With broadband cap talks getting louder is Directv paying attention?

3801 Views 33 Replies 22 Participants Last post by turls, Sep 10, 2008

rahlquist

Discussion Starter · Aug 5, 2008

With all the recent announcements about caps on broadband is D* paying attention? This could have a dramatic effect on their on demand program. With companies like Frontier ( http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Will-Frontier-Enforce-New-5GB-Cap-96723 ) implementing caps as low as 5 gig D* should be speaking loudly against these caps.

Anyone else think so too?

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LarryFlowers

· #2 · Aug 5, 2008

rahlquist said:
With all the recent announcements about caps on broadband is D* paying attention? This could have a dramatic effect on their on demand program. With companies like Frontier ( http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Will-Frontier-Enforce-New-5GB-Cap-96723 ) implementing caps as low as 5 gig D* should be speaking loudly against these caps.

Anyone else think so too?

Frontier will quickly find themselves in hot water over this cap... They will (chose form the following) a) get sued b) lose clients as bandwidth demand goes up c) run afoul of the FCC (see Comcast).

Broadband caps are a lot of talk, while the ISP's ramp up there LONG overdue delivery of higher speeds. AT&T isn't talking at all... and they are rushing construction of 12MB+ DSL and even fiber optic networks.

Countries acroos the globe routinely offer much higher bandwidths than we get in the USA. The ISP's are all jockeying to figure out how to build these much higher speed networks, preferably with some kind of taxpayer support or protection against interference in pricing structures, as quickly as possible. Video is why.

While I suspect DirecTV is keeping an eye on the situation, they probably aren't too worried.

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rahlquist

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 5, 2008

LarryFlowers said:
Broadband caps are a lot of talk, while the ISP's ramp up there LONG overdue delivery of higher speeds. AT&T isn't talking at all... and they are rushing construction of 12MB+ DSL and even fiber optic networks.

Their fiber though is more for their own UVerse program than regular joes using them from broadband. They laughably announced a week or two ago they would be able to support 2 HD streams to the home with bonded DSL and still provide bandwidth for surfing. While a good achievement for DSL how does the compete with the average enthusiast DTV install, heck with my system I can be recording 2HD and 4 SD streams at once with no impact on my broadband. As for the pricing, they may not call it caps but their usage based prising is coming. They mentioned it again recently as noted http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2008/06/at-considers-tiered-pricing.html

Countries across the globe routinely offer much higher bandwidths than we get in the USA. The ISP's are all jockeying to figure out how to build these much higher speed networks, preferably with some kind of taxpayer support or protection against interference in pricing structures, as quickly as possible. Video is why.

While I suspect DirecTV is keeping an eye on the situation, they probably aren't too worried.

Agreed other countries have some areas with much more bandwidth than joe avg here can dream of. I can understand the profit motive but at a certain point they are going to have to take a risk here or pass all their costs onto the consumers and let the market battle it out. I just think that if they go to a seriously tiered price system that DTV could get left out in the cold for on demand.

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NCMAT

· #4 · Aug 5, 2008

LarryFlowers said:
Broadband caps are a lot of talk, while the ISP's ramp up there LONG overdue delivery of higher speeds. AT&T isn't talking at all... and they are rushing construction of 12MB+ DSL and even fiber optic networks.

AT&T isn't talking about caps, but they are talking about charging extra for heavy usage.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=5058262

Lee L

· #5 · Aug 5, 2008

Which is probably worse than a cap since they will not stop you from running up a huge bill.

Starchy77

· #6 · Aug 7, 2008

LarryFlowers said:
Frontier will quickly find themselves in hot water over this cap... They will (chose form the following) a) get sued b) lose clients as bandwidth demand goes up c) run afoul of the FCC (see Comcast).

Hey Larry - can you expand on the "See Comcast" comment? I have comcast internet and, while I had heard they were supposed to be capping usage, I have not been shut off nor has my bill gone up. I would like to see some more of what may be coming on this!

rahlquist

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 29, 2008

So uhh how many of you pull your DOD over comcast? Will this affect you if it comes true?

http://consumerist.com/5043167/comcast-250-gb-cap-coming-october-1st

TheRatPatrol

· #8 · Aug 29, 2008

Has anyone heard if Cox Communications is doing this too?

