With the proliferation of broadband Internet connections, it's possible for e-tailers to enhance the online shopping experience. While casual shopping for clothes, electronics, or Star Wars action figures isn't going to stack up bandwidth use, the transition to online consumption of movies and music will.
If the cable companies have their way, there will be bandwidth caps depending on how much you pay per month. For instance, you will be paying $30 for 5GB per month or almost $55 for 40GB with proposed pricing plans.
With the current service models, Cable companies provide unlimited access to their networks with one flat rate. However, a very small minority of customers (about 5 percent according to Time Warner) take up 50 percent of their bandwidth capacity. So in the minds of Cable operators, charging more to those who use more makes sense.
Except it doesn't make sense to the entertainment consumer who would rather download movies (legally) and get his entertainment fix online.
Decisions, decisions.
Posted
Jul 14 2008, 05:44 PM
by
Richly Chheuy