's all etheral data. Unless the electricity to run
the equipment got more expensive, there's no reason to charge more for
use. Upkeep costs only so much, so the rest had better go into
reinvesting in the network.

In contrast, the dialup ISP we use hasn't raised fees for almost 12
years! Yeah, baby!