Internet Prices Going Through The Roof?

[skinsguy]

Has anybody been keeping up with the news stories about how Comcast is planning on charging their customers according to how much bandwidth they use as opposed to a tier set amount according to internet speed?

Do you guys oppose or support this?

What about keeping the internet deregulated? Seems like a no-brainer here, but consider the thought of deregulation possibly giving ISPs such as Comcast the ability to charge as much as they want, regulate how much and what you see on the internet, is this a good thing?

Do you think the “meter” system of charging costumers for internet usage will hurt other companies who have thrived because of broadband? Companies such as Netflix, iTunes, and Hulu? (Although I’m not sure I can include Hulu just yet.)

Some articles are saying those who stream Netflix and Hulu will see a substantial increase in their month internet bill.
So my question is, despite these reports (which say that there is no doubt that these types of charges are coming) will you continue to use the internet in the same manner you already do, no matter how much more it will cost you in the near future?
Do you think this will cripple Netflix, iTunes, and Hulu? After all, Comcast offers their own streaming video system and music download store.




For me, I understand needing to up the bill according to how much more bandwidth people are using today, but I also believe that if the prices go through the roof, it will cause an adverse effect on all companies involved and, in turn, cause Comcast and other companies who monopolize the market for broadband internet to take a hit. Certainly will put Netflix and other online streaming video companies out of business.

What say you?

[firstdown]

I'd like to know what people actually pay for personal internet service. I think we pay $39 per month for home internet and that seems really high to me.

[mredskins]

Iam on the triple play and I think my high speed is around 65- 70 a month.

[skinsguy]

WOW Mredskins, what speed do you have?

Firstdown: I pay about that much a month for about 6mbps download speed. I had gotten "grandfathered" in when I was with Adelphia. I never did any type of upgrade or downgrade with my internet, and so they kept charging me the same price. Heck, I've even tested my speed and at times have gotten 10mbps!

[BDBohnzie]

Cable and Phone companies will have to compete with the Wireless companies that provide 4G speeds, and it doesn't surprise me that they are talking about matching the wireless companies with a tiered pricing scale. It'll also protect their TV interests, as those teetering on cutting cable for straight internet may think twice if it'll cost more to do straight internet vs. cable/internet.

I don't think it'll cripple the streaming media sites, but it could curb their growth. However, I think people will just grin and bear it just as they have with every other type of price change/gouge they've occurred.

[saden1]

This whole thing is nothing more than a money grab by them and all these ISPs. They won't get away with it! When I buy Internet service from Comcast I pay them so I can access the Internet, now they want me to also indirectly pay them every time I log on the Internet to watch a Netflix movie? What's next? MS has to pay them every time I play a game on XBox live? View YouTube videos?


Comcast cable Internet cost is $59.99 (with taxes and fees $67). If you subscribe to Comcast cable services you get a $10 discount on Internet service. You can get the triple play package for a year for $100. And then call them every six months and threaten to cancel once the rate jumps to $150.

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by saden1

This whole thing is nothing more than a money grab by them and all these ISPs. They won't get away with it! When I buy Internet service from Comcast I pay them so I can access the Internet, now they want me to also indirectly pay them every time I log on the Internet to watch a Netflix movie? What's next? MS has to pay them every time I play a game on XBox live? View YouTube videos?


Comcast cable Internet cost is $59.99 (with taxes and fees $67). If you subscribe to Comcast cable services you get a $10 discount on Internet service. You can get the triple play package for a year for $100. And then call them every six months and threaten to cancel once the rate jumps to $150.

See I can't get the triple play deal in Southern VA. Comcast doesn't offer it here. The only thing we have is the Cable packages and $10 discount on internet. I got rid of the TV part when they increased my bill from $112 a month (for tv and internet) to $158 for no reason at all. I kept the internet because I needed it. I went with Directv and it was actually cheaper doing that and sticking with cable internet (I can't DSL at my house nor do we have FIOS in my area.) But, now Directv is charging me $90 a month and the only extra stuff I have is the HD package.

