Des

31 July 2009

UK Broadband, Speed, usage and unfare billing. Hi Gadget Show, First of all my congratulations on an excellent programme which is both interesting and informative. Though the subject of broadband usage, speed and billing has been raised before it seems to me that no-one has asked one very simple question. When almost all the utility and energy suppliers charge for the amount of energy a customer has actually used (seems fair) the broad-band Internet providers mostly choose to bill us not for our actual usage but for the claimed speed of connection. 2MB, 8MB etc. In reality many broad-band users rarely get the speed they pay for therefore it seems it would be a better deal for the consumer if the B.B. provider only charged for the number of "bytes" actually supplied to the user. Modern technology would make this very easy, indeed, most B.B. suppliers are already aware of how much data an individual is downloading. The obvious advantage of billing for total data received/sent is that those heavy users (who the B.B. providers claim abuse the system by downloading large files etc) would pay more towards the infrastructure while those of us who mostly trade e-mails with family and friends and do the odd bit of surfing would pay much less. In effect this would be the same system that has been used for decades to bill customers for electricity usage measured in units and priced accordingly. Charging for B.B. by the disputed speed of the connection is a little like charging an electricity customer for the specific distance they live from the nearest power station or electricity pylon. It makes no sense except that the B.B. providers are making money hand-over-fist under the current billing system! What do you think? Time for another Gadget Show campaign? Best wishes and success for the new series. Des. (Gadget Show fan from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire)