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Originally Posted by DieDieMyDarling
The maths say that a 1mb user will be able to use their connection flat out for 23 mins a day, to stay within the 5GB limit per month. I've seen it argued on here that the faster speeds will encourage people to try things they've not tried before, going from 300k to 1mb, but once they DO try these things, they'll soon realise just how small 5GB is! And, as a result they'll have to upgrade to the 2mb service to continue using all these new and wonderful internet services (which i'm sure is what Ntl had in mind). Note: the 2mb service could be used for 69 mins flat out at full speed per day, to stay in line with the 30GB cap, which is probably about the average use for a low user.
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Wrong. The average broadband user on a platform wide basis of an ADSL company whose lowest bandwidth package is 512k is 6GB/month. This is not a mass-market ISP, but one more associated with 'power users'.
I regard myself as a power user. I have 20:1 2Mbit Office ADSL. With the contention ratio and bandwidth available to me my share is 30GB/month. My average use is around the 20GB mark, combining upstream and downstream.
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2mb will become the low speed service for people wishing to use the service for more than browsing and emails. And with a 30GB cap it isn't a bad service. It'll be good competition against other services (apart from AOL and any other uncapped services).
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Wouldn't call 2Mbit low speed. Will be the equivalent of the current 750k service, the midrange product.
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But the real problem i have is with the 3mb service.
I think Ntl have really missed the boat on this one. If only 5% of users use up most of the bandwidth, instead of introducing a 3mb service, they should have offered 1mb low useage, with 5GB cap. 1mb medium useage, with 20GB cap (still higher than BT). And for High users a 1mb line with either uncapped service or something like 100GB. Many people have stated they're prepared to pay extra for an uncapped service.
If when these new services begin, AOL are still an uncapped service, their advertising will play on it even more, and i can see a LOT of people moving over to ADSL. The only thing to hold them back is the fact that Ntl have a 3mb line, but without the ability to use it to it's full capacity, it's merely a number and means nothing more.
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Sorry. My problem is that you are only looking from your point of view where you don't care how quickly you get things you just want to download as much as possible. Most people just want a faster internet experience, that's always on. Fact is although you come up with all these uses for 3Mbit that an average family will use, although I completely disagree that any average family will use the net in that manner they would be the exception rather than the rule, the vast vast majority want 100GB+ a month for P2P / illicit FTP / binary newsgroups. I would highly expect that as these new applications become more common likewise costs of bandwidth will also drop and capping can be done at higher levels for similar prices.
Now, my question is how much do you want to pay for this service? Would you be happy paying say £1.95 per GB, which is roughly what PAYG ADSL rates at their very cheapest are?
If people want to use their connections as if they have most of it to themselves they need to start looking at market prices of leased lines, transit bandwidth and the like.
The fact is ideally users would be charged for what they used, this saves someone paying £38 a month for a bit of remote administration, fast emails and browsing and the occasional update, while just down the road someone else is paying that self-same £38 a month to download 400GB a month of DVDR images, costing the ISP way way over the £38 they are paying.
Regarding your comment about a mass migration to ADSL. Frankly I don't think that any ISP could care less if their top 5% of users go to another ISP, then that ISP begins to struggle to cope with the new traffic so they cap, their heavy users move on until they get stuck on an ISP with insane contention, **** poor performance, but no caps so they can pull the DVDRs down at say 56k modem speeds. But hey, it's unlimited, and the vast majority of people obviously don't care how fast it is so long as they can pull as much as they want, right?
By the way this isn't just an 'ntl' or UK debate:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/news,56419
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...6052~mode=flat
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...9044~mode=flat
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...7614~mode=flat
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...7637~mode=flat
Need I go on?
The packages have been laid out. They are on their way as described. Either deal with them, or vote with your wallet, simple as. Threatening the idea of the top 5% of users going to a different ISP isn't going to change any minds.
EDIT: I must emphasise again these are
my opinions only.