Comcast Caps

Todd has been rallying the troops to combat bandwidth caps for consumers for a while now. I agree it sux to have a cap any service that previously had no limit. Cell phones have actually gone the other way. In the old days you pretty much paid by the minute but now you can buy as many minutes as you want at an affordable price in most places. You can even pay for unlimited services. The problem with Comcast and others limiting use is the fact that they are just trying to protect their old media. They don’t want people using new media. It is a logical stance they are taking however problematic for us as customers. Calling the cable companies is a good idea because businesses do respond to complaints but maybe not in companies the size of Comcast. Begging our “leaders” in congress to change laws, make restrictions for companies, etc. will likely not work and will likely result in bureaucracies that regulate media (FCC comes to mind) getting paid though fines. How does that benefit the average consumer? I think the free market will solve the problem with caps on bandwidth usage. It may be hard to envision but there are bright people out there every day thinking of ways to make a pile of money. There is always a young Bill Gates out there waiting to kick butt in the marketplace. The guy who came up with bit torrent technology provided a great service to the world. He did it on his own. He had a vision which included being rich and went for it. Bit torrent resembles an idea that would help with this bandwidth problem. I am not an expert on this subject but it seems to me if bit torrent allows users to get data downloaded in tiny pieces from all over the place why could the internet not be used in tiny pieces from all over. In other words if the entire nation “shared” internet bandwidth through a bit torrent type technology no one would go over a limit. The millions of Americans who use the internet for just email have plenty of bandwidth to share.