I think that there's a case here.  Comcast provides a service to a 
point, your modem.  After that, it's yours to use.  If I split my phone 
line (not a separate jack), and and run a line to my kitchen, SWB can't 
charge me.  The service is the same.  The difference being SWB service 
is based on a static account; Comcast is bandwidth.  If I have problems 
with my ISP, I WILL take this court.  It's just like SWB/DSL capping 
mail server and newsgroup bandwidth and reselling that bandwidth to 
other customers.

Bradley Miller wrote:

>At 12:19 PM 1/25/02 -0600, JD Runyan wrote:
>
>>I don't totally disagree with your idea, but your commodity analogy is
>>
>flawed.
>
>>Bandwidth is not a consumable like gasoline, electricity, food, etc.  It is 
>>more like a highway.  When it rush hour, more people are on the highway, thus
>>traffic moves slower.  During the day, fewer people are on the highway,
>>
>and thus 
>
>>traffic can move at more rapid speed.  The road does not go away, nor does
>>
>it change
>
>>in some way, because it is more heavily used.  Neither does bandwidth go
>>
>away, it just
>
>>offers less speed when their are more users.  When I receive 4MB of data
>>
>from some 
>
>>site on the Internet, I do not consume 4MB of bandwidth that cannot be
>>
>regained.  I 
>
>>only use some portion of the bandwidth for a fixed amount of time, and then 
>>return it unchanged.  A more accurate analogy would be a car lease.  You
>>
>lease
>
>>a car over a certain time, and you have a mileage limit.  If you go over
>>
>that limit
>
>>you then pay a premium for that overage.  You could look at us leasing the
>>
>Internet
>
>>connection, and they could monitor the transfer volumes, and then charge a
>>
>premium
>
>>for those that go over.  
>>
>
>Very good point.  But as in car leases, you can pick what you drive.   If
>you pick a Metro to lease, it's not going to have the same costs as a
>Porsche.  Likewise, if you pick a Metro you are going to accept the fact
>that you are only going to be able to go about, say 95-100 mph.  Meanwhile
>you can crank that Porsche to 150++ mph.  
>
>I think the "pay for overage" model would be easier to adopt.  I say this
>as I stream MP3's via Shoutcast to my PC and download them to harddrive.  ;-)
>
>-- Bradley Miller
>
>
>