ISP/Cable operator Rant 2

Back in October of 2011 I wrote a post about how ridiculous ISP bandwidth caps are. Now that I've actually hit past my cap (I get 3 warnings), I have to bitch more.

First of all, cable companies are only doing this to gouge the customer. They realize that we are not all stupid enough to pay $40 for basic cable on top of our internet service, especially considering the fact that you can get a streaming service for around $10/month for each service. I pay around $21 a month for a subscription to Hulu Plus and Netflix streaming services. This eats away at my 250 GB cap.

Another ridiculous tidbit? They give you 250 GB of bandwidth (both uploads and downloads) if you have a 10-20 mbps connection. OVER 20 mbps and they will give you 350 GB per month. In my area (my ISP's hometown), they offer up to a ridiculous 107 mbps for around $125 for stand alone service (I currently pay $89/month for my 20 mbps which reaches over 40 mbps). They charge $10 for each 50 GB you go over. So I thought, maybe I'll see if they have a 30, 40, or 50 mbps downlink plan. Well they do have a 50 mbps plan, but it's not in my area somehow. I thought it'd be better to pay a little more to get the faster speed and the extra 100 GBs of bandwidth, but no, I would have to pay over $40 more (if you include taxes) a month for the only plan that offers 350 GB of bandwidth, the 107 mbps. I would actually consider this, but they cap the upload speed to a paltry 2 mbps. Yes, you read that right, 2 mbps!!!! I feel for all the HD videographers and photographers out there.

The kicker? The thing that pisses me off the most? I just read an article about uncompressed HD broadcasts. You know, when you turn on ESPN in HD or any other channel in 720p or 1080p, the cable company has to send an uncompressed HD signal to your television. 720p bandwidth is approximately 990 mbps (or around 120 MB/s) while 1080p bandwidth is around 825 MB/s!!! So every 5 seconds of 1080p viewing you are "downloading" or "streaming" about 4 GBs. So in one minute we're talking about  49,500 MB, or almost 50 GB. In ONE HOUR.

Yet these companies are saying they need to limit bandwidth to improve the user experience... you can run out of your 250 GB cap in less than 5.5 hours. But thankfully television bandwidth isn't counted against your internet data bandwidth cap.

My point is, it is no more of a burden to an ISP to stream "unlimited" to their customers since it really doesn't stress out their network.

Can anyone correct me or enlighten me on this subject in the comments if I have anything wrong? Thanks in advance!