I’ve been asking engineers around for reasons why ISPs around the world have been implementing bandwidth caps and got several possible scenarios to consider. Here are the top 5 most probable reasons behind the issue of bandwidth caps.
Some or all of these reasons might also be true for our local telcos/ISPs as well.
1) Subscription Mis-match. Residential subscribers using their connection beyond “residential use” (like for powering their internet cafe businesses). If you see one of those small mom’s and pop’s internet cafe that’s placed as an extension to a house, it’s highly probable they’ve used their residential line instead of getting a business subscription. (Why? Because a 2Mbps residential subscription is 50% cheaper than a 2Mbps business subscription.)
2) Over-subscription. ISPs take on more subscribers than they can actually handle. That means, if they sell you a 1Mbps connection for Php999, they might be actually allocating just 0.25Mbps to that subscriber so they can sell 3 more accounts to fit the actual 1Mbps allocation.
If ISPs didn’t allow “over-subscription” on their network, they might need to double the monthly service fees of subscribers just to hit the same annual revenue targets they currently get.
3) Abusive Users. Subscribers who are downloading files 24×7. That usage pattern can already be considered a business subscription rather than a residential subscription. The term “abusive” is debatable though. It’s the service provider that determines what “abusive” in the same way they’re the ones who defined what is “residential subscription” and “business subscription”.
NTC puts this figure at 1 – 2% of total broadband users. It might seem a bit small but that percentage is already equivalent to 30,000 to 60,000 subscribers (from an estimated 3 million broadband subscribers in the Philippines). If all of them sustained a 1Mbps download 24×7, that will use up 30-60Gbps of the whole network. Not sure if my figure is accurate but my guess is that total bandwidth available in the Philippines is in the 250Gbps to 300Gbps (half of which goes to big companies such as BPOs).
4) Mis-distribution. ISPs allocate a certain bandwidth to specific areas but oftentimes, the allocation to those areas do not match the cumulative usage of subscribers there. Hence, there will be areas where internet speeds are better than others.
5) Increase Subscriber Capacity. This is actually similar to over-subscription but the short explanation here would be — if the ISPs can just clamp down on the 1 – 2% of those abusive users from hogging the network, they can probably increase their subscriber capacity by an additional 10 – 20% more of their existing user base.
I believe the issue stemmed from a combination of several points raised above — I’d point the finger on over-subscription first then the network hoggers.
The article on bandwidth caps from Wikipedia mentions:
Many broadband Internet Service Providers in North America and Europe introduced bandwidth caps in the early 21st century. The same practice has been in place in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and South Africa since the release of broadband. NTT Communications in Japan imposes a 30GB/day upload cap with a warning for a first violation and disconnection for repeat offenders.
Remember that ISPs have already implemented the caps years ago, even before NTC made this draft memorandum. Just go over your Service Order Agreement with your ISP and there will be a section there that covers P2P throughput and month bandwidth caps (here’s a sample contract for Globe Broadband).
I strongly believe in the Free Market Economy — that the service provider that offers the best service will always get the most customers; that healthy competition will allow the market to stabilize and result to cheaper prices and/or better service (I used to pay Php1,995 for a 384Kbps connection; now it’s Php1,995 for 2Mbps — not a huge improvement but an improvement nonetheless) making the customers the ultimate winner.
Subscribers just need to be vigilant and I think what should be removed from the contracts is the lock-in period — that if you’re not satisfied with their service, you can just request for dis-connection anytime and switch providers immediately.
“That means, if they sell you a 1Mbps connection for Php999, they might be actually allocating just 0.25Mbps to that subscriber so they can sell 3 more accounts to fit the actual 1Mbps allocation.”
sounds cheating right? anu paki ko sa income nila..at the very first place sila ang nagsasabi na 1mbps for 999..if they are actually just givin customer 1/4 of the said speed that is a F$%@$&G cheating!!!
upgrade muna service nila.. pero siguro.. ok ang cap sa wireless connection.. pero sa wired siguro.. sana walang cap :)
There is no valid reason to penalize every consumer for the abuses of some and the inadequacies of the service provider. I agree with the posts above, in a developing country like the Philippines, capping is the way backward. The clear path is to improve the network capacities to support the demand.
