Lost Marbles

As of October 1, 2008, one of the top Cable ISP’s initiated limitations on how much consumers can download and put caps on high volume emails. These limitations were put in place to keep internet access fair, because the high volume use by some users, was impacting the overall speed of the network. These limits were only supposed to affect those users who were excessively downloading or receiving an incomprehensible amount of email.  While the limitation was put in place for “cable” type providers, consumers have begun to ask if DSL providers will follow suit.

Many high speed DSL providers are considering these limitations. However, unlike cable access, DSL speeds wont drop because others in your neighborhood are overusing the network. For DSL it comes down to a cost factor for the ISP. While federal agencies are investigating if these limitations are legal, consumers are currently paying the price.  When you are choosing between broadband providers, it is important to consider what limitations may be in place as well as what needs you may have to see if these limitations would affect how you access the internet.