Bandwidth Metering and Policing

We have announcements from many of the top ISP's - like Ma Bell and Pa Bell and Comcast - that they will start policing broadband for copyright infringement. ARS has a take on this - like why now when 3 years ago they didn't want to do it? Simple: it's all about TV distribution.

U-Verse, FiOS, and the cable systems have billions invested in them. It's about content distribution. And they are all in the CDN game, too. This Duopoly does not want to become just a dumb pipe of bits used for OTT (over-the-top) entertainment and VoIP. There's not enough money in that to cover their costs and huge salaries.

This is the cable argument for metering at DSLR: "Instead of simply raising prices on cable broadband, Moffett said it's more likely that cable operators would move toward usage-based pricing. That way consumers who use more bandwidth to stream movies and TV shows end up paying more per month for service than people who may be getting their video from the traditional cable TV network." "Flat rate broadband is very profitable -- it just isn't profitable enough for Wall Street."

Here's a funny take on the bandwidth caps. Just when everything is going digital (and free if you believe the cynics), the only ones who will profit will be the Duopoly. Figures.

The only ISP I know that advertises all-you-can-eat bandwidth is Sonic.Net - and he is getting press out of it. Are you?

BTW, the whole NCTA membership is looking into adding bandwidth caps. That either means that Wireless ISP's can start metering too or they can go the other way and be the third rail. We'll see soon enough. BTW, it's just on resi / consumer broadband.