ISP Disconnects
Engadget notes that ClearWire is throttling aggressively:
As the story goes, it seems as if the company is pulling back on upload and download speeds (from 10Mbps to around 0.25Mbps) for users who have consumed between 7GB and 10GB in a month, which is comically low even compared to Comcast's hated 250GB / month usage cap
The thing is, that's a trivial amount of bandwidth. Download a few movies from Netflix, iTunes, or shows from Hulu, and you could be done. In other words, use your connection as a normal person might, and you're done. There's a complete disconnect between how ISPs think you ought to use your connection, and how people are actually using them.
Technorati Tags: isp, bandwidth, throttling
Comments
Re: ISP Disconnects
[anonymous] September 30, 2010 10:55:12.522
The problem is that companies such as Comcast view the Internet as a great disruptor of the TV side of their business. If people can easily download or stream TV over the net, there is no reason for these people to subscribe to Cable TV. And that scares the heck out of them and makes them do stupid things like throttling people who are no where near their cap.
As an aside, if people hate Comcast's 250 GB cap, they would be rioting with the caps we have up here in Canada. My high speed plan with Cogeco has a whopping 60GB.
Re: ISP Disconnects
[W^L+] October 1, 2010 15:39:33.603
It looks like Clearwire's only business is wireless network access, so they are (or should be) the disruptor, not the disruptee.
Clearwire should really be trying for the early-adopter, high-usage segment right now. With three of the four big mobile phone companies working toward LTE, their success with WiMax depends on getting as many users over as large an area of the country as possible.
Indeed, they should be chasing down the makers of iPad-alike devices, seeking some kind of bundled access deal.
Yes, it means building out their infrastructure more quickly, it means building more backhaul capacity, it means buying more bandwidth. But it will be three to five years minimum before they are profitable, so they need to "size up" now.