Web and Tech News in the Northwest

I remember surfing the net through Compuserv and AOL way back in 1996/97.  Back then AOL or Compuserv was THE Internet and, if I can remember correctly, you paid for the amount of time you were on their services (I could even go back to the day when we surfed directly to BBS’s through the phone and if you called long distance, well then you paid long distance, but I won’t bore you with that).

As reported by the AP, originally by BroadbandReports.com,  a  New York broadband company, Frontier Communications Corp., is now putting a 5gig cap on users internet usage.  3 dvd’s a month, essentially.  And they aren’t the only one, Time Warner is trying it out in Texas.  If you are in the Northwest, Time Warner is one of your choices for Broadband, so this could be troublesome for you and your site users.

Are we going back to the day of yore when we pay for what we use?  The “free market” guy inside of me is sort of ok with that.  I mean, I know that I agree with the basic concept.  I always thought it was weird for people with no kids to have to pay the levy’s and taxes for schools that they will never use.  And hey, I don’t like toll booths on the east coast, but it sure is a good solution to keeping those roads open.  Those who use them, pay for them.

From the AP Article: “The growth of traffic means the company has to invest millions in its network and infrastructure, threatening its profitability, according to the e-mail.“  I totally understand that argument.  But what will consumers say?  I know those who download more won’t like it, but I think I’m ok with that.  Why should I pay when all I use it for is basic web sites, some e-commerce and email?

One of the main things you as a web site developer, ecommerce provider, or retail website need to worry about as these caps start to take place, is the overall size of your site.  It’s always important to keep file sizes low, but now, the size of your pages may be a criteria users evaluate when deciding whether or not go to your site and how often they come back.  You can be that this will be an issue that effects the Northwest, not only from NW broadband providers, but most sites cater to the nation, and if you have NY users, you may already be effected by Frontier’s decision.