Video Succinctly Answers Why Carriers Use Data Caps - Hint: Numbered Paper

[kodiak799]

there are few none data plans around. outside track phone and what not I cant think of anything off the top of my head that will sell you a damn cell phone that does not require data.

Even if this were true, you are not required to continue paying for data. You could drop it the next day.

And we're not talking about S=D, we're talking about movement along the D curve and its inelasticity which goes to profitability.

Again, when people feel entitled to something they arbitrarily set a ridiculously low price in their mind and then complain about being charged more. In their world, if they "need" something it should be cheap to buy, regardless of how much it costs to produce.

[mantispid]

Even if this were true, you are not required to continue paying for data. You could drop it the next day.

And we're not talking about S=D, we're talking about movement along the D curve and its inelasticity which goes to profitability.

Again, when people feel entitled to something they arbitrarily set a ridiculously low price in their mind and then complain about being charged more. In their world, if they "need" something it should be cheap to buy, regardless of how much it costs to produce.

Ah, but this vid wasn't just about mobile broadband. It was about actual in-house cable/DSL/FiOS/etc. broadband... and caps being put on that.

The problem here, is that there isn't enough competition. In most areas, you have the choice of one cable provider. The data cap issue wouldn't be much of an issue if customers kept flocking to whichever provider did not have data caps. It's monopolistic strong-arming where the competition is low enough to allow it to occur. This is even more of a problem in areas where such providers are statutorily limited. >_>

[kodiak799]

C'mon, who needs 250gigs of data a month? The only way to realistically hit that, without downloading illegal torrents, is if you watch A TON of Netflix//Hulu/etc.

In other words, people are using their broadband to ditch cable and on-demand movies for cheaper alternatives. Naturally, cable is going to respond to recover those losses. Someone else is going to provide content cheaper, so they are going to capture part of that consumer savings for delivering the service.

Or think of it this way - cable and other services were subsidizing your internet. Now people start dropping that cable and other services and there's nothing to subsidize your internet, so its cost must increase.

[Jeyman]

C'mon, who needs 250gigs of data a month? The only way to realistically hit that, without downloading illegal torrents, is if you watch A TON of Netflix//Hulu/etc.

In other words, people are using their broadband to ditch cable and on-demand movies for cheaper alternatives. Naturally, cable is going to respond to recover those losses. Someone else is going to provide content cheaper, so they are going to capture part of that consumer savings for delivering the service.

Or think of it this way - cable and other services were subsidizing your internet. Now people start dropping that cable and other services and there's nothing to subsidize your internet, so its cost must increase.

none mobile is very easy to hit that 250GB a day limit. 5 people in my house. I use netflix as my only TV style. most of us do> I play video games its not hard to hit 250 GB in a single month. I have unlimited but iv looked at my data and its broke 2TBs. I dont use torrents as an fyi.

ya we are data hogs but well we live on the internet. My mother does her work on the PC, and it requires files to be moved. Large files.