• Overview
  
  
• Technology
• Multilinking Modems
  
• Load Balancing
  
• ISDN
  
• T-1/DS-1
  
• Wired Ethernet
  
• Rural broadband
  
• Satellite Internet
  
• Cellular Broadband
  
• Remote DSL
  
• DSL repeater
  
• Power-line Internet
  
• Wireless ISP
  
• iBlast
  
• WorldSpace
  
  
• Pricing

Pricing

Traditionally, ISPs have used an "all you can eat" or flat rate model, with pricing determined by the maximum bitrate chosen by the customer. However the use of high bandwidth applications is increasing rapidly, with increased consumer demand for streaming content such as video on demand, as well as peer-to-peer file sharing

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For ISP's who are bandwidth limited, the "all you can eat" model may become unsustainable as demand for bandwidth increases. Fixed costs represent 80-90% of the cost of providing broadband service, and although most ISP's keep their cost secret, the total cost (January 2008) is estimated to be about $0.10 per gigabyte. Currently about 5% of users consume about 50% of the total bandwidth.
Some ISPs have begun experimenting with usage based pricing, notably a Time Warner test in Beaumont, Texas. Bell Canada has imposed bandwidth caps on customers, with pricing ranging from $1 to $7.50 per gigabyte for usage over certain limits. For comparison, note that a typical standard-definition movie is 1-2 GB, while a high-definition movie is 4-5GB. This could conceivably result in a charge of $30 to view a movie.