[watch this video] Why data caps on mobile internet suck

[unjapanologist]

I'm preparing to move back to Belgium in a couple of months, and one of the things that needs to be sorted out is what the best data plans for smartphones are over there. It's been two years and everything is different. To my great annoyance, Belgium still hasn't invented the unlimited data plan; the most I can get per month is 2 gig, which is just low enough to make me worry about overshooting it and paying an arm and a leg for using an extra 30 megabytes or something. (My first experience with this came a few years ago when I visited my grandmother in the hospital. I decided to download her favorite CD from iTunes on the spot so she'd have some music to listen to. Grandma was successfully cheered up for a while, but apparently I'd overshot my monthly data allowance already, and my good deed turned up on my mobile bill to the tune of 80 euros a few weeks later.)

Here's an informative video animation explaining why data caps are basically nonsense, for reasons beyond my feeling that buying one CD via my phone should not cost 80 euros under any circumstances. The innovation-stifling is so very true.

Off topic, I love the casual reference to fic and fanart that comes when the guy is listing examples of internet activities that are taking away time that was traditionally spent on TV watching. References to fic in random places always make me smile.

ETA 24/1/2013: Relevant link is relevant. Cable Industry Finally Admits That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion

Comments

[agnieszkas]

Wait. Am I understanding this right and Americans have data caps on Broadband?

I only have a data cap on my mobile Internet (as provided by my cell phone company). The Internet on my home computer hadn't had a data cap since I stopped using dial-up. That is so weird.
Especially when you realize that most of the Internet providers own cable TV as well...

[unjapanologist]

Apparently there are broadband data caps in the US! Here's a chart. Wow.

Apparently they want people to watch more TV or something? I don't get it either. Belgium's the same; we have data caps on mobile but not on broadband, and I don't remember ever having a data cap after dial-up went away.

Japan has no caps on either broadband or mobile, at least not the companies I'm with. I'm terrified of going back to data caps on mobile after two years of careless and free mobile surfing.

[acafanmom]

It hurt - literally hurt, inside - when I moved back to the US from Japan and had to give up Japanese broadband. Not just the unlimited thing, but also the speed... :'(

[unjapanologist]

I'm not going to think about this until I'm actually back in Belgium. Maybe it'll be fine. At least there's no broadband caps...?