Pay-By Use Internet Fees?
In a chilling bit of news for any net aficionado, Time Warner is reportedly planning to try out a new billing scheme where they would charge customers based on the amount of bandwidth they consume, instead of the more traditional flat service fee. According to the report on MSNBC, the measure is aimed at keeping the internet tubes clear of traffic caused by a small minority of “heavy users” who, while making up only five percent of total internet users, account for more than half of the total traffic. While bittorrent users are the most conspicuous target of this policy, gamers would most assuredly feel the pinch as well.
As sinister as the above description makes this move sound, from the perspective of internet service providers it makes sense. They have “x” amount of resources available to serve internet customers. If a small minority of their paying clients are using up an exorbitant amount of resources that’s not a very profitable situation. From a business standpoint, going to a situation where you pay for what you use seems wise.
The question is: Will internet users accept this pricing? On one hand, ISP’s would be able to offer lower rates to the majority of internet users who use few resources.
On the other hand, how long will those users keep using so few resources? The entertainment industry and computer giants like Apple are becoming more and more dependent on online content such as streaming broadcasts and video/music downloads. Even internet novices are watching YouTube and downloading from iTunes these days. If internet users have to pay not only to download that content but also pay additional fees to their ISP’s for the extra bandwidth used they aren’t going to be happy.
Ultimately, I don’t see this happening.