I have been a subscriber with PLDT and I have never experienced the advertised speeds. I really feel bad that some people get to exceed their badwidth while I languish with slow speeds. Now with the badwidth cap, all the more frustrating. BOO for supporting this!
2) Over-subscription.
this happened in our area. i am satisfied an availed the retention offer of the company only to experience “color-code” issue on their network. frustratingly, they want to charge me for the service they can no longer provide.
[quote]SmartBro, Smart’s wireless broadband service – through its wholly-owned subsidiary Smart Broadband, Inc. – continued to expand as its wireless broadband subscriber base grew 71% to
reach 596,000 as at end-March 2009, 183,000 of which were on SmartBro’s prepaid service.
Wireless broadband revenues grew 40% to P1.3 billion, a significant improvement over the P 919 million recorded in the first quarter of 2008. [/quote]
[quote]Retail DSL continued its strong performance as broadband subscribers grew by over 38,000 to 471,000 at the end of March 2009 from 433,000 at the end of 2008. PLDT DSL generated P1.6 billion in revenues in the first quarter of 2009, up 27% from P1.3 billion in the same period in 2008, accounting for about 50% of the PLDT Group’s broadband and internet revenues for the year. [/quote]
http://www.firstpacific.com/admin/upload/media/press/ep090505.pdf
nalulugi ang smart bro and pldt dsl?
hmmm. Big trouble for TELCOS. Bandwidth capping was UNLIKED by thousands of the subscribers. Most of the reasons by the subscribers are vaguely fair. Which means, TELCOS should have an alternative plans for BANDCAPPING, a new challenge for TELCOS. HAPPY NEW YEAR:)
huh? These are pure BS. Don’t ever put the trash of our country in other country’s lawn. Other countries still offering 64kbps dial-up connections and are getting actual 64kbps speed. While our 1mbps connection only get a 10th of the advertised speed. Big difference.
This bandwidth cap only proves that we do not need a better infrastructure just to increase the speed. And the fact that they can implement this right away only means that they have been screwing their subscriber from the very start.
The first reason is indeed BS. Business connections offer much more than residential connections – they have lower latency rates, static IP, and are prioritized over residential lines for efficiency. That being said, there is no such thing as subscription mismatching.
It is ultimately the lost of a business if it decides to use a residential line. That being said, I don’t agree with the practice either.
ung pinsan ko nag speedtest 30mbps internet download speed nya… sabi ko niloloko mo lang ako… pero totoo daw. eh itong pldt dsl namin 3mbps lng eh haha
Kudos to Cake for that comment, he already whacked out that 5 reasons, “Greed” is the root of this bandwidth cap.
Sana lang talaga magkaron ng “Data only” lang na competitor ang mga leading Telcos, problema dapat ng provider yan at hindi dapat i-regulate ang subscriber, again Upgrade dapat ng system hindi bandwidth cap ang sagot dito at may mas importante pang issue kesa dito sa naisip ng mga Telcos/ISP.
In a third world country like us, it seems network expansion SHOULD be the first thing these telcos must do and capping is way BEHIND of time of cloud computing especially information dissemination is so fast.. Every Filipino netizens @ 24/7 are doing the following (analogy)
1. 4 to 12 hours online in Facebook and other social network sites (even at the office, breaktime, “wee” time, even in your SLEEP time!)
2. “online” status at Yahoo Messenger, Skype and other alike VOIP sevices.
