Everyone wants to comment on how much ISPs (like Comcast) are ripping everyone off as they pull away from unlimited use Internet Services.   There are forums, blogs and web sites all dedicated to discussing this great evil that will surely doom all mankind to the dark ages forever.  Not one single ISP has made an effort to get the truth out there and discuss the facts.   Well here are the facts from the perspective of someone in the business. 

If the ISPs let everyone download unlimited data to do what they want, when they want,  without any Quality of Service Controls, limits, etc, your Internet would be $250 a month.   Or your 10 meg Internet would be modem speed almost all the time.  There just isn't enough capacity on the Internet or these networks to provide everyone with ten times as much data for video and new technologies without increasing the pricing drastically.   You might argue the ISPS should all spend their ill gotten billions to upgrade their networks. Who is going to pay for that in the long run?  YOU!   The money has to come from the customer.  No ISP can spend 100 years of gross collections on building out a 100GB to the premise fiber network so you can stream 10 Full HDTV streams 24x7 while also watching grandma's gold fish bowl all day in 1080P because you CAN!   Anyone in this business who has even seen a calculator work knows it's a joke and just not possible.  

NO one wants to say it.  Well here it is people.  The money is just NOT there.  You want 100GB internet at your home for $2.98 a month.  Well,  I want a car that gets 900 mpg, goes from 0-60 in 1 second, and makes women tear their clothes off and jump in as soon as they see it!   Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?  Well so do these ongoing comments about the big bad ISPs are ripping everyone off.

Would you believe that small regional ISPs pay more for wholesale bandwidth per meg than you pay for retail bandwidth per meg?  What?  How can this be true?  How do ISPs stay in business? - Overselling!   You sell each meg of bandwidth up to 100 times over (50 would be more likely).  So a small ISP might pay $100 per meg for their TRULY UNLIMITED Dedicated Internet feed.  They sell you let's say a 5 meg account for $50 a month.   That 5 megs cost them $500 per month at $100 per meg per month.   So if you use your whole 5 meg 24x7 or even during the busy periods which is all that counts...poof..you just cost your ISP $500 a month in bandwidth and paid them $50.00  Not much profit there huh?  Now if the ISP gets their bandwidth for HALF that much; your bandwidth still costs them $250 per month if you use it 24x7 or just during the peak periods.   The only potential profit is when the ISP sells 50 or possibly even 100 of those $50 monthly accounts to gross $2500 to $5000 for that 5 megs of bandwidth the ISP purchased.   Then they have to deduct all the expenses for their network, repairs, taxes, franchise fees, office expenses, healthcare, legal fees etc.  Oh and let's not forget all the phone support because even after YOUR router has locked up 100 times you still call in cussing out the tech support group every time it does and BEFORE your reboot it.     

So if you 9 to 5 people who probably have never run a business in your life think there are millions of dollars falling off the money tree in the ISP industry,  give me a call.   I setup wireless ISPs under contract.   Oh since you are going to sell those 100 GB unlimited use accounts for $2.98 a month,  I'll take CASH up front for my hardware and services thank you since you won't be in the business long.  
 

An ISP since it started!

Tim