Thanks

raott

· #9 · Aug 29, 2008

Starchy77 said:
Hey Larry - can you expand on the "See Comcast" comment? I have comcast internet and, while I had heard they were supposed to be capping usage, I have not been shut off nor has my bill gone up. I would like to see some more of what may be coming on this!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080829/wr_nm/comcast_internet_dc

Jason Whiddon

· #10 · Aug 29, 2008

The 250gb cap Comcast just announced is pretty high. Thats a LOT of DOD HD movies.

rahlquist

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 29, 2008

elwaylite said:
The 250gb cap Comcast just announced is pretty high. Thats a LOT of DOD HD movies.

Perhaps. That does seem to be a lot but if you figure that a HR2x with 320 Gig of which 220 is avail to you(isnt that the figure folks use) to use will get you 50 hours of recordings in HD, thats 25 movies a month in HD assuming 2 hours per movie.

May be high for a couple but for a family with kids also using the connection for other uses this could add up fast!

Add in things like Superfan where you are streaming some sports etc too.

Barmat

· #12 · Aug 30, 2008

This is going to really mess w/ my love of HD and pron downloads.

evan_s

· #13 · Aug 30, 2008

Comcast has said this is just a public acknowledgment of the heavy user cap they have been using for quite a while. According to the FAQ they won't charge you anything or cut you off the first time you go over. They will just notify you that you went over. A second time in 6 months and they will cut you off and not offer you service for a year.

carl6

· #14 · Aug 30, 2008

I think Comcast has actually changed how they react to the high usage. Previously they were throttling high use accounts in a manner that greatly reduced bandwidth to the abusing accounts, without telling them. That is what got them in trouble.

Now, they are placing a 250 gig cap and telling you up front.

In reality, 250 GB is a rather huge amount that even the average heavy user would rarely approach. Personally, I would rather see this cap than have my internet bog down to a snails pace in the evening because I have a neighbor who is a bandwidth hog.

Carl

tonyd79

· #15 · Aug 31, 2008

I want them (Comcast) to generate usage reports as part of my bill. In fact, they should give us all usage reports over the last year so we can judge our usage in light of the new cap.

I do video streaming of sports, watch Netflix movies and use DoD regularly.

inkahauts

· #16 · Aug 31, 2008

evan_s said:
Comcast has said this is just a public acknowledgment of the heavy user cap they have been using for quite a while. According to the FAQ they won't charge you anything or cut you off the first time you go over. They will just notify you that you went over. A second time in 6 months and they will cut you off and not offer you service for a year.

Ah, yeah sure... A company is going to tell a customer they can't have service for 6 months, and there for forfeit that customer to a competitor and loose them forever, and not just for internet, but tv too? I doubt they would actually do that to many customers..

inkahauts

· #17 · Aug 31, 2008

tonyd79 said:
I want them (Comcast) to generate usage reports as part of my bill. In fact, they should give us all usage reports over the last year so we can judge our usage in light of the new cap.

I do video streaming of sports, watch Netflix movies and use DoD regularly.

Thats a interesting idea... I think all providers should offer usage numbers. I would be curious...

NickD

· #18 · Aug 31, 2008

tonyd79 said:
I want them (Comcast) to generate usage reports as part of my bill. In fact, they should give us all usage reports over the last year so we can judge our usage in light of the new cap.

I do video streaming of sports, watch Netflix movies and use DoD regularly.

I really like this idea, or create a box/meter so that I can watch my usage at home and not have to wait for my monthly bill.

Lethargic

· #19 · Aug 31, 2008

inkahauts said:
Ah, yeah sure... A company is going to tell a customer they can't have service for 6 months, and there for forfeit that customer to a competitor and loose them forever, and not just for internet, but tv too? I doubt they would actually do that to many customers..

Sure......if there IS a competitor to lose a customer too. There's not one in my area and nobody seems to be on the way either. It's Comcast or dial up. My internet from Comcast has been screwed up for a well over a year and all the calling and begging for help leads nowhere. It never gets fixed. And why would they fix it? They have no competition for me to threaten them with.

carl6

· #20 · Aug 31, 2008

inkahauts said:
Ah, yeah sure... A company is going to tell a customer they can't have service for 6 months, and there for forfeit that customer to a competitor and loose them forever, and not just for internet, but tv too? I doubt they would actually do that to many customers..

There are those very few customers who most companies would simply love to lose.

Carl

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