Yeah, I'd Like Metered Broadband, Too — If It Were Actually Metered

[Commentary] Broadband wasn't marketed as a flat-rate service solely because of technical limitations. It was marketed as such in order to get people to sign up for it. This is how companies, even back in the dial-up days, got people to go online and explore. Speed is still a huge element of the ISPs' marketing, even if many folks can't tell the difference between a web page loading at 5Mbps and 15Mbps. So why push speeds? Because people can tell the difference between tiers for heavy-data services such as video steaming and large downloads. Carriers may complain that we're using more broadband, but they are actively exploiting that demand in their marketing of faster (and more expensive) service tiers to customers. But they want to exploit their customers' wallets as well. And here's where I have the biggest issue with Harries' article. He bases his entire argument about metered billing, when in fact he's talking not about true meters but about a consumption- or usage-based plan analogous to those offered by cell phone companies. When ISPs talk about meters they're talking about different service tiers that don't reflect actual usage, but herd customers into set plans where most will be paying a monthly fee for more than they use. And if they go over their tier, they get walloped with fees.