SPCR

News for 2011-02-03

http://www.silentpcreview.com/news-2011-02-03

* AMD updates Phenom II prices
* Do large downloads need a Not Safe for Canada tag/badge?
* Intel SSD firmware updates for G2 (34nm) drives
* OCZ Technology introduces ZX Series 80 Plus Gold modular PSUs
* StarTech launches first SATA HDD docks to support four drives simultaneously

Canada reverses metered Internet decision
shazam! should never have happened in the first place... but yeah SHAZAM!

dhanson865 wrote:* StarTech launches first SATA HDD docks to support sour drives simultaneously

Do they do savoury? I'm not much for sour.

Monkeh16 wrote:

dhanson865 wrote:* StarTech launches first SATA HDD docks to support sour drives simultaneously

Do they do savoury? I'm not much for sour.

I prefer sweet myself. I always add more honey or sugar to my sweet and sour sauce.

I definitely get the mouth watering desire for new tech. I saw a quad drive dock and though hmm that'd be convenient for some of the things I've done in the past.

I do touch type so maybe that is a subliminal message from my stomach?

dhanson865 wasn't there someone else doing these SPCR news updates before? Or has it been you all along?

"The widespread use of bandwidth caps in Canada is a function of a highly concentrated market where a handful of ISPs (literally—Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Telus, and Videotron) control so much of the market that they can impose wildly unpopular measures without much fear of losing customers,"

It's always been like that here too, at least in the Midwest US (I have 2-3 choices and less in the past), but they don't put such draconian caps on thankfully. Most people still hate the ISPs though for other reasons.

ces wrote:dhanson865 wasn't there someone else doing these SPCR news updates before? Or has it been you all along?

I know Mike has done his recently but I have a vague memory that maybe someone else did it for a short period a year or two back. If so they didn't do it long. Maybe Mike will chip in with an answer to that.

Of course there are the normal reviewers at SPCR as well

Mike Chen
Lawrence Lee
Devon Cooke

Maybe we are both remembering something one of the regulars did at some point.

I've been around this site since 2003? but I didn't post until 2005 and I didn't do any news for the site before 2011.

fumino wrote:Canada reverses metered Internet decision
shazam! should never have happened in the first place... but yeah SHAZAM!

Back in the phone modem days (about ten years ago) it was billing by the minute for me and many other users. At the normal download speed that meant a cost of about 1 SEK/MB (0.15 USD/MB or $150 /GB) if you were downloading constantly. Just looking at web pages kept the meter running at the same pace.

I can see that ISPs want to charge for the traffic, since it differs a lot between users. Some really use up lots of their theoretical maximum, while most users just need to download a little every now and then. Why should infrequent users have to pay the same as the heavy users? With differentiating costs based on average "speed" per month rather than the peak transfer speed many users should be able to get reduced fees.
The average price (combined total of all customers) should stay the same, and needs to be monitored by the authorities.

Cheers
Olle

Olle P wrote:I can see that ISPs want to charge for the traffic, since it differs a lot between users. Some really use up lots of their theoretical maximum, while most users just need to download a little every now and then. Why should infrequent users have to pay the same as the heavy users? With differentiating costs based on average "speed" per month rather than the peak transfer speed many users should be able to get reduced fees.
The average price (combined total of all customers) should stay the same, and needs to be monitored by the authorities.

A business strategy that reduces the cost to the majority is likely to be a money loser. ISPs want to get more revenue from light users, not less!

Yeah, even if they made it so they came out even compared to how they do it now, they wouldn't reduce the price for the majority of users. They'd have a required plan minimum so the people not using much would still pay for more than their fair share, similar to smartphone data plans.