Basics - Putting a Meter on the Computer for Internet Use - NYTimes.com.
Some Internet service providers say they want to end their all-you-can-eat plans because a few customers with immense appetites for Web content are overwhelming the networks and slowing the delivery of news and entertainment for everyone else. Other providers blame pirates, who program their computers to crawl the Internet and suck down complete copies of CDs or DVDs.
Is there any precedent for successfully offering your customers less of a utility once it becomes indispensable? Commodification is supposed to make more of a service less expensive over time, right? Consider cell phone plans: I was afraid to use my first cell phone, the given minutes were so stingy; my current plan includes thousands more rollover minutes than I’ll ever use. And I’d give up my cell phone way before I gave up broadband.