A layman's guide to bandwidth pricing

Phone vs Internet

I like unlimited. Particularly when unlimited comes at $x/mo where x doesn't change. I don't like "unlimited". I like "unlimited" almost as much as I don't like cancer or diabetis. The "unlimited" plans are "unlimited" not unlimited. There is no way you could possibly download more than a certain amount of information in a month, given that each month only has up to 31 days with only 24 hours in a day, and that the "unlimited" plan is really limited by the bandwidth that you are allowed to use. In terms of eateries, the pay as you go plans are "a la cart", buy what you want. An unlimited plan would be like an all you can eat buffet, with no restriction on the amount of time you could spend (24 hrs per day) or on the amount of food they would put on the buffet. The "unlimited" plan is like going to an all you can eat and being given the following restrictions: All food must fit on the plate, you can onlyt take this plate to the buffet every 30 minutes. We only restock the buffet every 3 hours, and if there is no food then too bad.

I seem to be off on a rant. Phone plans, for cellular anyway, guarantee the number of minutes you can use and against "their" equipment. If you have the insurance, and are in the area, you can talk to someone for all 1000 minutes per month, if you want. If you cannot(tower outages, faulty handset, etc) there are compensations available(call in get a discount on the bill). If you talk too fast, all you get is a request from your other party to slow down. With internet, they are selling the ma-bell local unlimited plan(1 price even if you never hang up the phone) and saying that "you will never be able to talk faster than x words per minute", then frequently, you can't talk even 1/4 of x, either because the other party asks you to keep repeating, or because the operator keeps breaking in to tell you that your speech rate is too fast and you must slow it down, then disconnecting the call. I would personally prefer a plan with a minimum speed to server X and X to elsewhere connectivity guaranteed, and I believe that is the only honest way to promise the "unlimited" plans. What I believe has been neither here nor there for a very long time.

I believe the easiest analogy is either to public transit/automated transit or a service like ferrying. With transit services as mentioned, there are 3 basic bills, employees(you can't get rid of people), fuel(electricity, gasoline, natural gas, diesel), and "infrastructure"(landings, boats, buses, rails, train cars, etc). With ISPs there are 3 major expenses, Employees, Infrastructure(the wiring, hardware, etc), and operating expenses(electricity). With a ferry service or public transit system, there is a large outlay for infrastructure(plan and build railroads/terminals/docks, buy vehicles) and a continuing upkeep cost(mechanics, replacement parts, etc). This set of costs will indicate the "capacity", how many people can move from point A to point B in a given time(need more capacity than you have now? buy another boat/bus/rail car). This compares favorably with internet infrastructure(routers, switches, cabling = more vehicles, changes in standards with same infrastructure = running more routes or running faster). There is also a minor continuing cost of operation, and because the buses, trains, or ferries are going to be moving on a schedule the fuel cost is essentially the same when the system is in use or not. With the internet, the cost of keeping the machines on and ready is similar, because there is minimal difference between 0 and current capacity. Now, if the operator of a ferry/bus/commuter rail system sold you "unlimited usage" tickets, would you expect to have your vehicle left behind? Perhaps your baggage? They only let you ride once per day, or require that you stand in a corner of the otherwise empty vehicle. There is not a difference in their cost if you sit in a chair or stand in a corner, and most of the time you are the only one on the ferry/bus/etc, and bought an unlimited usage ticket, so why can't you use the seats? well, I hope someone with more writing ability than me can turn this into something more coherent and less rant-like.