Bayantel Updates Terms of Service; DSL Bandwidth Capped at 100 GB Per Month
The issue of ISPs setting up bandwidth limits is a popular one these days. The NTC is even mulling a memorandum that will require broadband providers and mobile service providers to limit the amount of bandwidth served per customer. This is intended to help maintain a high quality of service. Heavy users are then asked to pay more, which should be fair to those everyday users who don’t really need that much bandwidth.
We earlier reported that Globe telecom’s unlimited mobile broadband offering is not really unlimited, but has a daily maximum bandwidth, after which you will be cut off.
It seems other service providers are following suit, either by changing their Terms of Service, adding provisions for bandwidth limitations, or simply highlighting existing limitations that were already in place before.
One such ISP is Bayantel, which is already highlighting its acceptable use policy. Users are said to be limited to 100 Gigabytes per month, but can check for usage through fairuse.bti.net.ph.
Yugatech thinks the 100 GB allocation per month is generous enough, and I agree. I’ve checked my usage history, and my monthly use only amounts to 5 to 10 GB, so Bayantel’s allocation is more than enough for my needs. Now I might sometimes have spikes in usage, such as when I’m uploading videos and photos for sharing, or when downloading media. But for most intents and purposes, 100 GB per month is more than enough.
NTC’s proposal actually imposes a minimum assured level of service from broadband providers, which means they are required to serve you at least 80% of the advertised rate.
Some technology commentaries don’t think a bandwidth cap is fair, though, with the argument that not everyone consumes their bandwidth allocation anyway. This means that providers actually have excess capacity, but may not be willing to assure this service to everyone.
How much bandwidth do you consume per month? Do you agree to the proposal for bandwidth capping?
