AT&T sets monthly limits on broadband use

AT&T sets monthly limits on broadband use

www.jsonline.com

DSL customers who exceed a monthly limit of 150 gigabytes of data in three separate months will be charged $10 for each additional 50 gigabytes they use, while U-verse subscribers will have a monthly limit of 250 gigabytes.

To exceed the 150-gigabyte cap, you would have to stream 10 high-definition movies a month, watch 100 hourlong online television shows, stream 5,000 one-minute YouTube videos and upload several thousand photos to social media sites, according to AT&T.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
nexus404.com
cable.tmcnet.com

Well, this is it. It looks like AT&T is ushering in the end of the internet basically. Gone are the days of unlimited bandwidth and net neutrality. With AT&T stepping up to the plate we will see other ISPs begin to join them, including YOUR ISP and MY ISP.

There is no stopping them now. Slowly and slowly we will see the internet be reduced to worthlessness with all these stupid restrictions. (net neutrality, bandwidth caps, ISP monitoring and documenting every move you make, etc)

I am very much aware that there are countries with ISPs that already impose data caps - and that is why AT&T will not be stopped. Just look forward to your ISP giving you a bandwidth cap in the future. Take advantage while you still can.

www.jsonline.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

While you are correct that this appears to be a very slippery slope towards monkey-see-monkey-do, there is a real opportunity for a very enterprising start-up, or a lower-tier player, to swoop in with an "unlimited bandwith" marketing plan.

In true capitalism, where there are challenges, there lies opportunity.

Now, if the Federal Government follows through and monkeys with the system as they've been trying to do, we all lose. Nobody knows how to fowl up a market economy better than the Feds.

We've had limited upload/download issues here in Canada for a few years now.

Rogers only allows you a max of 120 a month I think. We do still have Bell with their new fiber optic service that is unlimited. It will remain that way as well, you can't really justify limiting bandwidth on a fiber network.

~Keeper

reply to post by fordrew


Shaw already does that, I've gone over the 100 gig cap and had to pay a little extra. 5 kids and me using 3 computers and running several online games often too.

If all the AT&T broadboand customers start going to other providers, this won't last long.

reply to post by fordrew


but my friend that streaming of High Def Movies is where things are headed...
In my house we have three TV"S one in the living room and two in the bedrooms. there not wired but they could be and thay would be akin to three HDTV movie Downloads per night right... and 3 times 30 is....
Link to Google TV
See all those Internet ready TV's they have out there right now do just what AT&T is complaining about... it's not a bunch of downloading pirates just ESPN fans

I don't see all ISPs doing this. If they all did, someone would start a new ISP with no data limit. I see AT&T losing A LOT of customers. I think this is more a case or result of purposely tanking our economy for bankers to buy when things are cheap. My ISP is privately owned and the grass is green here. If they try to push policies I don't approve of I will switch my ISP. This is no different than just raising prices, if you want more bandwidth get a second DSL connection installed, if AT&T permits that.

To me this coincides with Obama wanting felony charges brought upon for petty theft crimes, and wiretapping for suspicion of petty theft. The two don't have anything to do with each other.

More info on this topic here. www.abovetopsecret.com...

They can call it whatever they want, but just because I call the sky orange doesn't mean that is what it is. When ATT imposes this upon its customers, now it's just easy for them to be flagged for file-sharing and wiretapped. I see only major ISPs doing this, if that. It's just another example of a major corporation playing the role of the puppet for an N.W.O. agenda. If they do, and you get caught up file-sharing, don't say I didn't warn you first.

One must understand the capabilities of the DSL backbone.... It's (unstable), period! It seems AT&T is attempting to throttle their backbone to improve serviceability. I mean we all know the only thing AT&T has had going for them right now data wise in the last few years is their hold on the iPhone.

OP please understand there are plenty of ISP's already capping bandwidth in a monthly format. I work for one of the largest ISP's in our country (not DSL), and knowing some of what occurs on the backbone is kept under wraps. Most people don't realize they're ISP are capping bandwidth mainly because they don't use enough of bandwidth in a monthly span. Also noticing that they're going to start charging for additional bandwidth, seems to make for a revenue increase. IMO

TWBU

Does anybody know what efforts are currently under-way to circumvent these monopolists and provide free or affordable internet access to everyone?

If you read my opinion post I point out that I am fully aware of ISPs in other countries besides America (Canada being one) that impose bandwidth caps.



There will be unlimited bandwidth options of course - BUT they will come at the expense of paying more for it!

Once AT&T applies this cap other companies will follow suit like dominoes and we will see most if not all ISPs impose a cap.

Originally posted by CitizenOne
Does anybody know what efforts are currently under-way to circumvent these monopolists and provide free or affordable internet access to everyone?

The solution to this is direct internet peering. You connect to your neighbor, they connect to their neighbors. somewhere in between you will have some central hubs, then larger hubs. You cant just connect neighbor to neighbor indefinitely because you would have a LOT of slowdown after about 4 neighbors.

