I just wanted to stop and say I'm glad we can have this kind of debate :) I think we need to start with education at every level. Watching 1-2 movies a day, some additional streaming content, using the VoIP phone whenever, and surfing the web is normal behavior. Running occasional P2P is normal behavior.
You'd never leave the water running all day, even though if you rent it probably wouldn't cost you any more (landlord usually pays for water). It's not simply a question of "what can I get," it's a question of being a good internet citizen. There will never be a network so robust that everyone in the world could go full throttle all the time at the same time, so we have to share. I myself am against a lot of regulation of the free market. I want to be able to use P2P without it being relegated to scavenger, though I don't use it all the time. I want to watch Hulu or Discovery or Netflix when something is on that I want to see. I've heard of and seen implemented some rather generous leaking token bucket scenarios that keep the average user unaware of any bandwidth restrictions, while causing slower service for those people that use everything at full speed all the time. Since I pay the same (or more) than most of the other shared media users for my service, I think that is a good implementation of fair use. They can still use critical services, VoIP, HTTP, and some video, but they don't get the same kind of full-throttle download anymore. Sincerely, Brian A . Rettke RHCT, CCDP, CCNP, CCIP Network Engineer, CableONE Internet Services
