Volume Control

Bandwidth Hogs Hurt Democracy

“New applications like P2P technologies enable as little as 5% of users to consume more than 90% of the available bandwidth. No serious expert on broadband networks questions the need to manage bandwidth hogs.

Without that management, networks would implode, and the costly requirements for new fast-speed lanes would hike up prices, slow new network buildouts and force many civic organizations like ours to subsidize the bandwidth hogs. And that would be contrary to the democratic spirit of the Internet.”

Gabriela Lemus, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, in a letter to the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Tribune

You Want What You Pay For

“I pay Clearwire $50 a month for the privilege of getting a 2 Mbps wireless link, but I can reasonably expect to see the same modem speeds that I got in 1993 on average. Clearwire turns around and tells me that I use the thing too much and they are really turning the screws to make me feel the burn and stop using what I pay for. They try to appeal to the needs of my 'neighbors’ on the network. Then they have the hubris to threaten me. Forget you. I pay for service at a certain level which you never actually deliver on a consistent basis.”

Aaron Huslage, personal blog http://blog.hact.net/

P2P Isn’t So Big In Japan

“Net Neutrality folks like to tout Japan as the model of a fine and healthy Internet access ecosystem, despite the VoIP blocking. They’re going to have a major fit when they learn P2P piracy is about to be banned in Japan. …

Japan has a 100 Mbps connection to the home that’s over 95% occupied at the busiest times of the time, a completely unacceptable situation. So they’re taking sensible action in the absence of a technical solution to bandwidth-hogging.

They’re not stupid, you see.”

Richard Bennett, The Great American Bloghttp://bennett.com/blog