Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Broadband With Limits

AT&T has recently joined the ranks of ISP's toying with the idea of imposing download limits on its broadband users. According to CNN, AT&T is putting its broadband users on monthly allowance. Both it's fiber-supported UVerse subscribers and its traditional DSL subscribers will soon be capped to 150 GB of monthly download. This follows shortly after AT&T announced a similar cap on wireless broadband subscribers with the popular iPhone last year.

Critics of this sort of a move accuse ISP's of neglecting their supposed obligation to beef up infrastructure. Opting instead, they say, to pocket profits and limit subscribers. But, AT&T claims this imposed limit will only affect 2% of their current users based on current usage. This certainly dispels the idea that users will suffer from the decision, but begs the question: why impose a limit at all if it only will affect 2% of users?

Fair question. Here is the answer: because 2% of users can easily dominate 20 - 40% of overall usage. It's no lie. The question we really need to ask, before villianizing ISP's for making this sort of move, is to what end does broadband exist? Is it to provide a continuity of data flow sustaining business and life around the country? Or is it to provide a select few tech-savvy and data-hungry users with limitless access to more data than one human should healthily consume.

To make the point, let's consider another public utility in similar fashion. Why does electricity get provided to nearly every home in the U.S? Is it to provide a continuity of energy sustaining business and life? Or, is the average subscriber to common electric utility entitled to the energy he or she requires to run an entire factory or hospital? No. Factories and hospitals have their own on-premise sub-stations. They pay special access fees and work out special arrangements with utilities to meet their unusually high needs. They know that the power lines that run down their street are not designed to sustain their multi-million-square-feet operation.

Before we yelp too loudly about the moves that ISP's are taking, I would like to ask a few simple questions: who are these 2% using in excess of 150 GB per month on a residential subscription? And, more importantly, why is consumption without limits the right of every subscriber?

Labels: ATT, Broadband, Utility, Wireless