Usage Caps Will Now Apply To 56% Of Broadband Users

Usage Caps Will Now Apply To 56% Of Broadband Users: "With AT&T set to implement usage caps and overage charges for all hig..."

Some years ago in these very pages I noted that Internet "metering" was coming, sooner or later.
Later has arrived.
With the continuing monopolies allowed by the FCC and FTC that foster not only geo-monopolies but spectrum availability, it was only to be expected that demand, particularly the demand in Mobile wireless spectrum (growing 200-300 percent a year) would force metering on the companies.
They still want to have their cake, and devour it too, overcharging for the "privilege" of you getting your data, information,and entertainment. A competitive access Internet marketplace, transparently open to all Content providers, would see lower prices for many services. Given the forthcoming rapid expansion of Convergence AAA (AnyThing, AnyTime, AnyWhere) and the entire Cloud "universe" that will require the ability to operate Multiple Always-On Applications (MAOP), much more competition leading to lower prices, not higher, is to be encouraged. When you are charged only for what you use (just like medical costs should be) you will judiciously choose. When your choices are "take it or leave it" like programming "Packages" from Cable and Telco, you can't choose, and because of the provider Content monopolies, you pay more, for less.
I also said years ago that usage metering made great sense in the context of a level playing field, and reasonable and competitive access to the Broadband pipeline for Content competitors and providers, which included forcibly separating the provisioning of Content from the delivery infrastructure, the pipeline. At the time, Spam was a "problem" and I said that metering would cure the problem overnight. It still will.
Cable, Telco and now Wireless have and are resisting with every legal and illegal tool in the toolbox; lobbying, illegal and legal campaign contributions, coercion, false statements, and more.
Users-Consumers and Business- need to understand that metering-charging only for the bandwidth you use- MUST happen if a level playing field for Content providers is to be established. Along with separating Content from Digital Pipelines, metering allows all to compete fairly, and transparently, and usage bears a relationship to cost. (For more on this, check the process of de-regulation and what has worked, and not worked, for utilities, Savings and Loans, Banking and other segments).
So, AT&T and others who are establishing "caps" on usage, charging excess usage "fees," and more, are doing so in the absence of FTC and FCC enforcement of consumer rights, it is hoped that Congress will overlook the politics and do what is right on behalf of the consumers and 25,000,000 small business owners in the U.S. That they have not is evidenced by the U.S. ranking 15-17th in the world, behind even some third world countries, and paying much more for the privilege of having less Broadband Reach and Speeds. Go figure!
Call, email, write, meet your elected Representatives and Senators and demand FTC and FCC enforcement of Anti-Trust laws so that Content and Broadband pipelines can be separated, and Citizens and Business will benefit, as they should, from an open, transparent,and therefore competitive marketplace.