News - Pay for broadband per megabyte says Verizon CTO

[HEXUS]

Verizon Communications' CTO, Dick Lynch, has said in the future he hopes people will have to pay for every megabyte of data they use, even for their home Internet connection.

Read more.

[Singh400]

Pay for broadband per megabyte says Verizon CTO ---> Verizon CTO is a muppet say Hexus members.

[Lee H]

This is corporate suicide.

If they charge for a connection per Mb, I can see people cancelling their internet and it being only the rich that can afford to access the web.

As such, this will hamper peoples educations, as the web is an excellent tool for learning stuff and I seriously doubt all the people running the country want that to happen.

[jimbouk]

Isn't this exactly the same as most of the UK broadband providers using non-LLU lines? You pay for your 'package' (1Gb/3Gb/etc) and any use above is charged. Either the statement was very badly worded, or it's been very negatively reported.

[Arthran]

This is corporate suicide.

If they charge for a connection per Mb, I can see people cancelling their internet and it being only the rich that can afford to access the web.

As such, this will hamper peoples educations, as the web is an excellent tool for learning stuff and I seriously doubt all the people running the country want that to happen.

Corporate Suicide indeed.

If they did this, people who have to pay per mb on their home broadband, but unlimited net on their smartphones... No sense at all

[Phage]

I believe that the wholsesale market (BT, Telstra etc) do indeed charge the re-sellers by Gb. This is merely passing it along. What's the problem ? We are already paying per Gb of data anyway.

Sounds like an end to unlimited accounts, but then most of those are traffic shaped anyway...

[Scarlet Infidel]

It makes sense in a lot of ways. My understanding of web usage is that a minority use a huge amount of bandwidth and the majority use much less. So overall this could mean that most people would be paying less and the greedy minorty would be paying more.

This seems fair to me, the only issue is that Hexus readers are likely to fall in the camp of heavy users so of course we won't like it (myself included). Having to worry about data usage will inevitably cause more efficient use of the web. Payment structures could also encourage people not to download too much during peak times giving a better service for everyone.

However I agree that this would severly limit the freedom you currently feel when using the web. I suspect if this ever took off there would always be premium companies willing to cater to those wanting unlimited downloads, at a cost.

[nichomach]

Personally, I think that this would be a massively retrograde step; if the principle motivator is that wholesale is charged per GB, then it seems to me that it's the wholesale charging model that needs looking at.

[Flash477]

If this ever came to pass it would do 2 things:

1. Free up bandwidth for more spam

2. Have some people wondering why they have a £300 broadband bill (because their computer has been hijacked and is sending loads of spam)

[endocine]

The only problem is.... Verizon wants you to pay per MB, not gigabyte, and pass the cost of the network to the end user, which will cause a steep drop in consumption, obviously, and who is to say that Verizon will provide quality service or even improve their network with all that new revenue(that they really won't be getting because people aren't going to pay for metered service in the US per meg, sorry)? With less bandwidth consumption, they will not have to make expensive upgrades. In fact, people will probably start using something else entirely like wireless ad hoc networks.

With few people using this internet to-be controlled by Verizon, content on the internet will suffer as well, no one will want to pay to download these flash ads and other bandwidth intensive content, people will just stop using the web as it is today.

Verizon needs to structure their "all you can eat" internet fees in such a way that it covers the cost of their network.

Let me guess, this brilliant CTO went to a fine Ivy League school and has an MBA. He probably knows nothing technical.

[jimbouk]

The only problem is.... Verizon wants you to pay per MB, not gigabyte

Wrong, one of the few actual quotes from the article is:

"We're going to have to consider pricing structures that allow us to sell packages of bytes"

As per my first post, this will be like in the UK on many providers.

[Phage]

It makes sense in a lot of ways. My understanding of web usage is that a minority use a huge amount of bandwidth and the majority use much less. So overall this could mean that most people would be paying less and the greedy minorty would be paying more.

This seems fair to me, the only issue is that Hexus readers are likely to fall in the camp of heavy users so of course we won't like it (myself included). Having to worry about data usage will inevitably cause more efficient use of the web. Payment structures could also encourage people not to download too much during peak times giving a better service for everyone.

However I agree that this would severly limit the freedom you currently feel when using the web. I suspect if this ever took off there would always be premium companies willing to cater to those wanting unlimited downloads, at a cost.

+1. But I don't agree that it would feel like a restriction on freedom. We already pay by the Gb anyway.
The erroneous assumption appears to be that per Gb will cost more than current plans. I agree, it is far more likely that costs will fall for the vast majority of users.

Nicho - why not have a user-pays model ?
Flash - 1) No it won't, and 2) no one said anything about upload charges. Assuming they were however - imagine how fast the general public would improve their security !

[nichomach]

User already pays. It's just that the ISPs chose a flat fee model to sell while having to buy from a metered model. I think their efforts would be better directed at encouraging the upstream providers to shift their model rather than belatedly trying to force people to either pay more or change their usage. Why do I say pay more? Well, this guy's not suggesting that Verizon have too much money, now, is he? The only reason for suggesting such a move is that they want more money than they're currently getting, so someone, somewhere, is going to have to give it to them. That means their customers. BTW, as regards no-one mentioning upload charges, they're not just going to charge you for your data going in one direction, are they? Especially given that this proposal hails from that great land where when some sales droid calls your mobile, you get charged for it...

[aidanjt]

I'm not strictly against this idea. As long as the 'per-n-bytes' charge replaces the connection fee entirely. And I say this as a heavy internet user myself. It will provide a real fiscal restriction on excessive downloaders. If they want to use it, they should have to pay for it. Then again, telcos and isps are already making absurd profits on the internet. If they can't provide what they promise because their backbone gets clogged up, then they shouldn't make those promises.

[Phage]

I think their efforts would be better directed at encouraging the upstream providers to shift their model rather than belatedly trying to force people to either pay more or change their usage. [/QUOTE]

Actually total usage and revenue would probably stay the same, service would improve and costs for all but the leeches would fall.

The only reason for suggesting such a move is that they want more money than they're currently getting, so someone, somewhere, is going to have to give it to them. That means their customers.

Is it the only reason ? I agree more revenue is always good and that would be part of it, but only some of the customers would see an increase. It may well mean an improved service and a more equitable distribution of costs for the majority.

BTW, as regards no-one mentioning upload charges, they're not just going to charge you for your data going in one direction, are they? Especially given that this proposal hails from that great land where when some sales droid calls your mobile, you get charged for it...

I don't know about you - but I'm only charged for download traffic, which constitues by far the greatest proportion of data transfers.
Are you in the US ? It does sound quite uncivilised !

[Arthran]

as somebody who uses ftp to do off site backups all i can say it.

Don't screw with my bandwidth baby!