http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/te...783&ei=5087%0A
Some people use the Internet simply to check e-mail and look up phone numbers. Others are online all day, downloading big video and music files.
For years, both kinds of Web surfers have paid the same price for access.
But now three of the [USA’s] largest Internet service providers are threatening to clamp down on their most active subscribers by placing monthly limits on their online activity.
Fun story about internet metering from our friends in the US of A. Time Warner Cable is running a trial in Texas where new internet subscribers have three different internet plans to choose from with different bandwidth caps: 5, 20, 40GB. Anything over that is $1/GB. The program is only in the trial phase right now (though I can recall something like this was tried 5 or 6 years ago with poor results... I think).
I can imagine there are plenty of users here who would be up in arms if their ISP tried something like this. I don't use nearly as much bandwidth as I used to but with the rise in internet gaming (XBox, PS, Wii, WoW, etc.) and online video services (iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, etc.) not to mention "illegal" downloading, you can see how the network infrastructure might be in for a bumpy ride.
However, if I'm going to be paying by the GB then there needs better be some changes in the way content shows up on websites. I don't want my bandwidth used up by stupid autoplay videos, popup/popunders, interstital ads, flashy banners and the like.