Quote Originally Posted by kodiak View Post
As soon as fiber finely makes the main steam market that will be the end of at&t Qwest and Comcast. There’s a fiber service here called Utopia that’s not in my aria yet but as soon as it is I’m getting it. It’s about 10 times faster then cable. It will basically turn the web in to a giant TiVo.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Comcast service provides me with very fast Internet and 100% digital HDTV at a fraction of the cost of fiber. Fiber may be super fast, but until they can provide me something my cable company cannot, why would I switch? Eventually there may be more choices available over the Internet than through broadcast cable TV, but the 8GB connection Comcast offers is already plenty fast enough to support full HD video.

As for the metered billing model, I don't think the market will bear it if it impacts the typical user. Besides, like you said Bart, all of the other providers would have to follow suit, and I doubt the idea will go over well with consumers. Comcast and other providers can already afford to offer virtually unlimited Internet access (with the 250 GB cap) so why would anyone agree to a metered model if they have other ISP choices? Mobile phones with unlimited voice and data plans are starting to become more common and affordable, so why would Internet service move in the opposite direction? If you ask me, I'd say AT&T's trial is going to flop.