Cloud services and data limits creating new problems for end users: Report

The increasing popularity of cloud media services is creating new problems for Internet users with bandwidth caps and data overage charges, a new report commissioned by the CRTC says. The report, released Monday and titled “Environmental Scan of Digital Media Convergence Trends: Disruptive Innovation, Regulatory Opportunities and Challenges,” said “cloud-based music, media consumption, purchase, management and storage is catching on with consumers and will become mainstream in the next year.” Cloud services from Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are growing but early users are experiencing “widespread issues” when they hit bandwidth caps often due to backing up multimedia data, images and video files, the report said. The report warned that households that regularly watch Netflix movies in high-definition and backup content with syncing services like Carbonite, MobileMe, or CloudDrive are in “real danger of hitting data plan caps and facing strict penalties ... and step fees for exceeding 'acceptable use' policy limits.” Sidneyeve Matrix, a communications consultant at MatrixMediaFX, wrote the report for the CRTC last year. The commission released it Monday. The report cited AT&T Inc. as saying that, “on average, only two per cent of customers would be affected by the data cap.” It also noted that critics argue “watching Netflix movies or TV for two hours per night for 30 days would more than triple the average data use and take customers more than a third of the way to the data cap.” The report said that as new applications emerge for smartphones, tablets and e-readers, the risk will grow for consumers exceeding their bandwidth limits. “Handheld video conferencing via Google Hangouts, Facebook Video Chat or Skype Video chat, is a heavy-bandwidth activity,” the report said. “Likewise, as more streaming video services come online, connected commuters and many young people will watch more video on their mobile phones—using up data plans rapidly.” The report added that the contradictory nature of cloud computing and data caps raises questions about whether Internet service providers (ISPs) should be permitted to cut off households or small businesses from service due to overuse. A debate is now taking place on whether Internet connectivity is an essential service, such as water, electricity or the telephone, the report said. The report referenced an article published by the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC), entitled “Data Caps Could Cut Artists off from the Cloud,” in which author Aalok Mehta argued that the mix of larger files, cloud services and data caps “could be especially damaging and risky to filmmakers, musicians and photographers.” The report said ISPs should be clear when disclosing their limits and offer “more transparency around their subscribers’ usage details and patterns.” “Put differently, ‘bandwidth hogging’ consumers should receive a more appropriate response than a canned notification that they’ve hit the cap—one that lets them know what to do next and how to avoid repeat offenses and getting banned from the web altogether,” the report said. The report added that a bandwidth monitor, which many service providers offer, is not enough. Customers need more information available to them so they can make better informed decisions about data, mobile, and Internet plans, the report said. news@thewirereport.ca

Cloud services and data limits creating new problems for end users: Report

Broadcast | February 6, 2012

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