I don't like this idea because I'm a power user and would stand to lose in this transition but I realise that's not a good argument.
Here are some thoughts:
Other utilities usually come with a base fee, ie. even if I were to consume no electricity I'd still pay some amount of money per month. The total cost is (base fee + usage fee). So it's not purely based on consumed resource amount.
If we were to transition to a consumption based fee model to realign incentives, it would stand to reason that the amount of revenues the telcos should get should not change significantly. I expect that the telcos would not be able to resist gouging their customers if consumption based fees were to comeback (competition might drive down prices... eventually).
Water and electricity are quite cheap (in first world terms). There's an incentive not to be grossly wasteful with either, but that's it, really. It'd be nice if internet consumption fees could work in a similar way.
Here are some thoughts:
Other utilities usually come with a base fee, ie. even if I were to consume no electricity I'd still pay some amount of money per month. The total cost is (base fee + usage fee). So it's not purely based on consumed resource amount.
If we were to transition to a consumption based fee model to realign incentives, it would stand to reason that the amount of revenues the telcos should get should not change significantly. I expect that the telcos would not be able to resist gouging their customers if consumption based fees were to comeback (competition might drive down prices... eventually).
Water and electricity are quite cheap (in first world terms). There's an incentive not to be grossly wasteful with either, but that's it, really. It'd be nice if internet consumption fees could work in a similar way.