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Comcast announced bandwidth caps for broadband Internet customers today. After October 1 customers will be capped at 250 GB of traffic per month.
What does 250 GB of traffic mean to the typical Comcast customer? I’m sure that most of them have no idea what it means. Let’s try to put it into perspective.
250 GB of traffic means about 125 standard-definition movies per month (but who is watching SD on their pretty HD plasma screens these days?)
250 GB of traffic means about 25 HD movies per month or around 50 hours of HDTV per month (1.6 hours of HDTV per day).
250 GB of traffic means running a T1 connection (1.5Mbps) around full throttle for an entire month.
Why would Comcast actively block legitimate traffic on their Internet networks? (otherwise known as traffic shaping) I think the reason is pretty simple. Let’s walk through my thought process together.
What is the primary driver of Comcast’s revenue? Answer: video.
What is the primary driver of increasing bandwidth utilization on the Internet? Answer: video.
What is an Internet protocol like bittorrent mainly used for? Answer: video distribution.
Comcast is simply trying to disrupt video distribution on the Internet before the Internet disrupts Comcast’s primary video distribution model. It’s like telcos trying to add latency to 3rd-party VOIP packets in order to diminish the quality of voice calls. These providers will fight back if you threaten the golden goose.
The Star Tribune recently reported that US Internet is finishing the roll-out of WiFi services to the Minneapolis area. I don’t mean to dismiss the efforts by all the vendors involved but I think this is a case of too little too late.
Comcast is rolling out DOCSIS3 in the cities and advertising 50Mbps Internet. Qwest is fumbling its way through an ADSL2+ FTTN implementation and promising 12 and 20Mbps. Sprint, Verizon, and others are building out high speed wireless networks.
I’d hate to be competing against those big boys even with a monopoly contract. They can market you to death. They can trench in fiber and eventually tap unlimited bandwidth. And they can refresh their technology faster.
Wireless internet access will ultimately be driven by mobile devices rather than people looking for cheap access from their stationary home. I can access the net using the Sprint network on my 8830 blackberry all over the world. Why do I need municipal wifi?
The biggest benefit to this wifi service is that it provides people with another option (and a lower cost option at that) for connecting to the net. I’m just uncertain the business case will survive long term.
