Thread: Internet restriction

same difference
seriously
this has all blown up in the UK, due to the BBC's iPlayer

now "regular" people (as opposed to the tech savvy minority) are downloading huge amounts of data
and ISP's are feeling the pinch

The way ISP's advertise, a layman see's an advert for "10mbps broadband" and assumes that's all his to use as he pleases
When in fact, it's not
He's renting the use of a 10mbps pipe - 19 other people are also renting bandwidth on that same pipe

So, you have 20 people, all expecting the 10mbps they're paying for, and complaining when they're not getting the bandwidth throughput

The ISP's have oversold their bandwidth
advertising their packages as "unlimited", when in fact, they are far from unlimited
it's only now, with serious downloadable content going mainstream, that the cracks have started to appear

the way the commercial internet is arranged,
it's cheap (and reliable) for ISP's to serve their customers from their own network
(Virgin --> Virgin Customer)

but expensive to relay from 3rd party networks (BBC --> Virgin --> Virgin Customer)

So, from a cost standpoint, it makes sense to strike deals with content providers

Virgin - "Hey, BBC, pay us some money and we'll mirror your content, and serve it to our customers for you. It's cheap for us to serve our own customers, plus it'll reduce your bandwidth costs"

The money saved from serving a subscriber from the subscribers own network can go toward upgrading the "last mile" of cabling, ensuring everyone can constantly get the bandwidth they're paying for

All they're doing is setting up mirrors
As I said, I really don't see the problem, in principle

Yes, it's the ISP's fault for overselling their services in the first place
but at least they're trying to remedy it by mirroring and caching high demand content locally for their customers
I actually think it's quite sensible

Of course, there's lots of devious stuff they could do with this type of setup (inject adverts, try to dictate what content is "worthy" of mirroring, etc.) but neither content providers nor ISP's are stupid - they know their customers talk between themselves, so any potential foul play will be easily spotted

by the way,
this may be better in Tech Talk

My ISP just back stabbed me big time. I got a home phone from them recently, and they forced me into a one year contract for my phone, tv and cable, where I had none before.

Then I notice in the contract they limited my bandwidth usage to 60 gigs a month, whereas I had no limit before. I use up my band width halfway through the month. Don't know what kind of additional charges I'm going to get for going over.

It was the hot blond with the sexy accent from Muldova they send to my door that got me. Like I could possibly pay attention to what I was signing!

Screw Rogers Cable, and also Bell for restricting Peer to Peer downloads. I'm running out of options in this city!

Originally Posted by Ynot

The way ISP's advertise, a layman see's an advert for "10mbps broadband" and assumes that's all his to use as he pleases
When in fact, it's not
He's renting the use of a 10mbps pipe - 19 other people are also renting bandwidth on that same pipe

So, you have 20 people, all expecting the 10mbps they're paying for, and complaining when they're not getting the bandwidth throughput

If they can't provide it they shouldn't have advertised it in first place, and if they for some reason become unable to provide it to you, the contract must be terminated with a fee being paid to you - or a better-quality service being offered for the same price.

Originally Posted by Ynot

Of course, there's lots of devious stuff they could do with this type of setup (inject adverts, try to dictate what content is "worthy" of mirroring, etc.) but neither content providers nor ISP's are stupid - they know their customers talk between themselves, so any potential foul play will be easily spotted

And to trust money-driven companies? I'd much rather wait for Google to provide Internet access through your toilet. It's unethical to advertise Internet access at one speed if you actually limit the speed for content providers you do not have deals with. Much like commodities, the cause of lack of food in the world today.

Either no restriction or the contract provides a list of what websites will have reduced speeds - and lol new websites are born each second.

Go Google go. I'd pay double what I pay nowadays just to support your cause ;P

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For you to have an idea of how the situation is in Brazil, lately a DSL internet provider raised its provided speed because another company offered worldwide wireless access without bandwidth for cheaper prices. They have no competition, they price what they want -.-

seen this?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...i-monster.html

Originally Posted by Ynot

seen this?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...i-monster.html

The modern version of Dr. Evil's deathray.