Trying out the blogger app on my phone. Expect an update is this works

UPDATE: holy crap it worked! Now I can not post stuff on here when I'm away from the computer as well as when I am at a PC! Also, I shoud start adding titles to posts, but cause it is confusing to review posts on my phone since it doesn't show part of the post like it does on here.

So cell phone service providers like Verizon and AT&T have decided to start charging people for the amount of data they use on their smart phones (article here). ISPs are looking at doing the samething (article here). And Netflix decided to increase their prices if you want streaming and DVDs. (article Here)>.

First, let me discus the Netflix part. Netflix, for years has charged $9.99 for unlimited streaming of videos as well as unlimited DVDs by mail. Ok, so not quite unlimited DVDs. At that price point you can only have 1 at a time, but you can keep it as long as you want. That is a good deal. but now they are increasing their prices to $7.99 each (before it was $7.99 for streaming, plus $2 for DVD. or $9.99) And this can only hurt the company. Because any time you increase prices, especially by that much over such a short period of time, you're going to piss off people. (see also the anger people expressed when they heard that Xbox Live was going up in price to $60 a year. or about 83 cents a month).

What I don't get is their reasoning. They want to charge more for DVDs, when they have said so themselves that more and more people are streaming video over the internet. isn't that going to kind of kill that portion of the business? especially when someone can just go to Walmart or McDonalds or their local supermarket (or about a million other places) and get a DVD from Redbox? Sure it would cost more if you kept the disc for a month ($28-$31 VS $7.99) but there is also the convenience of getting the DVD right away and not having to wait a day or two to watch it, then another couple of days while it goes back and another one arrives. and people are willing to pay for that. Raising prices usually is not a problem with people. Just ask long running MMOs like Ultima Online and Everquest. But basically doubling them overnight is stupid.

Of course also stupid is the reaction most people have over this. Seems most people who are complaining don't realize that it is not an over all price increase. if all you use are the streaming videos, you actually save money because now it will cost you $2.00 less. But like most people in this country, they react first then learn later and are complaining just from headlines and not bothering to read the article.

Now onto the ISPs and cell providers switching to a metered data plan (that is what I aminly wanted to post about, but I was reminded about it in an article about Netflix raising it's prices, is I figured I better cover that too.) The plan is to go from the current Unlimited plans, where you are charged for the speed, but not the usage, to charging you for the amount of data you use. Because this is clearly 1999.

Don't get the reference? Here is what I mean. When I first got online, I had 6 options. Don't bother asking the prices, because I don't remember. I could use 100 MB, 250 MB, or unlimited MB a month, and it came in 28.8K and 56K flavors. Those were the plans. Remember this is back in the day when Broadband was first becoming available to customers. Living in a rural area, if we wanted internet, it was over dial-up (BTW. Broadband access is still an issue out here. I am paying for 256Kbps, and only getting about 30 because I am on the extreme edge of my ISP's service) and if you wanted to not tie up your phone line, it cost extra a month to have another line installed. I went with Unlimited because I didn't want to be charged the higher rated that came with going over my limit.

and now it seems that ISPs are going back to that. For quite a few years bigger companies have had data caps. limits to the amount you can Download. but there was no penalty if you went over your limit. you just had your service slowed down a lot. annoying, but makes sense, and I don't think anyone had too much of a problem with it.

And the worse is the structure they are using. I remember reading the prices of some companies, but can't find them now, so don't quite me on this. But if I remember this right, one of the bigger ISPs is planning on charging $50 for 50 GBs of data usage (no word on speeds). Don't use all 50Gb, you threw away some money (kind of like Cell phone talk time plans). Not sure how much it costs if you go over that. but according to Netflix, that is about the same as watching 50 hours of streamed video from them. I know a lot of people who canceled their cable or didn't get it to begin with because Netflix was the cheaper option. but if it costs as much to watch a little over 2 days of video a month, they will be switching to cable. and that isn't taking into account YouTube videos, checking Facebook and Twitter, and the hundreds of other things we all do every day online. that is all included in that 50Gbs.

I'm sure most people will think the same thing as I did when I switched to my current cell phone plan (unlimited everything but talk time. 300 minutes of that) "I will never use that in a month. a year maybe, but not a month." and for most that is right. for others, it sucks, and I didn't see any option for unlimited use.

Ideally, they would do something like what my former ISP did when they changed their pricing structure. They gave me a choice; keep my current speed and pay less, or keep my current price and get faster internet. I think for everyone I'm talking about here, that would be the better option.

I think the thing that annoys me the most is the reason. A metered pricing structure like this made sense in the early days of the internet. As companies expanded their coverage and built up their infrastructure, they had to take a metered approach. but now that isn't really an issue. The reason is more because of greed. I think I've talked about my dislike of stuff being done for the reason of greed before. They want to punish the majority for the crimes (high usage) of the few. and that doesn't make sense. Plus what about people who sign up at lower price points (I know there were some listed, but like I said, I don't remember what they were) people who go over with out even realizing it. now all of a sudden they are being penalized. and by an outdated pricing structure.

And all in the name of greed. With a new tech, this might make sense. but it is the same tech that we have all been using for the last 10 years or so. This is simply being done in the name of greed.