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Originally Posted by Hans Gruber
Why are people not given an unlimited option? Instead they are being forced elsewhere. It's not the quality of service that will keep these people with NTL after they've been kicked off their broadband.
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Bluntly an unlimited option is unsustainable given these prices, however much bandwidth is given a percentage of users literally use all of it. There are users who, on 1.5Mbit, are downloading over 400GB a month. On 1Mbit they were doing close to 300.
Give these guys 3Mbit, which I'd remind you is about 1/10th of an entire EuroDOCSIS downstream normally good for hundreds of users, they'll be pulling over 800GB.
From a datacentre I would pay £120 a month for such bandwidth; include the various costs of traversing the ntl network as well as the transit cost and you are looking at hundreds of pounds a month for this.
Do you consider it acceptable for a single user to force upgrades costing tens of thousands prematurely, cost hundreds a month to a provider, and for what, the £50 or so a month where most people would draw the line as absolute maximum they would pay?
You hear about 'resegmentation'. This process involves numerous man-hours, five figures in parts and equipment as well. Full downstreams require this sort of upgrade. The end result being that costs go up for everyone.
Would you rather people pay more money for less speed, or that the majority are catered for with fast products that suit their needs, rather than trying to look after them and a small minority who impact on costs.
Look at Telewest's packages. The 750k is £24.99, 1.5Mbit £34.99, 3Mbit £49.99. NTL's packages will be 1Mbit @ £17.99, 2Mbit @ £24.99, 3Mbit @ £37.99.
Then tell me that allowing unlimited usage doesn't impact both on the
quality of service that can be offered, and on the prices that have to be charged to maintain the quality that UK users have become accustomed to, and demand.