Know your DSL limits

Question: I read your article about how more and more people are streaming video from the Internet. We do more online now than ever with Netflix, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones, Skype, streaming music, online games for the kids, etc.

I have mixed feelings about all this. I hate to pay more since I’m a heavy user. Nevertheless, some countries have long sold metered Internet service, where, such as is true for electricity and natural gas, you pay based on how much you use.

I as well know that if video streaming explodes — and I think it will — Internet providers will have to spend money to improve their systems so that they can handle the load. And some of that money likely will come from the revenue generated by heavy users of data.

That seems fair, compared to spreading out the costs to people who aren’t heavy data users. Most Internet providers in these times do have similar data caps. To illustrate, Comcast sets its data cap at 250 gigabytes a month.