I don’t know how many other sites have already discussed this issue but I just can’t sleep this one out, knowing how it could definitely affect me. After the siege of FCC over the “net neutrality”, our very own NTC has just painted a big bulleyes on their head for a very controversial MO. A little segue, Philippines’ telecommunications governing body(which includes the ISP’s), the National Telecommunications Commission or NTC’s newest revised draft Memorandum Order (MO) on Minimum Speed of Broadband Connections now allows Internet Service Providers to cap data volume. Here is the accursed document.
Here are some points I would like to highlight.
The Problem:
1. There are abusive users/subscribers that stays too long connected to the network
2. Wireless broadband connections unreliability compared to wired networks (which is a legitimate problem)
Hence The Solution:
1. Standardized rates of payment for varying rates of reliability(GREAT!!), but the pricing are still expensive, a maximum of Php900/month for a 512Kbps with 80% reliability or Php1000/month for a 512Kbps with 85% reliability.
2. Optional implementation of data volume cap for users.
The RANT begins. Apparently, the commissioners of NTC brought up back on the days of ARPA, connecting with their trusty 28kbps modem and was able to use the text only BBS hence they could content of the 5GB data monthly.
Why I am against the data volume cap? First, the Internet is a data-driven system. Day by day, data transferred over this mega infrastructure evolves. I been using the Internet for over 14 years and I could certainly attest to how it evolved. Gone are the crappy sounding 64Kbps mp3, in are the 320Kbp VBR mp3 and the humongous FLAC encodes. I’ve seen how youtube evolved from 240p to 1080p. Even movie rental services stream 1080p movies. Ever heard of cloud computing, ever heard of streamed gaming services like OnLive. Internet users bandwidth demand also increase, why the heck are we going backwards with such a crazy implementation.
Second, why punish the users that just using the service that they paid for. We paid for something like Php 1K for a 1Mbps connection or Php2K for a 2Mbps. Aren’t we entitled to use this service unlimitedly for the whole month. Aren’t you breaking some consumer law that we couldn’t get the service that you advertised for.
Third, the ISP’s consumers/users increases, so it is safe to say the ISP’s revenues also increase. And why the heck are the ISP’s equipment that(for the sake of an example let’s say) was designed for 1000 users still used for 2000 users. Why not upgrade your obsolete equipment to improve your services instead of arbitrarily limit your service so that you could profit more. PLDT introduced the plan 999 with 1Mbps back in 2007 but now, 4 years later, plan 999 is still 1Mbps. The only things that are improving are the wallets of the corporate honchos and not the quality of service.
I don’t know what NTC is thinking making such awful moves like this. It should not the consumers that should suffer to the incompetency of our ISP. To operate NTC and the Congress issues Certificate of Public Convenience to these ISP, but to me, it seems that these ISP are only certified for Public Inconvenience.
Still nothing was set on stone, this MO is still a draft and will still be open for revising. Though I am still baffled to such a brainless move of NTC. For an agency I’ve long respected, I am totally disappointed. Hopefully, public outcry should sway them for a more reasonable revision of the MO. Though as an after thought, if this should go through unrevised they should rename their services from BROADBAND internet service to a NARROWBAND internet service so that the consumers won’t be misled.
End of RANT.
