Cell Phones: i concede that my remarks on this example were ill-chosen.
Internet: if ‘normal users’ only got through during off-peak hours, then there would just stop being any normal users, and it'd be equivalent to an increase in internet service prices, which happens for everybody. The extra revenue presumably goes in part to pay for the extra cable that the high-speed consumers are using, because, assuming we keep the really evil conspiracies under control, it's generally in the provider's best interest to charge the consumer in proportion to the cost of what the consumer consumes. if normal users did stop getting service at certain hours, then almost everybody would pay for deluxe service, and it'd just be so much more price inflation, which is a fact of life that we (thankfully) don't usually expect the law to try to stop. or if some people didn't it'd be because they valued their money more than being able to get online at all hours. if i'm a light internet user who only wants to check my email once or twice a day, and i'm, say, retired, and have a flexible schedule, and somebody's willing to let me by exactly what i need for less, what's the problem?
as you present it the high volume times bandwidth is in more demand, and the providers want to recognize this by making it cost more at those times. in any other field this would be standard business practice (matinee rates for movies, early bird specials at restaurants, peak hour fees for public transportation, seasonal fluctuations in the price of air travel, phone plans that charge more for calls during business hours, or give you more free minutes on the weekends, et c.). if your business model involves investment in some resources that last a while, but have demand that's variable over time, then it makes sense to use price discrimination to encourage people to use your service at the times when you're not operating near capacity, and to try to exploit the higher demand at other times to get more money for your temporarily more popular product.
no subject
Postal service:
quotes from USPS.com on the cost of sending a 3 ounce envelope from Salem, MA to Salem, OR. you can spend between $0.87 (estimated delivery time of three days) and 14.40 (for guaranteed overnight). all of these are options administered by the United States Postal Service. FedEx provides some competing services.
Cell Phones:
i concede that my remarks on this example were ill-chosen.
Internet:
if ‘normal users’ only got through during off-peak hours, then there would just stop being any normal users, and it'd be equivalent to an increase in internet service prices, which happens for everybody. The extra revenue presumably goes in part to pay for the extra cable that the high-speed consumers are using, because, assuming we keep the really evil conspiracies under control, it's generally in the provider's best interest to charge the consumer in proportion to the cost of what the consumer consumes. if normal users did stop getting service at certain hours, then almost everybody would pay for deluxe service, and it'd just be so much more price inflation, which is a fact of life that we (thankfully) don't usually expect the law to try to stop. or if some people didn't it'd be because they valued their money more than being able to get online at all hours. if i'm a light internet user who only wants to check my email once or twice a day, and i'm, say, retired, and have a flexible schedule, and somebody's willing to let me by exactly what i need for less, what's the problem?
as you present it the high volume times bandwidth is in more demand, and the providers want to recognize this by making it cost more at those times. in any other field this would be standard business practice (matinee rates for movies, early bird specials at restaurants, peak hour fees for public transportation, seasonal fluctuations in the price of air travel, phone plans that charge more for calls during business hours, or give you more free minutes on the weekends, et c.). if your business model involves investment in some resources that last a while, but have demand that's variable over time, then it makes sense to use price discrimination to encourage people to use your service at the times when you're not operating near capacity, and to try to exploit the higher demand at other times to get more money for your temporarily more popular product.