Hmmm
So how does one know, for sure, what one has used?
For my gas and electricity there is a sealed meter I can keep an eye on.
For my phones I get an itemised bill (number, duration, etc).
For my internet?
- a full list of every URI, size and time accessed?
- or would they simply tot up all the bytes at their end?
- can I trust them to not fiddle the figures? At least the gas and leccy meters are in my house
- what is my own net monitoring disagrees with their figures?
- would there be "off peak" times like there are for many other thing?
Whilst I accept that heavy users cost more than the user with the occasional email, I think they are on to a loser here. That an their prices are WAY too high. At the moment I pay £10 for a circa 40gig limit - that puts their $15 (£10-ish) for 1gig into some perspective.
If net video threatens cable (can't see why it would, cable is a great way to push the intertubes) then they should be moving to embrace and exploit the potential new market; not through up defences to support a dying business model (like the record industry has).
If we believe the hype, we will all soon be on the cloud. We will be using content on our mobiles, netbooks, mp3 players, consoles, set-top-box, pcs, toaster(?); whichever is most convenient. We won't be watching the gogglebox, save for when it is the display device for the content. Hmm...yes, the internet will kill cable TV as we know it; but it will also create opportunities for those this the nouse to exploit them.