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Sunday, September 19 2004

Good or Bad times ahead for ADSL?  by Scott H at 12:51

A news post over at adslguide details the proposal by BT for Usage Based Pricing (UBC) for ADSL. This will be replacing the current system by which BT charge the ISPs (Capacity Based Pricing).

It seems from the post that ISPs will be paying depending on the 'calculated peak' of bandwidth used. Therefore the charges will be variable depending how much the ISPs users have been downloading. In the future systems like 'Steam' arnt going to be an ISPs friend, in fact if we all move over to steam type systems for purchasing games, I think the ISPs will be physically crying.

BT are determined to get every last drip of profit out of ADSL before pushing new technologies, as the post also details that the new pricing system would basically encourage ISPs to cram more people into the same bandwidth, this is probably why BT is increasing the number of sessions allowed on a 155mbps BT Central line from 8,000 to 16,000. Contention here we come.

ADSL has gone from very bad to pretty good since its arrival, it seems the rollercoaster is not yet over. Price rises and/or poorer performance may lie ahead.

I dont think BT will be happy until were all getting 56k levels of bandwidth and are paying by the minute, hmm now that does sound familar.

You can read the full news post here
Comments
Tricky
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19 September 2004 14:31
As far as I know BT doesnt have the bandwidth to play with like BY/NTL so will be more concerned with how much people use their connections. How well usage based pricing works out come down to the cost really, i mean if you have a quiet month and end up paying less it can still work out in your favour... tho other isps cramming more people into the same bandwidth can only be bad of course :/
Jammin
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19 September 2004 19:55
You should have the choice really, because charging hardcore internet users more isnt really fair, its not like we pay more than we need too anyway!
I think in sweden its normally about £30 p/month for a 10mb connection? :/
Stan
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19 September 2004 20:09
Yet another way for bt to rip off its customers for old hat, i recall on my old isdn having to pay £30 a month rent and then a isp for 64k. This is very sad news for me, greast post though Jammin
morkith
Posts: 562
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19 September 2004 20:12
Well it depends how it works out for the ISPs, although there are enough 24/7 downloaders these days, to make any ISPs bill from BT to be rather high.

Cut off their heads!!
Max-Power
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19 September 2004 20:13
I really cant see this being implemented until at least 2006/2007. basically because BT will have to wait until existing contracts have ceased. If you really want to see how much us UK residents are ripped off, in japan you can get a 24 mb service for as cheap as £15 per month, now if that aint ridiculous i dont know what is!
Maz
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19 September 2004 20:42
<< hugs Cable modem
Scrappy
Posts: 1185
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20 September 2004 09:34
<< Grabs his cable modem and joins in a group hug with Maz


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