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Is the internet dead?
Lord Jezo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have been thinking about this since AT&T announced that they would be capping bandwidth, it's the way of the future and there is nothing we can do to stop it. I say this because companies can get away with anything they want, Australia is capped and censored to hell, Canada is controlled by only a couple companies and has limits, all US companies are starting to enact packet shaping and caps.. people complain and bitch but it doesnt matter, it just keeps getting worse. As things progress stuff like Netflix will be impossible to use, companies which offer online backups will be squashed because no one will risk uploading all their stuff and going over their caps, high definition sports streaming will never happen, and digital download services will be ruined as games get bigger because no one will want to use up 30% of their caps on one game.
The internet is pretty much dead, technology will be squashed, and we'll all be forced to what the big companies want us to do. The dream of being rid of cable companies is gone because they dont want us to stream online, a pure digital download world of media is gone because we wont be able to afford it with overage charges, so we'll just sit here on message boards with text because it's all we can do.
The internet is pretty much dead, technology will be squashed, and we'll all be forced to what the big companies want us to do. The dream of being rid of cable companies is gone because they dont want us to stream online, a pure digital download world of media is gone because we wont be able to afford it with overage charges, so we'll just sit here on message boards with text because it's all we can do.
I KISS YOU!
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I have a 12Mb/s ADSL2+ connection, and about 120GB/month cap in Western Australia. Never been near that. Granted, I don't download my games, I buy them on disc, but considering a heavy-usage month means I used about 1/3 of my cap, that leaves 80 GB for game downloads...
Also, what censoring? There was a stupid plan to enact a country-wide mandatory internet filter a year or so ago, so far nothing has come of it. Except massive public outcry. As unbelievably stupid as our politicians are, they realise that the one lobby group that was really pushing the filter could garner them maybe a few thousand votes, versus the millions they would lose if the filter was put in place.
Someone will just develop a super complex compression algorithm and then life will go on as normal.
I've seen this coming for years: it's why I mostly type in lower-case these days
saves bandwidth, y'see
You just said it there, 120 GB limit, which is tiny. Once you start streaming 1080p television at all times you will blow through that in hours. If the internet is to be used as a primary form of entertainment replacing standard cable television you will never be able to do it.
I KISS YOU!
Thank god for Verizon, the only sane one of the bunch. Pretty much the only one not putting caps in place and embracing internet streaming.
I never thought I'd say that first sentence.
It certainly is a thing, make no mistake, but with so much reliance on the 'net for everything, they would be hard pressed to completely hamstring it. That, I feel, is the real purpose for the FCC at this point. Sure, they basically don't have the power to do anything but bark, but sometimes if you bark loud enough, things can change.
The only way to know, really, is to see how it plays out. Sure will be interesting.
They are still insane, but less insane than the rest of them.
Would companies like to enforce caps permanently? Sure. Is it even imaginable that they could in a free market? Not really (speaking long term here).
At least, this is what I tell myself before I go to sleep each night, so I dream of better things.
Any dime that the ISPs don't have to spend immediately is one that they happily keep.
The companies have themselves to blame as well, advertising UNLIMITED DATA! yet getting upset when people actually use that. Their marketing strategy has always been based on overselling bandwidth - 100 megabits for all! As long as everyone doesn't use it!
200 GB would have been a more sensible bandwidth limit, in the day of streaming everything and multi-computer households. It's also not so much the total monthly bandwidth, that's the problem, it's the throughput. So your leg cast doesn't even really solve the immediate issue other than scaremongering users into not using a service they paid for.
Speaking as someone who works in a different soulless corporate environment (banks, yay!), ISPs are living the dream. If you can make people pay for something, then only use it sparingly to avoid owing you more money, that's freaking great! You spend less money giving them things, and they spend money on a service they don't use to its fullest!
God bless the free market!
Battle.net
Other than my sneaking suspicions that telecoms are using it to keep cable TV/satellite and their royalties alive. Which is why you're seeing things like Charter, Comcast, Time Warner implement this shit. But Verizon is like "Fuck yeah internet streaming bitches! You can watch our TV service anywhere!"
What about AT&T doing it? They are a telecom company but now limiting their DSL users on a monthly basis.
I KISS YOU!
Unfortunately investors would love lower caps and higher overage charges. This way no new infrastructure costs are required and more money is made from the existing equipment.
Verizon and a few other companies are most likely ready to slam metered billing in place but haven't yet for whatever reason.
I'm guessing there's a royalty somewhere they're exploiting. Or it has to do with trying to keep their payment plans ubiquitous between their services. So the Cellphone internet is the same style plan as their DSL, etc.
Yeah, as much as caps suck, it's not like they'll remain static for perpetuity. We won't be sitting here in 20 years, or hell, even 10 years still at 120GB caps. They'll increase just as bandwidth and technology increases.
The worst thing that will happen is the people performing the rallying cry for digital download won't get their utopia in five years, even though that was never going to happen that quickly anyway.
edit: nevermind a quick news search tells me DSL is getting capped.
edit 2: oh and uverse too apparently..
so 150GB, which an article tells me that without doing anything else on the internet but streaming netflix in HD you could do so for 3 hours each day for the entire month. I have netflix, I stream it, I've watched entire series on the thing seasons 1-5 a show. I LOVE watching tv shows and movies, and if you have the time and the desire to watch more than 3 hours of HD content streamed from netflix on your AT&T DSL for an entire month straight EVERY DAY then you need to suck it up or get some other hobbies.
