Try being stuck on an old network where the single incumbent telecoms provider won't upgrade it, then says that running the old network is expensive and jack up the prices. Due to limitations of the network too, bandwidth is at a premium, and as time goes on, more people are using it due to no alternative. Yay, 60GB bandwidth caps with no alternative.
Here in the UK, we have an open market of sorts, companies are free to install their own equipment at exchanges to provide competing services... when Openreach lets those companies install equipment and if that exchange supports the upgrades. Openreach is a solely owned subsidiary of BT. I live in that wonderful '10%' of the country that has a single service exchange. But it's a free market, so I get to pick one of 150 flavours of BT. I can pick any one I want, so long as it's BT wholesale. As a result, all the packages from all of the 150 ISPs are the same, the same prices, same packages, they just provide different stepping with prices and total bandwidth, but ultimately, all identical. It's a real open market man! I am free to choose. I can get broadband through BT wholesale... or I don't get broadband at all. It's a great choice! However, recently, an LLU upgrade has been enabled on my exchange which means I can use TalkTalk services... which is Carphone Warehouse... Who owns AOL UK... yeah, I'll leave it at AOL and let you decide which is the devil you know...
In the other '90%' of the country, Sky and Virgin are beginning to step on BT's toes by installing their own hardware, Virgin setting up its own completely independent infrastructure (via cable) too, these companies have started to bundle their own video on demand services too.
The thing is, all these companies offer 'unlimited bandwidth' with a Fair Usage Policy (FUP). What is a FUP? It's a means of throttling your connection when you use too much bandwidth on your unlimited bandwidth connection, the exact amount ranging from '
too much' to '
a lot'. But VoD services from these companies don't count.
Anyone sensing some deja vu?
I have no idea what point i was making, just looking for an excuse to vent... sorry
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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