3. “Real time” Twitter status/news updates
4. Legitimate download/upload of games, movies, file transfers, paid subscriptions.
5. Streaming of video or audio (Standard or High Definition)
6. Illegal internet activities
At those internet activities, 1,4, and 5 alone consumes 500 Million bytes to 5 Gigabytes of data per day!
And number 6, more than 100 Gigabytes of data depending on subscription (There are some residential/business accounts seems legitimate in nature but in reality, a syndicated front for illegal internet activities)
But capping the bandwith data, I doubt eradication of “abusive” users can be determined.
The govt is at fault, likewise.
No watch dog org or at least unbiased
No regulation laws
When a president of the phil sold the only govt-owned oil company which regulates prices and serves as a viable competitor of other big-oil companies, oil prices hiked and the economy went kaput.
Same with this, no regulation, up we go.
i remember before, when ISPs offer trial periods, ang bilis ng connection pag nakasign-up ka na biglang bagal.. tsk.. tsk..
sa mga na-enumerate nyo sir abe, it seems to be more of a TELCO problem than a subscriber problem, lalo na oversubscription, it’s a common problem with them kaya consumer laging talo dito. Yong 3% na abusive users ang liit lang nyan compared to the abuse we receive from the TELCOs.
Before ISPs use to have CIR or committed rate, sana impose yon ng NTC sa kanila, mas matatanggap siguro ng mga tao yong capping if NTC also assures consumers of the quality of service
@Manix: not the government’s. Presently these are private lines/infra. If we have our infra nationalized, then that’s a different story.
@Mark Villegas: I think you are confusing “bits” with “bytes”. 1,048,576 bits (or 1 Mbps) is 131,072 bytes per second, thus the maximum download speed you are getting = 125 kilo”bytes” per second is just about right. Basically that 1mbps connection is in terms of “bit”rate.
Hi Abe, question though, is the infrastructure responsibility of the Telco or the Govt?
Comparing the SG service:
Internet/Wifi 10Mbps line @ S$48/mo (~Php1600/mo), 11Mbps actual download speed, 1Mbps upload speed.
3G 12GB-capped line @ S$26(~P860/mo) add-on to any regular mobile plan. 1Mbps download speed.
tumbok na tumbok ni cake! ikasa mo pre!
Points ISPs should improve on upon implementing the download cap:
Speed
Minimum 6mbps download, 500kbps upload MINIMUM
They should offer true unlimited internet access with speeds restricted to 500kbps download and 128kbps upload
Stability
Stable connection, less intermitent connection, fiber optic cables!
Customer service
DSL subscribers, they know what i mean.
Download cap
PLDT has long implemented shaping upon excessive downloads for years! They dont stop your service, it just sloooows down to the tune of 128kbps.
200gig download cap minimum, without counting uploads!
And upon reaching 200gigs, offer data blocks for pruchase or shape speeds down to 128kbps.
Ph already is in the top 10 countries that have the most expensive internet connection.
Recently i moved to Australia and from download caps and shaping they are now offering true unlimited acess.
Imagine that PH is moving backwards!
Price check:
Australia
Adam.com.au
100g = 50aud which is 2k pesos and the connection has at minimum 3mbps download! Uploads are not counted towards the cap.
Tpg internet
250g = 50aud, downloads only! Uploads not counted, minimum 3mbps!
Examples lng yan prices vary but you can get real cheap deals for at minimum of 3mbps!
3g internet
8gig for 20aud or 800pesos that is for a month on your phone at minimum 500kbps!
Hay nako ang pinas 4th world?!!!!
We need more upgrade on this sh*t!
Daily Jokes
Agree with Cake.
Also asked my friend year back about his internet link in the US. He said that so long as you are not doing anything illegal or violating any rules/laws, the ISP where he got his service from does not care how he uses his DSL internet connection. He can setup a LAN and connect as much devices he wants and even share it with his neighbors, – basta no illegal stuff – his ISP does not care -‘coz he is subscribed to a 2Mbps link; and that is all he is gonna get at any given time 24×7.