Re: Comcast Considering 250GB Cap, Overage Fees

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

As I said, there is a problem arising djf

________________________________________
From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren () vortex com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 11:18 AM
To: David Farber
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Comcast Considering 250GB Cap, Overage Fees

> From: Ralph [rs9174 () gmail com]
> To: David Farber
> Subject: Re: [IP] Comcast Considering 250GB Cap, Overage Fees
>
> 250GB would give you the bandwidth to download how many movies per
> month?  0? 1? 5? 25?

Dave,

This is the "fox in the henhouse" problem with Internet access
providers who are also content providers.  It may be true that only
a small percentage of Comcast's current users would exceed a 250G
Internet cap per month -- today.

But as we all know, a wide range of completely legit media delivery
services are appearing that are or will be using the Internet.  TV
shows, movies (including HD movies), etc. -- and of course services
like YouTube.  Some of these use specialized set-top boxes, some use
regular PCs, but the bottom line is that we are on the cusp of a
massive rise in the reception of video over the Net on a mass scale
by ordinary customers, who have been enticed to ever higher speed
access lines by ISP advertising.

However, many ISPs (especially the cable operators, but also DSL
providers in some cases -- e.g., AT&T U-verse) also are in the
business of selling content.  They want you to watch their video
(with their local ads), to upgrade to their premium channels, to use
their video on demand, and in particular to order their pay-per-view
movies and specials.

This creates an obvious conflict.  Since these ISPs are not only
determining how much of their bandwidth will be devoted to their own
offerings vs. outside Internet access, *and* establishing throughput
speeds, bandwidth caps, and related surcharges, the risk of
anticompetitive behavior is very real in the current regulatory
environment.

After all, who is going to order movies from an outside Internet
service if you not only have to pay much the same for the movies as
you would ordering from your ISP, but also eat up a big chunk of
your Internet usage allocation for the month?  If you order the
movie from your ISP, it typically won't count against your Internet
usage total in any way.

Offhand I currently only see two possible ways out of this dilemma
if ISPs go the bandwidth cap route.  One is enhanced regulatory
oversight to help ensure a competitive environment in this
particular regard.  The other would be for ISPs to include *all*
related services as applying to the bandwidth cap (that is, whether
you order a movie from an external Internet site, or from the ISP,
they both count against the cap).

This is a "sleeper" issue that is going to hit us bigtime if bandwidth
caps become widespread here.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com

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