Usage-Based Billing, where users pay for access by the Giga-Bit, hasn't been around since the 1990s - we think, anyway. It's been a long time since AOL was able to use that business model to become so large they could acquire Time-Warner in the biggest transfer of pretend Internet money ever.
It's still around in Europe, where they don't mind paying more for stuff, but if it's going to be resurrected in the America's, the best place to try is where no one ever protests - Canada.
Even Canadians are not thrilled about it. They can blame their government, where the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved usage-based billing for Bell Canada.
They say it is to 'preserve capacity' in an age of streaming video. I'd say any time a government-endorsed monopoly is allowed to charge whatever they want, it's good for profits and no one else.
Will it happen here? Sure, this sort of thing goes in cycle and Comcast will make a fortune until someone comes along with a new way to add bandwidth and charges a modest fee for unlimited access.
