To Limit or Not To Limit Internet Download Capacity

Honestly speaking, this sounds like a chicken and egg story. The one posing the question and the one answering the question wants their answers or renditions to be correct. Hence, it’s the same when someone asks; should Internet Service Providers (ISP) limit download capacity? The guy who downloads a lot would obviously feud while the lady who wants the Internet connection to be fast screams “booyah!”.

I recently found out after the whole Malaysia Wimax launch, selected ISPs implement what they term as a fair usage policy – even in Wimax. When the ISP applies this policy, it means its customers will use their provided Internet connection at a controlled rate. You might have heard the words; throttled, from your average Malaysian complaining about our Internet connection before. Think of it as not being able to fully utilize the promised speeds you were sold on. It sure pisses me off.

Then again, I remember when I shopped for an ISP while being in Melbourne they too had some plans where you had a limited download capacity for much faster speed packages. Some of my friends shared subscription of these faster packages but while they had super speeds, they had to monitor their download capacity. LOL!

Luckily for me, I was on a plan where they limited the Internet speed during selected hours. For example; Off Peak is from Midnight to 7am while Peak is the remaining time. Ever since I’ve used this back in Australia, I’ve always thought of it as a fair trade. plus, it’s not entirely unaccessible. You still get average speeds which are enough for your general Internet usage if you’re a common user. For the hardcore users, I’ve known most of them to use the Internet until wee hours of the morning like 2-3AM.

Which is why I’ve always wondered why none of our ISPs here have thought of introducing such a subscription? But of course, like any other Internet user who’s angry with the current state of our Internet stability even I’d not find it worth paying the ISP for crap services. And this is often the case right now.

However, I’d like to ask you if you think limiting the download capacity or introducing off-peak and peak packages could work in Malaysia – given we finally have a stable ISP service?

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