Member-only story
Why not do away with caps on bandwidth?
Two US senators, Democrats and , have proposed , the , that would “predatory bandwidth caps” making it difficult for many vulnerable families to access high-speed internet.”
The bill would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to define the conditions under which a data cap must be deemed to serve the purpose of reasonable network management or dealing with congestion; any limitations that did not serve that purpose would be declared illegal.
The senators’ argument is that any limitation of connectivity to users is contrary to the public interest, and involves limiting access to a medium that has become fundamental to people’s daily lives and their access to information. Data consumption limits, in the case of telecommunications contracts, are qualified under law as being for , and have nothing to do with any kind of technical limitation. This can be shown by the numerous cases of exclusion of these limits for certain services (music, social networks, etc.) on the basis of commercial agreements signed by telecommunications companies to attract more customers.
To make a comparison: when we subscribe to a water or electricity supplier, they do not cut off our access when we exceed certain usage limits, nor do they reduce the flow of water or…
