Internet Usage- Who
is metering the Meters?
lily is monitoring my internet concerns today as well the bird feeder
I pay good cash
for my internet service. Whenever I run out I just access the T-Mobile site and
the already have my bank information and immediately with draw the funds
necessary to advance me however many gigs of service I need or desire. I try to
buy the largest packages as I use quite a bit of service in a month. Keep in
mind I have no contract and they are paid instantly but still I am treated like
a second class citizen because I don’t want to have that contract or be obligated
for an overpriced phone or internet modem. I have paid cash for all my phones
and also for my mobile internet device. Now my question is who is metering the
ISP or internet service provider.
If I am selling
firewood and although I may be selling pine it makes no difference to no one
except the buyer and the state of Ohio which has a fraud division of their
standard weights and measures, that would in effect or could force me into
court if I was to sell a cord of wood at anything less than 128 cu. Ft.. This
is the only way you can legally advertise to sell wood in the state of Ohio. When
you see it sold by the truckload they are in effect selling firewood illegally.
Now it doesn’t matter like I said before whether it is pine or oak or whether
it was just cut, or has been dried for a year as it is supposed to be. If I sell
wood in the state of Ohio at anything less than a cord measurement I can be
hauled into court and face a fraud charge for selling firewood illegally. I have
never seen it happen and flagrant abuses of selling firewood is quite common
and it is up to the attorney general’s office to prosecute but rarely if ever
do you see a case . Instead you see warnings in most newspapers where firewood
sellers advertise.
The state
commonly checks the amount of gas that is being sold as part of their standard
weights and measures programs, assuring that we are paying exactly what we
should for in regards to our gas and also the amount in taxes we should be
paying. This is part of a program ran by the county auditors and their results
are sent to the state level to assure that all gas stations are fully in
compliance with the standards. The same goes with anything sold by weight as
scales all need to be calibrated within a certain amount of tolerance to assure
that you are paying what you are supposed to pay for the quantity you are
paying for. Who regulates our internet service providers? No one I can find. Yet the state receives tax money based on the
amount of service provided. And no one is regulating the meters of the internet
service providers.
My internet
service provider cannot give me an accurate reading or daily usage amount of
information I requested over the internet and I guess their argument would be
it would be impossible to differentiate between bits used for advertising their
product and what internet I actually use for my own pleasure and benefit. It would
see that if I click on something like Facebook, that it is something I am using
for my own benefit. My problem with that theory is that when I click on Facebook
I not only click for my benefit but also for the ISP that is providing the service
and all the information gathering programs running silently behind my screen. Gouging
my personal life of facts concerning what I am looking at most in terms of
products, so that companies can direct their ads to entice me to click away on
their product.
a frozen hunk of cold for your viewing perusal
Did I give T-Mobile
the right to sell my personal information? Not really, but in effect I guess in
the fine print their ass is covered by some clause a lawyer wrote up giving
them authorization to run programs concerning my usage without my permission
being granted. There is no button to opt out. I have a problem with this. My
main problem is that I am paying for all those bits of information being
gathered and dispensed to companies to further increase my usage rate causing
me to come up short on a monthly basis the amount of data I would need to keep
my service running. Every time you click on something an average of 10 percent
of your data is used by someone other than yourself as advertising in one way
or another. So if I have 11 gigs of service for a month and I lose 1o percent
of it. Then in effect, I am paying for advertisers to attack me with 1.1 gigs
of unwanted advertising I paid for. And on top of that I have to pay sales tax.
To further make
things worse, is that no one is watching the internet service providers as they
turn up the pumps or turn them down as they so desire to assure that the flow
of internet is exactly what I am paying for. Even when I click on yahoo, I will
get a catchy ad from T- mobile telling me what a good deal they are offering me
while they are screwing me. Do the ISP’s really think that we are that ignorant?
I have to pay for that data gouging ad and would really rather opt out but can’t
because there is no easy out button. So I have to pay for it and a lot of other
advertising as well as fact gathering programs running behind the scenes. And on
top of that I have to pay taxes on an unregulated amount of data. So am I paying
an unfair amount of taxes to the state and federal government when there is no
standard by which they are required to adhere too?
I believe that
just like gas stations and other businesses that are asked to adhere to
standards then if you are selling data by the gig then you need to have you
meters regulated somehow, some way. And this also means if you are selling,
then there needs to be away to block ads from your internet service provider
unless you specifically ask for it. This should be up to the state and our
attorney generals to make sure that all internet service providers in our state
adhere to the same standards. They are gouging certain portions of our
communities while those who abuse the internet have virtually a free reign to
use unlimited data.
If you belong to a
plan then and you have multiple phones and lines your per line prices are
cheaper and you basically have unlimited data , and your monthly taxes are
pretty much a basic fee you know what it is supposed to be. This requires good
credit and a contract, of which I am capable but have no need for multiple
lines except a telephone and internet service. This setup is not for me.
I am not going to
pay for more than what I need, or worry about sharing a plan with someone else,
as I can take care of myself quite well. I just expect to get what I am paying for.
Instead of a cord of wood I am getting a pickup full, and no one is paying
attention to who is loading the truck. Why because the state is making money on
internet taxes as well as permitting, and cell towers and whatever else is
associated with the wireless industry. They could care less as long as they get
there tax money.
I just want what I
am supposed to be paying for and feel that if the state wants their share of
the tax money it obligates them to make sure that they are getting all that
they should, and one way of doing that is monitoring the amount of data that
internet service providers are actually charging us for. If they want to sell a
quantity of service then someone needs to be watching these yahoos, and making
sure that the state is getting all it deserves. Another question I have is how
can you offer one customer unlimited service and another you charge for a
specific amount. The one paying for that amount subsidizes the one with
unlimited service, knowing full well without limits the unlimited service user
is actually over using his service although paying more per month for contract
service. In order for the taxation to be equal then all users need to pay taxes
on all services used or quit with the quantity method of offering internet
service.
No one group should
be charged more taxes then another. If joe blow is using 20 gigs of service and
has unlimited service and is paying as much taxes as me when I have 11 gigs of
service , and I can’t be sure I am
getting all of what I am paying for is this right. No it isn’t right. The problem
is that it is singling out a certain portion of our consumers who refuse to or can’t
afford to be in a contract and making them pay an unfair share of taxes
proportionate to their income. The ones who least could afford the higher rates
are the ones being charged. These are also the ones who should have access to
the internet most, in order to be updated on transportation , free services ,
help available as a lot of charities and government health care providers are
now using the internet most frequently and the target of their information is
the people who can least afford the internet.
To me this is the
major reason we need the state to monitor all internet service providers to
assure that we as citizens are getting exactly what we are paying or. Or got to
another form of payment where all people are treated equally. How many internet
service providers offer their services based on gigs of service provided? Who checks
them?
Below is an article regarding who is watching the internet. surely not the FCC. I plan on forwarding this blog article to my representatives in the state legislature and in congress, to see if in fact there is anything being done to assure that the internet is being monitored , and will get back to you with my results if any responds.
Firm That Tests ISP Meters: ISP Meters Aren't Accurate - And Many ISPs Simply Don't Care | DSLReports, ISP Information
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