Mar 28 2011
Charter’s Free Internet Speed Upgrade
Over the last six months, Charter has rolled out I believe two free internet speed upgrades and they haven’t been shy about saying it. At times, Charter’s ads for patting themselves on the back outnumber any other single company. I don’t think even Geiko can compete in the number of ads I’m seeing now.
What bugs me the most about these upgrades isn’t the self-congratulatory advertisements. It’s the bandwidth cap. Charter apparently has plenty of bandwidth to go around so they offer minuscule speed bumps all the while keeping moderate to heavy users in line with their monthly bandwidth caps. 100GB a month doesn’t quite cut it in the 21st century if you want my honest opinion.
What’s the point of faster speeds if you can do less with it than before?
Our internet services are becoming more expensive and more limited. Caps should be implemented only when a company is losing money, and they surely aren’t. The only investments in network equipment they make now is throttling boxes that cost more than increasing capacity and just letting everyone download as much as they wish.
I think the real reason they do this is that it’s the only way that they can discourage people from using Netflix. If it becomes too expensive to use, they think people will use the cable provider’s overpriced movie channels and other services instead.
If Netflix can afford unlimited movie streaming for $8 per month and the bandwidth that consumes on their end, then surely the internet providers can, too.
The only way I see this getting better is if companies like Netflix, Google, and others get together to fight bandwidth caps.
I came to the same conclusion regarding Netflix. A person would be less inclined to cancel the tv service and switch to ‘net streaming services.
Strange, and I’m kind of embarrased to admit it, but I honestly never thought about the streaming services such as what Netflix and others offer as a motivation for bandwidth caps. But, I guess it makes sense.
Netflix recently announced they were reducing the video bitrate (and in turn quality) for Canadian customers to help them with their bandwidth limits.
Yep. They did that because some ISPs have lowered their caps to 25GB. It’s optional, though. You can select the quality setting that you prefer.