Targets customers using their connections as file-sharing servers.
Data caps seem to be where ISPs are heading these days in lieu of interfering with certain types of traffic, notably BitTorrent, since the practice understandably raises questions about privacy and network neutrality.
Here in the US Comcast is reported to be looking at consumption-based billing plans similar to what Time Warner began testing out a few week ago in Beaumont, Texas. There customers must choose from packages that range from $29.95 p/month for a 768kbps connection and a 5GB monthly cap to $54.90 p/month for a 15mbps connection and a 40GB cap. They are also charged an additional $1 for each GB that exceeds their limit.
It’s not nearly as dramatic as a 5GB monthly cap, but nonetheless NTT Communications, one of Japan’s largest ISPs, has announced that starting August 1st its carriers will soon impose a daily upload limit of 30GB. Downloads will continue to be unlimited.
At an average of 700MB per XVID movie on file-sharing sites that equates to a max upload of around 42 movies per day!
It isn’t possible to really even come close to that sort of data cap here in the US. My connection, for example, sports the best available residential plan of 12Mbps DL and 1Mbps UL. Japan, on the other hand, has been busy laying fiber optic network connections that allow NTT and other ISPs to offer DL and UL speeds at an incredible 100Mbps for a measly $46 USD per month.
Sickening isn’t it?
NTT’s data cap is obviously a response to file-sharers daring to actually use purchased bandwidth, but with connection speeds of 100Mbps($#@%?!!) it’s hard to feel sympathetic.
That’s gotta suck even in the ‘peg we got better net deals than that
emm 30 GB in my monthy limit
i pay $40/ month for 3 year contract and 50 kB/sec up max and 150 kB/s down max..
i know it sucks and it is best deal in the biggest city in canada.
That certainly wouldn’t surprise me that they would use encryption. As the governments around the world find ways to control the internet the internet fights back with encryption among other things. Users aren’t always going to give up their freedoms without a fight.
In Japan they use anonymizing systems a lot which consume more bandwidth than the actual transfers needed.
30GB is alot of shit to upload in 1 day
@Mels
Nope…..it’s cause the Japanese have 100Mbps connection speeds
Is that a typo??
i can get that on my fiber if i try. even so it wouldnt hurt me to use less if im going over 30GB upload a day.