Now that Sprint totally pwns iPCS *rimshot*, finally getting closer in Chi-land. For the record, that warm tingling sensation means it's working! #wireless
@Thee Sea: Not really. Anything with a wavelength longer than UV radiation can't damage your DNA. It doesn't have enough energy. And anything with a shorter wavelength than X-rays isn't likely to damage your DNA unless you're absolutely flooded with it over a sustained period of time. Gamma rays aren't exactly flying around except for during a nuclear blast, and Cosmic rays have are so energetic that they very rarely even interact with the matter in your body as they pass through you.
Reading Gizmodo during Genetics lecture FTW :) #wireless
@Philip Han: 250GB/240KBps = 12 days non stop.. or about 9 hours a day of straight up downloading at full speed... its people like you are killing and abusing it.
@Philip Han: That is quite literally an INSANE amount of data, as irfan quite rightly pointed out. There's no physical reason to use that much data, unless you're downloading hundreds of illegal movies, or running your own web business.
seems to me that all they have to flipping do is build better towers. They are raking in millions anyway. just build towers that can handle more. case solved. We all know that people will not like this and there will be an evil uprising of teenagers against the phone companies if not
@Rian Clinton: Wow. Genius. I bet they never thought about that. In fact, I'm guessing the whole $38 billion they spent on their network in the past two years went to... er...
@up2l8:
That doesn't make any sense. The amount of data that can move across the network is the limited resource; therefore you should charge based off how much of the resource is used, not at the rate it's used.
Just like the power company charges you by how much power you use, not how quickly you use it.
@Kerensky97: Ummm, im pretty sure that there is no limit to the amount of data that can be moved once the infrastructure is laid.
It actually is the rate at which data is moved, or rather how much can be moved in a certain amount of time, that counts. Charging for teird bandwidth, kinda like they do now..., makes a whole hell of a lot more sense than charging for something that is limited only by time.
@eagles3 halfinsane: Well, can you find a better proxy? The issue is people consuming a large amount of radio capacity of a cell and thereby degrading the service to everyone else in the cell. While a carrier could probably figure that out, its not exactly predictable in terms of billing. So, they figure people who transmit a lot of bits are probably transmitting a lot of bits during the busy hour(s) when the network is at capacity, and higher rates for that is the appropriate remedy.
Suppose it sucks if you consume huge amounts of bandwidth, but only between 3 and 4AM, but I can't think of a better, easily measured metric for charging people...
Any guarantee of unlimited mobile broadband was already illusory by the time the FCC brought down the hammer. To say that we really should ought to have bent over for the telecoms so that we could keep our 'unlimited' data plans is just being naive.
It's like one of those tricky-ass genies, where you technically get what you wish for, but they find a way to work around your words and screw you over anyway.
I don't have a problem with this at all. The option is unlimited bandwidth and I can only do what I'm allowed to do, or limited bandwidth where I can do whatever the hell I want to do. So, if I pay more I'll be allowed to watch streaming videos from my house??? Sign me up.
@Ghost_MH: Stop being reasonable and sane, Ghost_MH because you will mess it up for the geeks who do not want to pay for clogging the pipes with our ridiculous data use!
You are, of course, absolutely correct. Having customers pay for their use of the internet is a good thing. Why people do not like this is not truly to game the system but because they are concerned the ISP's will game us by charging more than they would have collected otherwise. If the low-use folks are paying the same amount as "unlimited" and the high use individuals are paying even more, we are ultimately being screwed.
That said, if the ISP's are nice (try to control laughter) then this system completely makes sense. I should pay more if I use it more. However, most of us do not trust them. Hard to believe when we are talking about the ever-trustworthy AT&T, but we are a tough crowd.
Meh. Regulate or don't whatever the heck you want. It's not gonna stop the steady forward march of the tech. Happened before with dial-up. Folks started filling up the lines, corps. started panicking, limiting the amount of data people could use....and then lo and behold! Along came DSL! Suddenly the lines were open again! And crazy fast, to boot!
If there's one thing that no business has ever suffered from, it's too much demand. And we are internet-addicted data nuts here in the U.S.
So go ahead and regulate/cap/throttle whatever you'd like, guys. If not you guys, someone will be along to increase supply of the internet access the consumer wants.
