boby55:k1wi: I'm not entirely sure how ISPs in Australia are managing to move towards 1TB consumer plans, with unlimited, unmetered upload traffic. They must have a lot more domestic traffic than us.
freitasm, I do take issue at the suggestion people wanting a 1TB plan are most likely downloading pirated content. Perhaps 4 years ago this was the case, but the amount of legal and free content, TVNZ OnDemand, YouTube, hell, even Facebook games that are available to consumers now (many of these are being hosted, or at least cached locally), i
You have got to be kidding me? Even with a S**T load of Legal Content, (Open Source Torrents, Tv On Demand, Youtube), No way can that amount to 1TB of usage, The only logical way for a home user to use that much would be indeed pirating content.
Edit: But Yes, it would be nice to see a 120 - 200Gb Plan for users who do, do lots of the content mentioned above
You quoted me selectively, I continued on to say talk about the use in the area upwards of 120GBs (which in itself is well above the 20GB offered by Telecom). I didn't say users would actively consume all 1TB of data every month. I would be surprised if even most of the users who pirate content would even consume that much data, sure some would, but that would only be a tiny tiny minority. During Big Time, I was very vocal that those users who circumnavigated Telecom's management software in order to consume such amounts of content should have been managed in a different manner.
The simple fact is that it is now possible to consume considerable amounts of data legally as it is illegally, and that there will always be a very small proportion of users, in both camps, who consume large quantities of data. In effect, at 1tb the plans become 'soft caps' as opposed to 'hard caps' - monthly usage no longer becomes something users fret over during the month - "can I watch stream yesterday's Q+A episode?"
Sky is coming out with its iSky package, all evidence I have seen suggests that it will not be unmetered for Telecom users. Depending on the quality of video they put across, it is not impossible that that could have very large data requirements. Additionally, the growth and growth of Steam games makes it very easy to consume 10 or 20GBs of data in one pop just for the download of a game.
On the other hand, one factor that limits the amount of data that pirates use is the fact that from what I understand of the pirate world, most users are limited by what they can upload back. Never the less, the fact remains, we can argue the logistics of the consumption of illegal vs. legal content all we like.
Regarding the next remark that it is impossible to consume 1TB of data: it is possible (that is watch) a TB of data in a month. By my maths, 20 full quality BluRay movies will put you over the limit and provide 40 hours of entertainment. I'm not passing judgement as to why anyone would want to do so, whether there is a legal option for that, or why they would think it is legitimate to do so and I don't foresee myself coming close to 1TB any time soon, I am just saying such statements should be avoided. They are as foolish as someone saying '640K is more memory than anyone will ever need' (regardless of whether or not he actually ever said it).
The Australian plans I am referring to are as such:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/08/iinet-now-offering-1tb-plans/
