Comcast: Usage-Based Billing for All Customers Within 5 Years; 'We're Also Allowed to Do Fast Lanes'

[Worsel]

22. two different things

I don't conflate usage billing with net neutrality. Net neutrality should be maintained. Usage based billing is probably inevitable.

I retired from a phone company. Ten years ago I ran across a white paper discussing South Korean Internet provisioning and usage based billing. Their present was reflecting our future. Everybody already had broadband in South Korea back then. No more customers to get, only poaching from competitors; consumers demanding more and faster streaming driving costly provisioning expenses. With no new customers it's either having data brownouts or raising bills for everybody or going to tiered billing.

Streaming downloads 7x24 is the equivalent of permanently opening all of your water taps in your house. Why do we have water meters? Bandwidth isn't infinite. Power users should pay more after a certain point or everyone is going to pay more. Your neighbors can be affecting your response just like they could affect your water pressure if they all flushed their toilets at the same time.

And no, I don't love TWC cable. Just got my bill yesterday. It went up $16 a month with no warning after going up $8 three months ago. If we'd elect more progressives maybe we'd have PUCOs that would protect consumers again. But, tiered billing is inevitable even if we reign in the greed.