Traffic shaping, bandwidth limitations, and complete disconnection are just some of the ideas being discussed to prevent excessive bandwidth use on mobile internet services, according to an article by TechRadar. Bytemark, a data optimisation company who works with T-Mobile to provide mobile internet, is in the planning stage of what could be called a fair-use policy for mobile broadband.
According to the article, in the US (figures for the UK were unavailable) , just 2% of mobile internet users consume approximately 50% of the traffic, which is what the new plans would attempt to eliminate. However, that's not their only aim. They also aim to reduce traffic consumed by normal users. Because the service provider is able to view and interpret all HTTP data passing through it, they would also be able to cache popular content, and also optimize large capacity data such as video streams. This would drastically reduce bandwidth consumption, whilst coming at little cost to the user, especially with video streams, as many handsets can only display low quality video, and so vast amounts of data are wasted.
Cutting off heavy users, injecting user-personalised adverts, and offering extended packages (at a cost) to users where some of the alternatives to the ideas above - although how popular each one would prove is debatable. Injecting adverts would undoubtedly raise privacy concerns, despite Bytemark suggesting that they could inject adverts into groups of users – those groups being decided by users of similar location, browsing similar content, or having similar handsets or laptops.
Overall, the news could be interpreted as both good and bad. For individuals who are on fixed bandwidth plans, optimization could offer them better value for money, not to mention quicker download times for all users, regardless of any subscriptions they may have. However for heavy traffic users, it could mean spending out more, or complete disconnection from the service provider. Either way, whether or not these proposals become anything more than just that will certainly be interesting.
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