There are literally hundreds of MMOs. On top of that, all the people that are playing Flacebook games at this point in time. Or keeping their pictures updated on Facebook/MySpace or whatever.

Online e-mail is a big thing to. I just moved all my mail to gmail, as I was tired of trying to save it all if I want to wipe out my computer. People are realizing it is alot easy for an online site like google, MS, or Yahoo to keep their mail (now that they offer large storage) than it is to pay someone to move thier mail to the new computer they just got.

There are even people that do not equate checking their mail as using the internet. The internet is “The Web” to them. If I check my mail in Windows Mail, I am not suing the internet. When I send this 5Mb mail message fill of photos, I am not downloading anything so it doesn’t count! I have heard this all.

People have thought the same thing for ages. There once was a time, before broadband and always connected computers when the average person knew when they connected to the internet. A box came up and told them becuase they had to dial a modem to get there, and there was that familiar modem sounds that came from the computer. People knew that the computer was not talking to the internet, unless they TOLD it to.

That is not the case anymore, and there is no one to blame but the broadband companies themselves.

And by the way, that is just one game he was talking about and it had 4 million users for 1 game! There are thousands of online games my friend with millions of online gamers. 4 million is just a drop in a bucket.

The average adult – I believe – does not want to police how much internet is being used in their house either. Why do you think that cell phone companies now have unlimited minute plans?

Take the 4 hours and 22 minutes and double that for each child.

A family does not have 1 internet access account per member of the family.

People equate Internet Explorer to the internet. That is a fact. They do not realize that almost every single application today every time you open it goes and talks to the manufacterer. Parents do not equate game systems as using their internet connection and may not even know how much their children use the internet. Not to mention iPhones and ITouch.

So, I say it again- the AVERAGE user has no idea how much they actually use the internet, much less their entire family.

If caps are implemented, they quickly will. TWC own data claimed that about 14% of their trial users in a small city went over their caps and paid on average of about $20 more.

14% of their users. Think about that. The city has a population of about 114,000 people.

I know 250Gb is alot of content. That is one of the reasons that Comcast generally gets a pass in my book until they change their policy. At some point in time, I think they will.

Of course, here were I live, TWC and Frontier at the only people in town. We know what they think is acceptable use.

They come from a survey of average people! These average people do not read Stop the Cap or Dslreports, they do not spend every waking minute at the computer..they are the average consumer. Don’t confuse your habits with everyone else.

“World of Warcraft has OVER 4 million subscribers in the US”

There are around 217 million adults in the USA, this means 213 million people are not subscribing to WOW. See my point?

“I really wish people would stop claiming they know how much time the average person spends on the internet. They don’t – becuase the average person doesn’t know.”

I really wish the non average people would stop telling average people what they know or do not know.

thanks

22 minutes of watching online video? 4 hours online? Where do these numbers come from?

Is playing a game on xbox 360 counting that? Probably not. If they did a survey of people, I gaurantee you that most people with boadband do not even know when they are using the internet and when they are not. The number is probably a “when my Internet Explorer is opened.”

Forget about all the other applications that access the internet on a regular basis on your computer or any of the other devices that are connected to the home network. Everytime you turn on your connected Xbox 360 or Wii, it connectes to the internet. Everytime you browse the Xbox 360 selection of available games or movies.

I am willing to bet, most people are not even counting playing video games. World of Warcraft has OVER 4 million subscribers in the US. That is only 1 online video game. On average, they spend way more than 4 hours just playing that game.

Almost every game has an online component now. Services like Steam and Direct2Drive are getting more popular as software is not available locally for the PC anymore.

DirectTV has Video On Demand that uses your broadband connection to deliver movies. I am willing to bet, that most people do not even count “purchasing” a Video on Demand movie as using the internet.

Anyone who has an iTouch is using their internet most likely. Even people with iPhones may use their internet and not really understand what it is.

I really wish people would stop claiming they know how much time the average person spends on the internet. They don’t – becuase the average person doesn’t know.

From what I remember, Comcast has not been a problem really becuase it is considered a soft cap and it is really high. This is the next step. They are now looking to be a provider of content, not just the distributer.

Things will change in the Comcast world of broadband. It may take a little while, but meters is jus the start of it.