Caps, caps and more caps

The internet it is a word that few are unfamiliar with. Even Grandpa knows what it is and that it is seemingly limitless tool to virtually all things data.

As many of you already know that "limitlessness" may be limited in the near future as the major ISPs begin to implement their bandwidth limiting policies. Perhaps bandwidth "LIMITING" is an inaccurate term. The truth of the matter is that there really arn't limits, only more fees.

This is a little puzzling, because it begs the question of why? The official answer is, to stop people from getting a free ride and from getting more [bandwidth] then they're paying for. Time Warner says its charging more to prevent "5% " of its subscribers from taking up "Half the bandwidth".It seems that the ISPs would be happy to have us believe that these programs are aimed at thwarting digital piracy. Surely this is hardly something that the average American would object to. Or would they?

Under this new plan, Grandpa shouldn't see an increase in fees; he only checks his email once a day and plays a hand or two of virtual solitaire. But what of the rest of us? Is Time Warner really saving us from the web punks who aer apperantly hijacking our nations communications backbone(s) and slowing the rest of us down?

The answer is maybe, but also, maybe not. The truth is we may never fully know, because we don't really have unfettered access to the cold hard data. It smells like the ISPs have realized that they are selling their services far too cheaply. (As a former salesman I know that it is always an unenviable position to try to convince a customer to pay more). Unfortunately for Time Warner, this is exactly the position they are in.

So now you have a rough idea (hopefully) of what the big to do is. Now you have to ask yourself, "Should I care?". Well, thats up to you, but if you do get into this conversation with yourself, try thinking about these questions; Have you ever watched a video online. (No need to tell us what the content was, we don't need to out anyone). Have you ever sent someone a digital picture? Do you own an ipod? Have you ever used iTunes to download a song or movie?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, you the "average American" could find yourself with a internet bill that looks more like a car payment.

Now I'm not trying play Chiken Little, and I concede that we don't have many facts and we haven't seen any actual "harm" yet. Thus, my words may be somewhat premature, but all the same, we are talking about everyone's budgets and with gas prices going the way they are, the budget is something most of us are having to watch much more closely.

The question now is, how will the market respond to these caps? Will we see an exodus to the providers that do not cap usage? Will we see a tidal wave of class actions suits that wash this silliness away? Who knows, well all just have to see.

Regardless of how things play out, I feel this endeavor was poorly timed. Here's why; America (and the world) have already ascended to the next stage of what is the the next step in the internet revolution.

The internet is no longer the sole domain of the pocket protector set. It is an everyday tool used by the masses at virtually all socio economic brackets to accomplish nearly everything that we do as human beings. The web is a purveyor of movies,TV, songs, shopping, socializing, taxes, love, legal etc...

Ebay, iTunes, Netflix and many of the major TV networks will all, undoubtedly have something to say about what Time Warner and others are doing. After all, internet caps could hurt a lot of business's bottom line and I am confident we well see some type of action by web dependent operators.

Of course, what may have been one of the biggest factors in the sudden upsurge in web content was the recent improvement in wireless web browsing. With the dawning of 3g came unprecedented browsing capabilities. There was a time when a cell phone was lucky to have a display at all. Now, one has only to whip out their sleek new smart phone de jure and pull up a Facebook, Myspace or Flicker account, not to mention, the streaming content now available via mobile.

My comments may sounds cynical, but they are not intended to be. I am a huge fan of mobile computing. I personally feel it is the next frontier in this technological progression and I am here to welcome it with open arms.

But I digress;

If the ISPs had foreseen this issue even a few years ago and implemented these protocol early, before American consumers had gotten a taste of this new paradigm, we might not have even bothered to complain. But now we've got a taste of the sweet, sweet honey that is unlimited bandwidth and there's no forgetting it.