Network management Toolkit
Story: Online TV blamed for choking broadband networks
Users wanting to use the bandwidth they pay for blamed for choking...
I suspect this really is fairly straightforwards. Some ISP's base their service provision on a gamble; that they can sell customers a service that they are unlikely to ever make maximum use of. To ramp up their profits, they gamble that in fact they will never need to deliver on their promise. Promises like 'up to' 8Mb and 'unlimited usage - fair usage policy applies'. Guess what... it doesn't work like that. Simple supply and demand proves again and again that if people are provided with a service, they will eventually use it and ultimately want more (of a good thing).
While I'm no fan of P2P and certainly no fan of Kontiki based applications, content providers like the BBC and C4 are responding to the demands of their audiences, who shout that they want new services and new ways to receive content. IPTv is something I've waited for, for a long time, like many others. The current level of provision is a drop in the ocean compared to what I look forwards to. It's one of the many reasons I purchased a fast connection.
Like most people, I expect that my ISP lives up to and is able to deliver on the promises made. That's the contract between us. My ISP expects that I don't abuse the service, don't use it for commercial or unlawful purposes. In return I expect my ISP to deliver the bandwidth I pay for, consistently and without limitation on data volume - just as the contract stipulates. If an ISP has chosen to gamble that I won't actually seek to use the services I pay for, then that is a grave error.
The BBC (ultimately the licencepayer) pays for it's data connection at it's end, while I pay for mine on my end of the line. Don't expect to charge two customers for a data transmission service and then complain when they use it, that's just plain rude.
ISP's - if you're subscribing to the gamble model, take heed, time's up. Time to invest in actually providing the capacity you're selling. The time is now.
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