So, some central hubs, maybe take like our ridiculous Housing association fees and put them towards something like this, since i know damn well that the money i pay is for some guy to come around once a week and make sure my trash can isn't left out for longer than 6 hours.

We have to thank the CRTC (Canada) and the (FCC) U.S. for that. Bunch of bass turds.

Stop the meter This link is for Canadian Residents only I think. I'll try to find on for the U.S.

Sorry, can't find an American one??? What you don't fight for what you beleive in? Sorry it's not bashing, I'm just asking if you'll let that stand. If we both fight for the same cause on each our end maybe it'ss have a bigger impact. Give it a try.

reply to post by ImmortalIntegrity


We already saw Virgin mobile attempt this in the wireless market back in september and as of 2/11 that unlimited plan is throttled after 5gb (yes I know we are talking about home service here but the issues are similar).

What interested me was how suddenly Virgin went from being the champion of unlimited to being another 5gb capped plan (tho their twist of ultra low bandwith after 5gb is a different)

Montenegro, Europe here.
Using T-Com internet and limited to 150GB from 0-day....
More info here:T-Com fair usage

Fair Usage policy of ADSL services If you use the T-Com Flat ADSL packages (limitless access to the extra fast internet) then our Fair Usage policy concerns you too.
1. Why this policy is necessary? Fair Usage policy has been created to ensure speed and reliability of ADSL usage in every moment. Some of T-Come users very often intensively use file sharing software (programs for document sharing) and download large files such as music and movies. Using the Internet in this way overloads capacities of T-Com network and threatens the service quality for the other users. Uncontrolled usage of internet in intervals of huge traffic can affect the speed of data transfer and can significantly decreased the speed... 2. Which downloaded quantity can be considered as excessively large? It depends from the circumstances; if you make long and continuous downloads or if you generate a 150 GB monthly volume or higher, we consider it to be excessive. 3. What happens if the monthly bandwidth generated by the user is excessive? If the excessive monthly download is performed occasionally, there is little possibility that is creates capacity issues for T-Com, except if happens too often. If this occurs repeatedly, we will contact you in order to find a way to decrease the bandwidth. If you continue the same practice even after that, we will contact you once again. If there are no changes despite our attempts to help you, we reserve the right to decrease or limit the bandwidth speed, to revoke the service or even to cut off your account. Notice that it is in mutual interest that there are no such limitations and T-Com will do everything to prevent those measures.

So what you are getting with your ISP is what is being implemented long time ago in the other parts of the globe....

Thats garbage I would be saying GOOD BYE AT AND T your days are numbered..


I had direcway when I lived in the boonies (which is satellite broadband)
Had terrible latency because of the time it took to loop back (bad for ANY game)
They had the *FAP* fair access policy if you went over 500mb an hour they throttled
your bandwidth to dial up speeds (for 12 hours) it SUCKED!!!!!! It was better then dial up though....

Anyways I think ATT is being selfish and will be a killer to their business

ya know when they first concieved the notion of Wi-Fi
they thought to pony signals off other Wi-Fi devices to both extend the range and limit bandwidth...
of course the big TelComs said no because they want every penny they can get from us

Originally posted by hillynilly
Thats garbage I would be saying GOOD BYE AT AND T your days are numbered..


I had direcway when I lived in the boonies (which is satellite broadband)
Had terrible latency because of the time it took to loop back (bad for ANY game)
They had the *FAP* fair access policy if you went over 500mb an hour they throttled
your bandwidth to dial up speeds (for 12 hours) it SUCKED!!!!!! It was better then dial up though....

Anyways I think ATT is being selfish and will be a killer to their business

I agree its selfishness. All these corporations are pure selfishness and greed.

So this will harm Netflix then?

Think about it this way. Anyone that uses Netflix's streaming video in lieu of having cable might either get extra fees, or will have to buy cable ($40 more per month) through AT&T (and will probably drop Netflix). Netflix offers a lot more than movies. They have TV series.. probably reality shows and all of the other brainless things that are on TV.

Here's the math;

Not HD - 150gbs = ~75hrs of Netflix per month = 2.5 hours per day
HD - 150gbs = ~50hrs of Netflix per month = 1.66 hours per day

So if you watch a movie per day, streaming, you go over your limit. That's not including anything you download, video games you play, or websites you visit.

They are trying to eliminate competition.

That means one person watching a two hour movie would transfer roughly 1.8GB of data. For high definition movies, the average encoding bitrate is around 3200Kbps and one user would transfer about 3GB of data.

Source: blog.streamingmedia.com...

Not to mention, "Gameplay on HD Video Games" isn't apart of AT&T's "Monthly Activity" list. I probably don't even use 250gbs, but I'm switching ASAP just for principle.

I'm in the US and Comcast has had a 250 cap for a while now. Sometimes it is necessary to keep the quality of the connection optimal for all users especially with a cable connection.

We don't have cable, just the internet, so all of our entertainment comes from streaming or downloading. Not to mention other online activities. Let's just say I'm a very heavy user. I have yet to come close to the cap. However, a 100 cap would hurt my usage. That is a little low. I can see people jumping ship over that.