Again, when things are congested nobody can rightly complain if speeds get throttled *during the congestion*. See dropped calls around a concert venue. It has nothing to do with their wider network ability but localized tower supplies.

But that's not what Verizon (and the rest do). They CUT you off entirely if you use more than 4GB....completely independent of any congestion

Now, Verizon will, for a additional fee, not cut you off entirely but throttle your entire connection to 256kbps for the remaineder of your billing period...again completely independent of any congestion.

It's almost as if congestion isn't actually a problem since it isn't what they use to set their pricing.

Your points are logically sound...they just aren't supported by the realities of the wireless networks current status.

Verizon has flatly stated "We don't compete on price". In what fucking mass market does a company say this and survive? It's a oligarchy among a few companies controlling duplicate massively inefficient networks that know they don't have competition to force them to be competitive.

The cost of the data to Verizon is zero. They didn't spend a dime to put YouTubes videos online for me to stream over Verizon s network. Congestion on the network is a real issue but unrelated to a per GB charge. nothing stops them from simply slowing speeds on a congested tower. Which solves that problem, but doesn't make them money. There is so far no evidence of the significant limits claimed by Verizon. Not the theoretical, but actual on the network.

There are 2 costs. Infrastructure and content. The former is entirely non-linear. It has absolutely no relation to a per MB charge structure. The latter is not something Verizon is paying so is entirely free in this scenario. Physical goods simply don't translate here.

Physical good analogies don't work here. Your gasoline or burger costs money to be created. Verizon isn't creative the data on the network so there is zero cost to Verizon for the data transiting their network. The cost of data transit is not a per data amount so charging that way is pure profit for Verizon

so half a world away?

You should have demanded $20 from her. Since your lowering her home value saved her money in taxes!

the flaw in your argument is copyright. you can't just start up a service delivering content without paying for it.

Netflix bread and butter was DVDs...because they didn't have to pay for them each rental. Just buy a DVD and rent it 100-1000 times at pure profit.

Now, they are charged ridiculous streaming rates, per view. It's why Netflix keeps dropping movies...unless there's a significant viewership ongoing it's not profitable to keep it in stock. (and this is not a stock rotation thing...it costs them basically zero actual dollars to keep movies active on their service...only the copyright fees prevent it).

yeah, I hear these 30% will cancel cable...and I think 100% of those are single.

Even if you could get all the equivalents via streaming...it took my wife a few years to get the hang of Tivo. Tivo! that bastion of stupid simple TV watching. I haven't yet seen a decent interface that can really qualify as luddite friendly and encompass streaming, internet and likely some OTA.

or finding quite nice free streaming sites

Until they're not. If you can't define what causes consciousness and self awareness, you can't say something won't develop it.

Of course it has those possible problems. What it doesn't have is all the other problems associated with the ICE and associated parts. Water pumps, clutches, timing belts, etc.

The electrical nature is a fair point, but also something modern cars have in abundance themselves these days.

the AC has a point...to a point anyway.

There are competing interests. Longer lifespan of cars...and selling more cars. Every part manufacturer could build a more robust widget for not that significantly more cost. But if that part never needs replacing, that's at least 1 lost sale for that small increase. And because cheaper makers will undercut you, there isn't the incentive for the added cost for longer reliability; except in really niche markets.

What's happening now is what you say...every car made today is significantly better than 40 years ago. And it's costing sales numbers as cars last 10-15 years vs 6-10. When its 20? LOTS harder to be in the auto business.

Ok a single fixed gear. Vastly simpler and far less likelyhood of failure. My point stands.

Lots less things to break...glad you agree

A flat fee won't increase with usage so savings on rates with efficient appliances will offset that. Everything you mention is government regulated...so you have a say in it. Get organized and demand changes.