Comment "unlimited" (Score 2, Insightful) 1076
This is a marketing and technical issue and financial issue for both dialup and DSL customers. I own a small ISP so I can see the problems from both sides.
Many potential customers ask for umlimited service. If the service doesn't say that it is unlimited the customer goes elsewhere.
Since many companies advertise unlimited service (even when it isn't) this forces other companies to advertise unlimited service or be destroyed by competition.
Some companies say they are unlimited, others say "virtually unlimited" but the truth is that the customer doesn't want a limit even though most customers never hit any acceptable limits.
The other side is technical and financial. Each dialup customer uses a dialup line when connected. Do ISPs have a dialup line for each customer? No, the currnt ratio is about 5 to 6 customers per line. Do the math. If everyone has unlimited access and used it, then 80% of the customers dialing would get busy signals and the ISP would die.
For DSL it isn't quite the same. All the DSL customers have 1.5/256, but how much bandwidth to the internet does the ISP have? DSL costs between $40 and $60 for most people. All that bandwidth travels across an ATM circuit. A 1.5 ATM circuit costs an ISP like mine about $800 per month. A 1.5 to the internet costs an ISP like mine $1200 to $2000 per month.
Once again, do the math. In order to make money selling DSL an ISP needs to put at least 40 DSL customers with 1.5/256 on the same T1 (the same 1.5 of bandwidth). And 80 is a more common number.
If every one of those customers expects to get 1.5/256 24 hours a day, 7 days a week they are dreaming. They have to share.
But since ISPs have to make customers want their service, they have to advertise unlimited service. The truth is that even if the ISP advertises unlimited service, it simply can't be unless the ISP has only 1 DSL customer per ATM and per T1 to the internet and loses money every month.
And that ISP won't be around for very long.
Many potential customers ask for umlimited service. If the service doesn't say that it is unlimited the customer goes elsewhere.
Since many companies advertise unlimited service (even when it isn't) this forces other companies to advertise unlimited service or be destroyed by competition.
Some companies say they are unlimited, others say "virtually unlimited" but the truth is that the customer doesn't want a limit even though most customers never hit any acceptable limits.
The other side is technical and financial. Each dialup customer uses a dialup line when connected. Do ISPs have a dialup line for each customer? No, the currnt ratio is about 5 to 6 customers per line. Do the math. If everyone has unlimited access and used it, then 80% of the customers dialing would get busy signals and the ISP would die.
For DSL it isn't quite the same. All the DSL customers have 1.5/256, but how much bandwidth to the internet does the ISP have? DSL costs between $40 and $60 for most people. All that bandwidth travels across an ATM circuit. A 1.5 ATM circuit costs an ISP like mine about $800 per month. A 1.5 to the internet costs an ISP like mine $1200 to $2000 per month.
Once again, do the math. In order to make money selling DSL an ISP needs to put at least 40 DSL customers with 1.5/256 on the same T1 (the same 1.5 of bandwidth). And 80 is a more common number.
If every one of those customers expects to get 1.5/256 24 hours a day, 7 days a week they are dreaming. They have to share.
But since ISPs have to make customers want their service, they have to advertise unlimited service. The truth is that even if the ISP advertises unlimited service, it simply can't be unless the ISP has only 1 DSL customer per ATM and per T1 to the internet and loses money every month.
And that ISP won't be around for very long.
