[aklug] Re: Last days of unlimited?

On Monday 21 June 2010 07:47:07 WH Bouterse wrote:
> Returning to Alaska after 4 years away I find that while there are more
> online activities require greater bandwidth usage, there are in fact fewer
> and fewer monthly options for "non-capped-pay-once-and-forget".
> I had seen the nationwide reports for some time but happened to be an area
> where for the time being it was not an issue.
>
> Now MTA has even eliminated their residential uncapped service
> which used to offer a pricey but at least available 140$ a month plan.
>
> How do you high-bandwidth users and mirror offerers deal with this?
>
> A recent case; a local family found their bill with MTA rose to $500 when
> they subscribed to DTS and began watching HD movies and regular
> netflix-streaming. This is a couple with 4 kids and home-schooling so the
> bandwidth is gonna get used.
>
> It seems that folks are now getting hit with not only the media fees but
> the fees for usage of the media as well!?
>
> Just curious as I find myself looking over my shoulder now with my 3mb 20gb
> cap
>
> Is there anyone working for MTA on this list who could maybe respond
> off-list if necessary?
>
> Working for free with various non-profits and trying to do some development
> work with various distros and helping a private school in NC by working on
> a WINE implementation of Donor Perfect, a M$ Fox Pro DataBase I feel
> somewhat irritated and constrained at the same time.
>
> Maybe its just me and if so please excuse my ramblings. AKlug has always
> been a great resource over the years and much appreciated.
>
> BTW The familly mentioned is now leaving Alaska as they said it was the
> final straw when not only did they get the unexpected bill but were told
> "this is Alaska if you don't like it go somewhere else".
>
> Thanks again for your patience, I'll try not to ramble so much next time.
>
> WH Bill Bouterse

Welcome back.

i am back on GCI after years of boycott . I too was stung by the old policy of
charging for bandwidth by the gb. Unfortunately there is NO option for
affordable high bandwidth.

I don't have a tv, but a lot of tv network content is on the internet today.
Can you say '5 episodes of Desperate Housewives in a row' ;-) Movie
channels, etc. If I had caps again I wouldn't be paying to watch advertising.

You have to have a 2Mb connection to begin to play. I think I read HD movies
require a 35Mb connection.Seems like the future for streaming media elsewhere
is internet,

I have a local/partial Debian mirror,. It cost me a lot to build because of
the GCI caps, at the time. I am not sure if I would exceed caps maintaining
it. I believe in having local copies of free software, caps might be just one
reason.

-- 
Peace,
Greg
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