Belgian ISP Claims One Customer Downloads 2.7TB

An anonymous reader writes with this envy-spawning excerpt: "While for most people the data limit is never reached, with media-rich websites becoming every more prevalent, and more media services going online (we're looking at you streaming video services), it won't be long before the average user is surpassing even the highest caps commonly imposed today. But how much data is it possible to download every month? And do the so-called data-hogs really burn through that much more data than everyone else? According to Belgian ISP Telenet, the answers are 'a lot' and 'yes, they can.'"

Hardly a big deal

[neoprint]

I've done just under 2tb in a month before, I've heard of other people on the same internet plan as me (Big Time on New Zealand's Telecom, unlmited ADSL2+) before they took it away because of people like me. Most I heard of was just shy of 3TB, this was on a horribly shaped connection too. Why is this news?

Re:Its possible

[dk90406]

You'll only need 8 Mb/sec to get that 2.7 TB over a 30 day period. If I fully utilized my (Danish connection) I could get more than double of that. Koreans and Japanese would get 20 times. I suspect both UL and DL are included.

Well...

[Raxxon]

In theory:

28 Day "Month" (4 weeks), 24h/day, 60 min/h, 60 sec/min, 2.5Mb/sec..

I see a possible 6Tb in total transfer (and that's assuming you're not also transmitting!), and that wouldn't be saturating my internet link. However I do find it quite difficult to (1) Maintain 2.5Mb/sec constant (speaking of Torrents/other P2P in general) and (2) Having things to constantly download at that rate.

Re:Download caps?

[Anonymous Coward]

they brought them back when they realized people were catching on to their smoke and mirrors sales pitch regarding 'unlimited.'

Re:Human nature

[mcrbids]

Any linux ISO can be considered a pornographic file when paired with the appropriate one time pad [wikipedia.org]

8,07 days.

[Tito1337]

The guy has a Turbonet connection, means he has 30Mbits down and 1,25Mbit up. If he used this at full speed, 2680GB would only take 8,07 days.

Re:Human nature

[SimonTheSoundMan]

BT Broadband claimed I used 170GB per month on average over a 12 month period using my 2.5Mb connection.

Meanwhile, 2.7TB is nothing if you have a leased line. Just had a two week film shoot, used 6TiB. We have had to transfer all the daily rushes via the Internet.

Re:What is the actual cost to the ISP?

[mobby_6kl]

First of all, it's 2680GB, so it's more like 2.6TB. Second of all, where are you getting your data transfer prices? Amazon has some of the lowest prices around (unless you count the "unlimited" bullshit on dreamhost or something), and even with the >150TB discount it's $0.08/GB [amazon.com], bringing the bill to $214. Of course AWS's pricing isn't directly comparable to an ISP's but that's the best I could find. Finally, Telenet's most expensive offering is 99 Euro, so effectively everybody else is subsidizing this guy.

Interestingly, Telenet says that they are not complaining, but are showing this to encourage users to switch from the capped plans to the more expensive ones. The trick is that the expensive ones have a "fair use" policy, and they can slow your connection down to 512 Kbps [arstechnica.com] until the next billing if you download twice as much as the average user.

Re:Its possible

[kneutral]

I'm visiting Australia for work and was shocked that the hotels have usage limits on their wireless (in addition to their already mildly annoying practice of adding a surcharge for wifi usage - though the more pricey hotels do this in most countries it seems, whereas the cheaper hotels provide it for free). $20/day for a 500Mb/week limited internet connection. At first I thought that would be fine, I'd cut out skype, streaming video, and stop downloading podcasts and wouldn't have to worry. Sadly I'm 4 days in and already over ($.30/Mb now) -- the internet's just no longer made for such ridiculous restrictions.

Re:so what?

[Turiko]

Actually, this ISP isn't looking for a way to put back draconian limits - the limits were only removed last february IIRC. Before that , i believe it was 80 GB per month. They're using this to show off their service :P

Here's a real funny observation...

[Eggplant62]

It's funny that ISPs can whine and cry over the biggest users of bandwidth but can't be arsed to shut down let alone locate and notify their customers about their malware-infected PCs that are blasting spam all over the net. Start working on that and we might not have to worry about bandwidth caps.

Re:Human nature

[ewanm89]

No, the one time pad would have as much or as little pornographic information as the linux iso, only when used together through an XOR stream cipher would they become the pornographic file.

Re:Hogs?

[commodore64_love]

>>>How are such people data-hogs? They are using what they have paid for.

Not really. Imagine if electricity worked like internet data. i.e. You pay $400 a month and get unlimited usage. Most of us would use around 1000 KWh per month, but then you'd have a few people that would run their AC at 50 degrees, while the whole house was lighted even in rooms that are not being used, and have an electric-powered pool in the back with an elaborate fountain running all day and night. i.e. Splurging.

They are not paying for the electricity they used. They are taking MORE (~$2000 worth) than what they paid for ($400), and that net loss must be covered by the rest of us (prices go up). Plus the environmental damage caused by the splurgers.

This is why pricing is (or should be) metered. It's a negative feedback loop that encourages people to limit themselves, or else pay a very high bill. It also benefits those that use very little, like grandmas, because their bills might only be $50 metered rather than $400 flat. Pricing tied to consumption is the "invisible hand" that regulates use.

Re:Human nature

[commodore64_love]

P.S.

According to Telenet's website, the "Turbonet" service supplies 30Mbps download speeds. So that's pretty close to what I estimated. About 7 hours a day of downloading.

Re:What is the actual cost to the ISP?

[toddestan]

As in 2680/1024 = 2617?