Saturday, June 14, 2008

Caution: Toll Road Ahead

Link to June 15 New York Times article, "Charging by the Byte to Curb Internet Traffic".

Quote:
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.

The culprits:
Time Warner Cable. “Internet metering” plan is introduced in Beaumont, Texas.
Comcast goes after "bandwidth hogs".
AT&T says limits on heavy users are inevitable.

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