Metered Internet Use Already Making Its Impact Felt

With the idea of metered broadband gaining traction among ISPs, and even trials being conducted, its inevitable that we would begin to see effects of it start to show up, but I hadn't expected it quite this soon.

Those of use who use the Internet are being pulled in different directions: some companies want us to increase our use of broadband (e.g., Amazon.com, Disney.com, Netflix, and HBO) while other companies (primarily ISPs, natch) want us to use less --- or at least pay if we use more.

And the first evidence noted is NBC's "Olympics on the Go" site, which I wrote about in June, cautions users to be careful if they have metered broadband Internet access. Under system requirements, in the Broadband section, NBC notes:

Bandwidth

• broadband internet connection required (cable, DSL or similiar; 500kbps throughput recommended)
• "always on" connection for the best experience
• NBC Olympics On The Go delivers large video files; it may use a lot of bandwidth. It is not recommended for people using dial-up or metered broadband accounts.

BTW, despite Microsoft's assertions about 64-bit OSes gaining support, here's another app that only supports 32-bit.

As I've said before, we're being pulled in two directions. Seems like the solution to this conundrum won't be positive for the end user. ISPs continue to march toward the inevitable tiered service structure, and while one of those tiers may end up being unlimited, it will also probably be a lot costlier than now.