Comcast’s Metered Broadband: Bad for Video Biz
Comcast will institute a 250 GB cap on its broadband connections starting Oct. 1. Expect other carriers to follow suit and make tiered broadband a reality. Much as I would like to think otherwise, this is the end of the Internet as we know it. I will say this again: this is to stymie services like Hulu, NetFlix and Amazon On-Demand. Read more over at GigaOM.
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No it won’t. Cell phone companies set up tiered voice plans, did that ruin the telephone?
And your link back to GigaOm is bad, pointing to a story about Apple and iTunes sales or something like that.
Russell Heimlich on August 29th, 2008 at 8:32 am - Permalink
Broadband caps will certainly temper use of data. It shows cable cos are really afraid of the disruption of internet video.
Russell: Yes tiered voice plans of cell phones definitely reduce consumption. A good example is Cricket (aka Leap Wireless) which is an unlimited plan. The average subscriber uses 1500 minutes. That shows unlimited plans result in higher use.
keith on August 29th, 2008 at 8:42 am - Permalink
Do the words IMPROVE VIDEO COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY make sense to you? It may sound like a rat race at first but it’s a start. At least Netflix has their DVD service to fall back on.
Jeff Seale on August 29th, 2008 at 6:38 pm - Permalink
Most are focusing on small details around Comcast……
…and are failing to see the much bigger picture that this presents to the industry at large. I believe Comcast will create a notion of “on network” (within Comcast peers) vs. “off network” (outboun……
HmmConvenient Daily on August 30th, 2008 at 11:19 am - Permalink
It is the end of the internet we know it as far as network operators absorbing cost for others (BBC iPlayer, NBC DIrect). For consumers, this gives Comcast a large incentive to bring video and other high-intensity internet apps to their network via. their own initiatives (Fancast) or 3rd parties.
On a side note… Verizon Aircards, iPhones, etc. all cap at 5 Gigabytes… 250 is generous (at present).
http://hmmconvenient.blogspot.com
HmmConvenient on August 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am - Permalink