Will Cable Unplug the File Swappers?

netringer writes "The cable companies are planning to give the RIAA's case a hand and limit P2P file swapping. Yahoo has the Business Week story that cable companies are considering going away from the flat rate pricing model for cable Internet access. They plan to set a lower bandwidth cap for the flat rate and the raise the rates for bandwidth hogs who exceed the cap."

Comments

Re:average user's reaction

[KUHurdler]

Yeah... better download quick!!! I've been hearing this story for years... oh, and by the way: I got this email from a buddy about how the govt is going to start charging a tax per email... You'd better email all your friends to tell their congressman. Otherwise you're going to have bad luck in love for 7 years.

What do you know about the economics of broadband?

[DaveWood]

And I'm sick of people who take at face value what the telcos and cable companies tell them about the real costs of providing this service. Don't forget the track record of the people you're dealing with.

Until someone publishes an independent study about the nuts and bolts economics of the broadband ISP, I'll take Occam's razor. When someone sells you $2.50 a month call-waiting or a $3 per month unlisted number, you draw the obvious conclusion when they start whining about the "onerous costs" of meeting their contractual obligations to you.