So long as the net stays free and all sites equal, I'm not worried about it.
iPhone unlimited is NOT unlimited now. There is a 5GB cap on all ATT data plans these days. My account rep specifically informs me of this every time I order a new phone....its in their terms and conditions:
"If you are on a data plan that does not include a monthly MB/GB allowance and additional data usage rates, you agree that AT&T has the right to impose additional charges if you use more than 5 GB in a month; provided that, prior to the imposition of any additional charges, AT&T shall provide you with notice and you shall have the right to terminate your Service."
The T&C makes it sound grey, but they are covering themselves and are telling customers it will be enforced.
@andy000001: Sounds like they're giving me an easy out when iphone exclusivity breaks. Download a shit ton, when they contact to tell me, I terminate service. Since their ToS says I have the right to terminate at that point, there should be no cancellation fee.
I can see this becoming a potential issue because why we mention all this traffic in a vague sense, everyone knows we're really just talking about the iPhone. While AT&T runs the show there, they can put caps, and yeah, they may suck. However, once people have a carrier choice for their iPhones, these data caps should go down.
And don't just cry out a data cap for the sake of it. For the light users who can monitor their own usage, they could come out paying less. I have no doubt others could cut out a significant amount of usage by just not surfing for the heck of it. All of our utilities are metered, so it shouldn't surprise people that companies want to do the same thing with internet.
11/02/09
11/02/09
11/02/09
Edit: Nope.
11/02/09
I'm sterile now.
Probably for the best. #wireless
11/02/09
Reading Gizmodo during Genetics lecture FTW :) #wireless
11/02/09
10/08/09
I use about 100-250GB a month combined from my iPhone, MacBook and PC Laptop.
If there would ever be a cap on my service I would be in trouuuble!!!
My mom and sister already use like 1-3 Gigs a day! So make that a quarter to a half a terabyte a month!!!
10/08/09
10/08/09
10/09/09
10/08/09
10/08/09
10/08/09
10/08/09
10/08/09
10/08/09
That doesn't make any sense. The amount of data that can move across the network is the limited resource; therefore you should charge based off how much of the resource is used, not at the rate it's used.
Just like the power company charges you by how much power you use, not how quickly you use it.
10/08/09
It actually is the rate at which data is moved, or rather how much can be moved in a certain amount of time, that counts. Charging for teird bandwidth, kinda like they do now..., makes a whole hell of a lot more sense than charging for something that is limited only by time.
10/08/09
Suppose it sucks if you consume huge amounts of bandwidth, but only between 3 and 4AM, but I can't think of a better, easily measured metric for charging people...
10/08/09
Err....
[gizmodo.com]
Any guarantee of unlimited mobile broadband was already illusory by the time the FCC brought down the hammer. To say that we really should ought to have bent over for the telecoms so that we could keep our 'unlimited' data plans is just being naive.
10/08/09
10/08/09
I think the same thing every time i call the unemployment number.
10/08/09
10/08/09
As far as I can tell this guy is a Troll who gets lost on his way to the Free Republic site.
10/08/09
10/08/09
10/08/09
You are, of course, absolutely correct. Having customers pay for their use of the internet is a good thing. Why people do not like this is not truly to game the system but because they are concerned the ISP's will game us by charging more than they would have collected otherwise. If the low-use folks are paying the same amount as "unlimited" and the high use individuals are paying even more, we are ultimately being screwed.
That said, if the ISP's are nice (try to control laughter) then this system completely makes sense. I should pay more if I use it more. However, most of us do not trust them. Hard to believe when we are talking about the ever-trustworthy AT&T, but we are a tough crowd.
10/08/09
If there's one thing that no business has ever suffered from, it's too much demand. And we are internet-addicted data nuts here in the U.S.
So go ahead and regulate/cap/throttle whatever you'd like, guys. If not you guys, someone will be along to increase supply of the internet access the consumer wants.
So long as the net stays free and all sites equal, I'm not worried about it.
10/08/09
10/08/09
"If you are on a data plan that does not include a monthly MB/GB allowance and additional data usage rates, you agree that AT&T has the right to impose additional charges if you use more than 5 GB in a month; provided that, prior to the imposition of any additional charges, AT&T shall provide you with notice and you shall have the right to terminate your Service."
The T&C makes it sound grey, but they are covering themselves and are telling customers it will be enforced.
10/08/09
10/08/09
And don't just cry out a data cap for the sake of it. For the light users who can monitor their own usage, they could come out paying less. I have no doubt others could cut out a significant amount of usage by just not surfing for the heck of it. All of our utilities are metered, so it shouldn't surprise people that companies want to do the same thing with internet.