Comments on: You know those cool Web 2.0 sites? They may be killing the Internet

By: Peter Wolchak

Peter Wolchak — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:55:46 +0000

Traffic shaping (more accurately called "throttling") is a problem for net neutrality proponents, and I count myself among that group. So I have a concern about the practice. However, of even greater concern is the secrecy currently surrounding the practice; for a long time the ISPs did not wish to acknowledge they were engaging in the practice, and even with the recent reluctanct acknowledgment there is certainly the sense that we are not getting the full story.

By signing up for Internet access we are agreeing to pay for a service, and while we may grouch about the cost that is how our system works. However, it is perfectly reasonable for us to expect in return that the provider of the service be up-front about the charges and the value we are getting for our money.

As for my idiot comments about the big brains who run the Internet, I will agree that my terminology was somewhat inaccurate but I stand by my belief that the capacity and the technology exists to solve the problem and to continue to give us fast and unfettered net access.

And thanks Pam. I appreciate you jumping in on Ricks...umm...considered opinion.

Peter

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:34:02 +0000

Sorry author but the way you are purporting this, just isn't the way the internet works. The most advanced, data-rich website(s) don't even make a dent in the amount of traffic generated by BitTorrent alone.

Regardless, bandwidth, while finite, is far from what ISPs and other companies claim. This is just a trick to make you think that your ISP is justified in telling you that your limit is 100GB per month. The fact that society as a whole is not outraged and burning down the cell phone companies for changing such ABSURD data rates proves that they simply are uninformed as to how things work and how little data use actually costs. Those are the same kind of people that read articles like this and believe it. Perhaps the same kind who write articles like this...

By: NABI

NABI — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:15:26 +0000

It would be a blessing if it the internet, as we know it, disappeared–most of you are just too nerdy to realize life was better before it was hijacked by the net.

By: Marty

Marty — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:00:43 +0000

wow

seriously, anybody who thinks that the internet will completely VANISH is very very stupid, sorry to say.. When this happens, it will because humans will be extinct, wich is much more probable considering the was we live..

By: Greg Sta

Greg Sta — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:54:08 +0000

RC the amount of bandwidth used by every Rogers customer running full on downloading a CBC program is equivalent to the tip of a pin compared to the CN Tower, there is more than enough bandwidth, Rogers and all the others will be faced with regulation as in the U.S., am all for protecting the great white north and its content however with the telephone corporations of old(Stentor National Telco Network, AGT, SaskTel, etc…) there will be more American companies coming up eventually… right now with the ridiculously high costs of telephone and internet rates and regulations it keeps the U.S. and foreign companies out of Canada, however we pay a premium for this what we call up here,"Canadian Cultural Content Protection" and what our friends to the south call,"Protectionism!" Least we still have the Canada Arm!

By: CGB

CGB — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:53:30 +0000

Must be nice to live in T.O. with the allowed 60GB. I live in Southren Alberta and the only high speed is wireless. I pay $45 a month for 5 GB of usage. It's barely enough for emailing pics to family let alone downloading movies and music, even from pay sites. If I go over my 5 GB's i get charged 10/gb. You guys don't know what it mean to have limited use.

By: RC

RC — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:28:02 +0000

Actually, I live in Canada.. and that is pretty much what has just happened to us. Rogers, the only cable provider in the toronto area has said that because of overusage they will be charging people a premium fee ontop of their already fairly pricey standard fee. Anyone who uses over 60gb's per month will be charged an extra $2 per gig(roughly).

The sad thing is that they make this out as being reasonable, cause only "pirates" could use more then that per month. I am not a "pirate" but I have downloaded over 40gb of games this month, that I BOUGHT, as well as about 10gb of movies, again paid for, and throw in actually using the new... and you easily can top out the 60gb limit.

We are living in the age of digital destribution.. and YES it does take up bandwidth. I just have to wonder, if other internet providers aren't gonna look at what Rogers is doing, and try to follow suit.

By: PS

PS — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:05:39 +0000

This article is point-less. The Cisco statement quoted was made as a case for more business for Cisco — not a "note with concern". So the author takes a positive statement, spins it negatively and then says at the end that he's optimistic someone will figure it out? I don't get it.

By: Al

Al — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:00:16 +0000

It's the North American consumer mentality. I'm not knocking people for it as I'm guilty myself. We feel entitled to have unlimited access to something because we can pay for it.

Just like oil and food. Who cares if we're causing global warming or starvation, we can afford it and are entitled to use it as we wish. Somebody will figure out how to save the earth and feed people so we don't have to worry too much about it.

One last thing, Raz, you can overload the infrastructure of the internet. The web is not all a digital thing in the ether, eventually it comes to down to hardware. Imagine trying to drain the hoover dam with a garden hose as opposed to a breaking down the dam. The garden hose is our current infrastructure, breaking the dam is what we need to do.

By: Raz

Raz — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:34:10 +0000

I think its an interesting topic, however, we pay the full price of the internet usage. I believe there is no "exceeding bandwidth" sort of a thing in reality. Its the service providers job to keep up with the demand. Im sure the ISP's are not run by some idiots..these people know their job well and know what is to come in the future. As the demand increases, im sure technology will find a solution to it. About "overloading the internet", i cant understand that because internet is not a truck or car. Again, the ISPs know how much traffic there is and they charge every user for a minimum level of service that they promise.