It never fails to amaze me how the telcos shills populate user forums.
There was a story on broadbandreports.com: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/81287
5% of ISP Users Generate 45.3% of Traffic
On the flip side, 40% generate just 3.8%…
Ellacoya is a supplier of network hardware that can monitor and shape network traffic, and they recently shared some of their findings with ISP Planet. The company notes that 5% of users (aka “bandwidth hogs”) generate 45.3% of traffic, whereas at the other end of the spectrum 40% of users (aka “barely users”) generate just 3.8% of traffic. VoIP use spiked in 2006 for those light users, but online gaming exploded, with 22.3% gaming in August jumping to 66% in December (of course, it got cold, too). Meanwhile, 41.9% of bandwidth hogs use VoIP, whereas 95% play online games.
This produced a slew of comments for and against bandwidth hogs. I posted this comment:
Re: I’ll use my bandwidth how I want
I resent the term “bandwidth hog.”
I use maybe 30-35 GB per month, which really isn’t all that much these days. But under the definition given, I suppose I’d be called a bandwidth hog.
And that’s ridiculous. Because it IS my bandwidth. I pay a premium each month for my ISP’s “extreme” tier – 8 mb/s. Why should I be penalized for using it?
If I were to cut back on using the bandwidth I buy – when I’m paying a premium – I’d feel stupid. That’d be like paying extra bucks for a premium cut of steak, then only eating half. Or like having the grocery call you a steak-hog simply because you ate everything you paid for.
Asinine!
I think a better term might be “gullible retard” for those people who believe the marketing hype like this put out by ISP’s angling to justify rate hikes.
This produced several responses, among them:
Re: I’ll use my bandwidth how I want
Try reading the TOS of your internet service. It’s not YOUR bandwidth. You don’t pay for any bandwidth. If you actually paid for your bandwidth you bill be be MUCH higher than it is now. You are paying for internet ACCESS and have that access UP TO a certain speed not bandwidth.30-35 GB a month falls into most ISPs “acceptable use” except for satellite internet. Fact is if everyone became a “bandwidth hogs” the internet would slow down greatly or be inaccessible. Is that what you guys want? Only people using over 50 GB are probably stealing movies and TV shows from p2p.
And…
Cap’em all let the ISP’s sort it out!
Ok so in a nutshell, Ellacoya gave evidence to every ISP that they need bandwidth caps to control costs.
Great idea! Keep sucking down all the bandwidth and prove them right! It’s you stupid hard-headed fuckers that are going to get bandwidth caps for everyone! Great idea!! Now who’s the stupid CEO’s now? Thank you guys for putting and proving the ball deserves to be in their court!
You the bandwidth hog just as much as handed them anti-net neutrality, you pretty much gave it to them! Congratulations once again!
Seriously – when ordinary working people take positions like these two, I can only think that A) They work for one of the ISP’s/telcos and are either trying to get brown-nose points, or B) They’re being paid bucks to shill for their employers, or, C) they really are gullible retards.
I want the internet to provide me as rich a multimedia experience as is possible. That’s what it’s for. And I pay extra for an “extreme” tier from my ISP for that right. It is my bandwidth. Damn straight. And my ISP has no stated limit on bandwidth in their AUP – I checked.
I will use as much bandwidth as I can to enhance my experience. That’s a pledge.
If I feel like calling my dad on a videophone hookup (yes, I can, using Skype video), then I will – daily. If I want to stream music from an internet radio station 24/7 (http://www.KPIG.com or http://www.KFAT.com) then I will. If I want to download games from Valve or EA, or Linux images from RedHat, I will. If I want to watch streaming video (Meet the Press, for example), I will. And as soon as someone comes up with good streaming movies (not Netflixs – it sucks at least in its present form), then I’ll probably stream or download lots of movies.
That is what the internet should, and soon will be about. A rich multimedia experience.
So it pisses me off when someone suggests that to use the internet in that way is “hoggish.”
All the commotion over bandwidth usage and “hogs” is nothing more than bullshit dreamed up by the telcos and their buddies in an attempt to justify increasing their prices. And this, coming at a time when wholesale bandwidth costs are at an all-time low is particularly galling.
It’s greed. Pure and simple. These companies see an opportunity to expand their earnings, and are in a desperate PR war to justify wringing another few bucks out of the consumer.
So they send their shills out to spout their company lines, every chance they get.
And then of course, there are the gullible retards that actually take the bait…
“Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?”