Unlimited Internet Usage

[Shibblet]

I live in Wasilla, Alaska. And we only have two internet service providers in the area. First of which is a company called GCI (General Communications, Inc.) Second is our "member owned" Cooperative called MTA (Matanuska Telephone Association).

Both of their web-sites are right here:

www.gci.com
www.mtaonline.net

So, now to my point. Both of these companies have Cell Service, Home Phone Service, Television Service, and Internet Service. They also have package plans for those services. The reason I posted their websites is so that you can see how outrageous the prices for thse packages are.

Regardless of these prices, neither of these two companies have an unlimited data plan. The biggest package they have 100G or 125G limits.

For most people, 5G download is fine. I understand that you don't need a lot of bandwidth to surf and get email. However, spend a little time on You-Tube looking at HD videos, and you'll suck up a gig real fast.

I know that companies in the continental US have unlimited plans, are those going away? Are we all going to have to track our usage now? I have GCI, and my phone, and television all run over IP. Cell phones run over 3G. It's all internet! Why would they give HD TV service unlimited, but not internet? It's all the same data.

My only guess is that they know about services like Netflix or YouTube, and they would rather have you use their own On-Demand service and charge you WAY more for it.

[benc1213]

To make you feel better where I live we have only one option for internet. We have unlimited bandwidth but we are paying for way more than we actually get.

[del_diablo]

Good evening, I am typing this from Norway.
Over here you get what you pay for, and no bandwith restrictions.
The exception is mobile broadband, but even that has a infinite option.
I laugh looking at your poorly supervised and non-regulated telecompanies.

[3Miro]

WTF: watch couple of Netflix movies and you are done!

There has to be a law against that!

[speedwell68]

I get Unlimited in the UK.

[CraigPaleo]

There are a couple cable choices that offer unlimited bandwidth here: Comcast and Fios and they are far less costly than MTA or your CGI (http://www.gci.com/for-home/alaskas-fastest-internet)!

I don't think unlimited plans are going away from here anytime soon. I don't know what I'd do with those kind of prices and limits. I certainly wouldn't be able to distro hop as often as I do.

Edit: what I mentioned above were land-line choices. I think just about every cellular provider offers Internet connectivity. I'm just not familiar with the pricing.

[LowSky]

Wow CGI is the better deal, but 3/1 is pretty bad for the price. Here in NY I'm on my cable company and its 12/2, unlimited bandwidth and I'm not sure how many email account but i hit the 10MB limits years ago for about the price of your 10/1 plan. I just cleared out my Gmail account (that is 3 linked email accounts, one of which the cable account) and it's still over 400MB.

I can't see them capping anytime soon in my area. Cable company plans on rolling out Internet powered DVR and other direct link services. Limiting bandwidth would severely hurt their sales of these type of service.

Also my cable company has a free for customer wifi network that goes from Long Island all the way north to Dutchess county... plus a new iPad app for watching tv.. all included into current plans.

i feel sorry for people living in areas where the only choices are bad ones.

[Dustin2128]

Yes yes, stop lording your superior european ISPs over us, we don't all have the option to move to places with more than 1 choice in broadband! But yeah, with AT&T capping, there's few places in the continental states even to get unlimited access anymore. Damn netflix, taking all the bandwidth... not to mention that the quality of service is actively getting worse. Back when I had dial up until '01, I would never have a service outage period. Now, a week in which my ADSL doesn't go out for at least 4 hours is rare, and growing rarer all the time.

[Thewhistlingwind]

Save your bandwidth by using links or something.:popcorn:

[CraigPaleo]

Yes yes, stop lording your superior european ISPs over us, we don't all have the option to move to places with more than 1 choice in broadband! But yeah, with AT&T capping, there's few places in the continental states even to get unlimited access anymore. Damn netflix, taking all the bandwidth... not to mention that the quality of service is actively getting worse. Back when I had dial up until '01, I would never have a service outage period. Now, a week in which my ADSL doesn't go out for at least 4 hours is rare, and growing rarer all the time.

That's how Capitalism and monopolization usually works. Yes, I'm American.

[Dustin2128]

That's how Capitalism and monopolization usually works.
Yes, yes it is.

[Superkoop]

I live in the northern planes in the US, and I believe we have two maybe three companies to choose from in my town. It's not the most reliable service, the cable really sucks, it cuts in and out on occasion... The internet service has been reliable (usually), and my speeds are just as advertised, unlimited usage and such. I don't believe limited usage will be affecting most of us... At school we are limited (6gigs a month, used to be 1 until everyone complained the last three years)... it's easy to cap out 2gigs and 4 gigs, however 6 to 8 keep me satisfied I've noticed...
That's my provider's prices for your comparison.
http://www.itcmilbank.com/internet-rates.html

[whatthefunk]

The reason that you have limited bandwidth is probably that the cables that provide internet to your area in Alaska are too small for the amount of people using them. In order to increase bandwidth, they would have to invest serious amounts of cash to lay new cables. Australia and New Zealand have the same problem. They are geographically remote and the undersea cables going down that way have become too small.

I have an amazing deal on internet. Unlimited usage, fiber optic cable. Loving it.

[Dustin2128]

The reason that you have limited bandwidth is probably that the cables that provide internet to your area in Alaska are too small for the amount of people using them. In order to increase bandwidth, they would have to invest serious amounts of cash to lay new cables. Australia and New Zealand have the same problem. They are geographically remote and the undersea cables going down that way have become too small.

I have an amazing deal on internet. Unlimited usage, fiber optic cable. Loving it.
I live within 50 miles of Atlanta and I have a 150GB cap. The problem is much more often greedy telco companies than physical restrictions on laying wire.

[CraigPaleo]

Yes, yes it is.

Come to think of it, doesn't Alaska have a negative tax? Aside from actually living in the freezing cold, I'd probably welcome it to subsidize my Internet.

The annual property tax down here takes a good chunk of your income, depending upon how much you own.

[fontis]

Bandwidth cap/limits are retarded. I'm so happy that we (consumers) have never tolerated any ISP to pull out **** like this in Sweden.
I remember once a couple of years ago, one of the biggest ADSL providers in Sweden tried to put out a limit on their service. They "retracted" their decision within a few days following massive customer protests, poor PR and dropping subscriptions.

Even in Czech republic there are people who take matters into their own hands. I suggest you try to find a way to host a cooperative network. It becomes much cheaper + every subscriber theoretically becomes "a member" of an organisation.