The Cost of Cable's Addiction to Speed - Advertising faster speeds and then capping use makes no sense
30.11.1999 / Broadbandreports
An article over at Light Reading takes a look at the way that cable companies have become addicted to offering increasingly faster speeds which they can t manage and then using caps to limit those speeds. Time Warner and Comcast are the two MSOs highlighted in the article and the analogy used to describe the ridiculousness of their actions is that of a buffet: An MSO talking 100 Mbit/s out of one side of its mouth and usage caps out the other is like a bi-polar buffet restaurateur. They continue adding more entrees to an all-you-can-eat spread, and then reduce the size of the plates and tell diners they only have 10 minutes to chow. It's a recipe for dissatisfaction. The buffet looks bigger and tastier so the patron's hunger grows and then they are asked to practice portion control. Although there are some good points made in the article, there are also some controversial opinions. For one, the author suggests that those users who are bogging down the system by using excessive bandwidth should be refused service. And for another, the claim is made that cable subscribers don t really care about speed; they care about service quality which is only partially composed of fast speeds. The ultimate suggestion is to slow down the race to offer the fastest speeds and to improve overall performance instead. However, since it's fast speeds that get the attention of new subscribers and boost the bottom line for the business, it s unlikely that this approach is going to be taken.read comment(s)]]>
