Over at http://www.itpro.co.uk/610661/traffic-demands-to-disrupt-the-internet-by-2010?CMP=NLC-Newsletters it says

a) we can expect “slower and more unreliable connections as online traffic increases”

b)  around 10 per cent of users accounted for 80 per cent of network use.

Which is why I am happy to sign up with an ISP who imposes a download limit. I am never going to download huge amounts of data so why should I pay the same as people who do?

While I don’t agree that the market should be the only arbitrator of everything it has its uses. This is the same issues as fixed price entry and free booze clubs  (http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/davef/2008/02/05/excuse-me-did-you-take-my-son-to-casualty/ )  If people don’t have to pay for usage they don’t use it sensibly!  My mates kid brother  downloaded the whole series  of Battlestar Gallatica before he realised it was the 70’s version which he had no interest in watching. If he had a download limit or paid by the meg he might have checked before clogging EVERYONE’S bandwidth.

If we abolished fuel tax but upped car tax I think we could see more road congestion! People have a need for cars and computers but not every journey / surf is necessary.

If we had to pay by the meg bloated sites might be a bit less popular too…