So, I'll probably just cancel Directv and either go with DISH for a little bit or just put an antenna up on the roof to get free HD channels.

[Dirtbag59]

I would switch to the company that charged a flat fee and not a usage rate. That's ridiculous. It's insane that they would try to go back to the days of AOL where people would charge by the hour. I hope this isn't true because Comcast internet is amazing. Damn economy has people going crazy trying to find ways to make money.

My friend who works at Comcast told me the following:
They suspend your internet connection if you exceed the download capacity. True story, I have residential customers switching to business services for unlimited downloads.

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

I would switch to the company that charged a flat fee and not a usage rate. That's ridiculous. It's insane that they would try to go back to the days of AOL where people would charge by the hour. I hope this isn't true because Comcast internet is amazing. Damn economy has people going crazy trying to find ways to make money.

My friend who works at Comcast told me the following:
They suspend your internet connection if you exceed the download capacity. True story, I have residential customers switching to business services for unlimited downloads. [/

that is total horse s, i would never sign up with comcast if that is true

[saden1]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

I would switch to the company that charged a flat fee and not a usage rate. That's ridiculous. It's insane that they would try to go back to the days of AOL where people would charge by the hour. I hope this isn't true because Comcast internet is amazing. Damn economy has people going crazy trying to find ways to make money.

My friend who works at Comcast told me the following:
They suspend your internet connection if you exceed the download capacity. True story, I have residential customers switching to business services for unlimited downloads.

They give you a warning and then suspend your ass here. If you can exceed 250 GB for the month you're props to you. I download a lot and I have never ever come close to the limit.

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

I would switch to the company that charged a flat fee and not a usage rate. That's ridiculous. It's insane that they would try to go back to the days of AOL where people would charge by the hour. I hope this isn't true because Comcast internet is amazing. Damn economy has people going crazy trying to find ways to make money.

My friend who works at Comcast told me the following:
They suspend your internet connection if you exceed the download capacity. True story, I have residential customers switching to business services for unlimited downloads.

You know, I could potentially see people breaking the 250 GB threshold if they are renting High Definition streaming movies every night or at least quite often a month. I mean, suppose your HD quality movie is around 4-8 GB per download stream. And you're streaming at least four movies a week. That alone is around 128 GB per month, but that isn't counting the other stuff you may be doing on the internet (downloading movies, music, etc...)

Maybe what needs to happen is for places like Netflix to develop a compression of movies that will keep the file size very low, but still present HD quality? That would curve the bandwidth issues, maybe???

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by skinsguy

You know, I could potentially see people breaking the 250 GB threshold if they are renting High Definition streaming movies every night or at least quite often a month. I mean, suppose your HD quality movie is around 4-8 GB per download stream. And you're streaming at least four movies a week. That alone is around 128 GB per month, but that isn't counting the other stuff you may be doing on the internet (downloading movies, music, etc...)

Maybe what needs to happen is for places like Netflix to develop a compression of movies that will keep the file size very low, but still present HD quality? That would curve the bandwidth issues, maybe???

I am dumb o nthis so please help but if you streaming a video you should be using less then a download, correct?

[skinsguy]

Well for myself, as much as I love using the internet, if it was going to cost me, say, $80 a month, I would either stop using the internet for any type of video or download, or I would get rid of cable or satellite TV.....which I'm thinking about doing anyway.

I would say if they were going to meter the cost of your usage of internet, then they should make sure that they don't have a minimum charge. For instance, I don't believe it would be fair to charge someone $40 a month for internet when all they do is check email and maybe the news but then charge for amount of bandwidth on the high end. I could consider agreeing with charging for the amount of bandwidth after a certain limit. I know that Comcast has a 250 gb limit.

[firstdown]

I'm not sure about all this stuff but they better not start charging me for watching free porn.

[hooskins]

They would, since streaming video consumes a good amount of bandwidth.