Comment Re:As it should be (Score 1) 234
"Sacrificing upload to gain extra download makes perfect sense when the person at the end of the line does far more downloading than uploading"
Two false postulates concealed here.
First that upload and download can be totally separated. Common misunderstanding. The way the internet works, all traffic is bidirectional - even if you are coming as close as possible to 'pure downloading' you are still using your upstream for traffic management. So while a certain amount of asymetricality can be tolerated, as long as the usage cases are very narrowly limited, even with all those caveats it can still amount to fraud. At least, if you are paying for 100mbit download but given so little upload allowance that you could not use it, you would probably call it fraud (when and if you caught on.)
But that is relatively minor in comparison to the second, which is that the internet is designed and should be used as a peer to peer network. It is not a broadcast network, and it was not designed to replace TV or facilitate more intrusive advertising. Asymmetrical bandwidth caps are thus seen correctly as direct attacks on the Internet itself - attempts to limit customers, to prevent them from truly and fully joining the Internet, since the cable companies prefer to keep making their monopoly rents instead of having to compete for our dollars.
Two false postulates concealed here.
First that upload and download can be totally separated. Common misunderstanding. The way the internet works, all traffic is bidirectional - even if you are coming as close as possible to 'pure downloading' you are still using your upstream for traffic management. So while a certain amount of asymetricality can be tolerated, as long as the usage cases are very narrowly limited, even with all those caveats it can still amount to fraud. At least, if you are paying for 100mbit download but given so little upload allowance that you could not use it, you would probably call it fraud (when and if you caught on.)
But that is relatively minor in comparison to the second, which is that the internet is designed and should be used as a peer to peer network. It is not a broadcast network, and it was not designed to replace TV or facilitate more intrusive advertising. Asymmetrical bandwidth caps are thus seen correctly as direct attacks on the Internet itself - attempts to limit customers, to prevent them from truly and fully joining the Internet, since the cable companies prefer to keep making their monopoly rents instead of having to compete for our dollars.