Granted most people do more than just stream netflix, but it IS one of the biggest bandwidth hogs. If you stream netflix, backup to an online service, use steam to purchase games all the time then I can see this being an issue, but for probably something like 95% of internet users, they'll never get close to it.
Is it crap to cap what was advertised as unlimited bandwidth? Yeah, sure why not.
Like mentioned above, the infastructure needs time to catch up, did they plan ahead? no. Are they taking enough of their profits and reinvesting it into new infastructure like they should? nope again.
Despite all that it won't be the end of the internet, calm down, speeds will still increase, caps will too, or possibly disappear eventually.
edit:
turns out I'm on Centurylink. Still sucks.
Wait. Multiple channels of 1080p streams WITH surround sound? That's a different story.
"In practice a Blu-ray film will be at around 25-35 megabits/sec"
That's quite a pipe you got there then. Multiple channels? Not me. I have fast Comcast here in Colorado and I can't touch that.
EDIT: Yeah, come to think of it, I stream stuff with VLC Player, and Wireless G is NOT fast enough to stream blu-ray(1080p) with surround sound, you need Wireless N to pull that off. So the numbers above must be right if Wireless G has a real world bitrate of 25Mb/sec (small b here for bits, not Bytes).
I think he is referring to his digital cable box, which is pulling in many high def channels, no sweat.
It's not happening over the internet, and the number of hops needed to facilitate the steaming of the video is astronomically fewer, but I think that's his point.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Now, I've resorted to it out here in rural shit Texas because our options are dialup and satellite. Mobile broadband piggy-backs on cell phone towers. It is a service offered by cell phone companies. Up until the past year, every company (or most) offered an unlimited plan. Their caps for other plans were REALLY low, like a couple hundred megs or 2 or 5 GB, but it was all built for low-internet-use. E-Mail check, etc. So, I had to find a new provider. One had an unlimited plan - Virgin Mobile. I got to use it for two months before getting the notice the plan was being replaced by a 5GB cap. The same 5GB cap all other providers are putting in place. It's not all bad; other companies charge you for MB you go over your cap, like cellphone minutes. These guys and T-Mobile just throttle you. But VM allows the option to pay your next bill early, resetting your cap.
Now. 150GB cap.
I would murder for that. Well, not really. But maybe get some perspective. Going a little wild with my net use, I didn't pass up 15GB of data in a single month. 150GB is super generous. Yes, we are on a video game forum. I know people here are capable of meeting it, and find it absurd. But maybe, just maybe, they are the exceptions and not the standard user.
There are dangers facing the internet, yes. But I would wait to sound the siren on everything spoken, take the time to put things in perspective.
Why in fuck would I stream 1080p television through my internet connection when I have satellite television?
Why in fuck would you pay for a satelite connection when you can stream through your internet connection?
Netflix needs to slow the fuck down before the TV/internet providers catch on to the fact that I can cancel their $70+ TV service and be plenty entertained by Netflix for 10 bucks a month while letting the providers do most of the heavy lifting.
Them adding original content is probably going to piss off some people even more.
This is basically what this is about. It's the same reason AT&T was pissed about their users running skype however long ago.
They want to sell you phone service, internet service, and TV service. They don't want you to be able to use just the internet service as a replacement for TV, so they put in a cap, but one most users will never come close to hitting via regular, non-TV-watchin' internet activity.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
This just seems silly to me. Any market where AT&T is competing with Verizon and introducing caps is a market where they'll get murdered. If we're allowing companies full on monopolies then its time for government to change those rules... in a perfect world. In our world our politians are bribed by said companies and will do fuck all about it.
Anyone have a map of company monopoly markets?
Also, I don't know how many places verizon has rolled out FIOS and so on in, but maybe they're assuming verizon will come to the same conclusion and cap their internet-only plans.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
If everyone used their connection to their fullest the internet would slow to a crawl.
The reason why caps are being introduced is not to bone over people who don't think downloading the entire internet is good idea.
As long as companies make an attempt to continually expand their infrasture (and they will as long as there is competition) there will not be a problem.
Satans..... hints.....
Like I said, the monthly caps are a worthless limit. Throughput is the issue, not your bandwidth use for the month. You might say they're tangentially related, but, I could probably download 120 gb worth of data in a day if I absolutely wanted to.
Unfortunately throughput has lagged behind because providers are stupid, or want an insane amount of money. IE, they still want to charge $50 a month for the plans of olde, but want to charge these new plans double, or triple.
Then enter Verizon FiOS. Basically redefined internet around where I live. Suddenly the stupid road runner package we had here went down to $20 a month and they released WIDEBAND, with literally no changes to their current infrastructure, which competes somewhat with FiOS.
FiOS is dead. Has been for a while. If you didn't get it in the original roll out you may never.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404575151773432729614.html
So it's nice for the few people who have it but for the rest of us there is nothing but pain in our futures.
I KISS YOU!
PatboyX: "Netflix needs to slow the fuck down", I think you're right! Netflix is the BEST value in entertainment, period. But it is delivered via another service with a very pricey architecture as far as maintenance is concerned. Personally, I don't think that's fair.
Blake T is right. Competition drives accountability and efficiency, and growth.