News Archive

It started with Time Warner.  Then Comcast.  And now AT&T is jumping on the internet metering bandwagon.  What does that mean?  It means that for $49.99 or whatever it is you’re paying them per month for your internet access, they will allow you some internet.  If you are a normal, under 30 user who watches YouTube and maybe uses BitTorrent to download music or video files, you’d better get out your pocketbook.  Anything that the company deems to be “excess” usage will be billed extra.  A single Netflix download would use up the entire bandwidth allowance for a low-end Comcast user.

Did you know China has faster, cheaper internet than the U.S. does?   So does Iceland and Portugal, and heck, even CANADA!  We invented it…at least Al Gore says he did…and we’re the slowest kid on the block.  Typical speeds in Japan are 30 TIMES faster than ours.  Internet in France is 8 times faster than ours.  It’s embarrassing.  Japan, Korea, Finland and Sweden have the fastest internet in the world.  Japan, Korea and Sweden also have the cheapest service, at just under $1.00 per month per megabit.  The average U.S. cost per megabit is FIVE TIMES that.

Three quarters of the internet in the U.S. is provided by just five companies.  Most places, like Dixie, don’t have a choice of high-speed provider.  They’re lucky if they even have high-speed access at all.  There is not enough competition in most markets, and the big players are fighting tooth, nail and lobbyist to keep it that way.  Now the “big five” are going to start cutting us off or slowing us down if we want to use what we’re paying for?  They’re even taking bribes from certain sites and providers to make their data flow faster than other ones….and therefore slowing down any site that doesn’t provide the extra “speed money.”  You, the consumer, are never told that your surfing is being slowed down so that someone else can get to a bribe-paying site faster.   Google the “net neutrality” movement if you’re interested in this phenomenon.  It will make you mad, guaranteed.

I have satellite internet at home.  Satellite internet companies promise “blazing fast speeds” and mine is pretty fast, but what the annoying chick in the commercial doesn’t tell you is that you’re subject to what they call a “fair use” policy.  This means that if you use more than 200MB (for reference, one 10 minute YouTube video is about 100MB)  a day, they slow you down to dial up speed.  For 24 hours.  It stinks, but if you live in the boonies, it’s all you can get, and I understand, their satellite can only do so much.  (One would think, though, that they would legally have to make sure that they’re not making like an airline and overbooking their capacity.)  Having limited bandwidth makes you…not afraid, but conscious that clicking on that video could cost you.  It stifles productivity and creativity.

This is what the Big Five are trying to impose on ALL internet users, nationwide.  So, although you will be PAYING for high speed service, you won’t be able to do anything that high speed internet is lauded for without worrying about having to pay extra: you won’t be able to play Warcraft Online, use Vonage for your phone service, watch streaming video, or listen to Rhapsody, or have online meetings.  They’re imposing a sort of internet “caste” system.  What happened to all of that “internet as the wave of the future, accessible to all” stuff?  Apparently, it’s all about raising fees, more telecomm monopolies and making a buck.

If we’re going to be serious about staying a world economic leader, educating our kids, and maintaining a technological edge of any sort, this has to be stopped.  As consumers, we can vote best with our pocketbooks.  Let your internet provider know that you won’t submit to metering.  Contact lawmakers and demand that they make it easier for new internet providers to enter the market, and support net neutrality.  This is just the beginning of the attack on internet freedom.  Let’s win this one.