ziomal.biz

For as long as consumers have had high-speed Internet at home, they have surfed the Web as much as they wanted, downloading any content while paying their service provider a flat monthly fee. Those days may be ending. Internet service providers, especially cable companies, are eying new pricing models to address the rapidly growing popularity of such applications as streaming online video and the sharing of large files. These programs can eat up bandwidth and cause bottlenecks, slowing service across networks.

Advocates of Net neutrality are preparing to chalk up their first victory following press reports that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has recommended prohibiting cable giant Comcast from blocking Web traffic between peer-to-peer networks. The recommendation, which still requires action from the full commission, could be precedent-setting; all Internet service providers would be prohibited from prioritizing certain Web traffic in their efforts to manage the flow of Internet data.

Comcast has launched a trial this month in parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia to see how well its new approach to bandwidth management works. If the pilot is successful, the ISP's customers nationwide may find themselves consuming bandwidth under new business rules. Essentially, Comcast is reducing the bandwidth and speed available to customers downloading large amounts of data during peak usage times. The point is to reallocate bandwidth to ensure maximum efficiency. Comcast says users will hardly notice the change.