1 edit | A Gigabit is not a Gigabyte... I bet most have no idea on the GB vs Gb. 
Gigabit is a billion bits. And a byte has 8bits. So a Gigabit is 125Megabytes.
And 125*8=1000
Gigabyte is a billion bytes.
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Splat
oops. Damn B and M keys...  |
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 LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5 | Parents will have to monitor their kids spending Parents will have to monitor their kids spending - imagine that.
quote:
parents will not only have to keep an eye on the number of text messages and phone calls{LOL - all plans are now unlimited. No one tracks phone calls} their children are burning through, but also the amount of video, music and games they are streaming over the cellular network.
Their kids know how to keep track. The new technologies don't bother them at all. And I bet they will know, if they are incentivized to, how much they are using. And that is where parents come in. Kids go over their limits - then TAKE AWAY THEIR DATA PLAN. |
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 thegeekPremium
join:2008-02-21
right here
kudos:2
 ·Suddenlink
| Blame the Consumer It's not the responsibility of the carrier to make sure the customer knows what a Gigabyte is. It is the responsibility of the customer.
I get so tired of the "woe is me" attitude people have anymore. The carrier is not there to hold your hand. They are there to provide you a service under specific conditions. Conditions which are clearly spelled out in the contract which you must sign to get those services. If you don't understand the conditions then it is your responsibility to figure it out.
"I don't know what a gigabyte is and I went way over my allotment by watching midget bestiality porn on my iCrap. Boohoo." Tough shit, maybe you should have read the contract before you signed. |
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| reply to Linklist
Re: Parents will have to monitor their kids spending so how bout we just go unlimited amirite |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | If you don't what a Gigabyte is then you kind of deserved to be over charged. Seriously I'm tired of having to explain to people what certain "tech" things are even though they have had computers, internet access and cell phones for over a decade. Take some time out and educate yourselves. |
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 funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:6 | reply to Linklist
Re: Parents will have to monitor their kids spending said by Linklist:{LOL - all plans are now unlimited. No one tracks phone calls} Not all phone plans are unlimited. I'm on the 700 minute plan, for example... »www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/plan···ge=share ...but it's probably true that kids these days don't make too many voice calls.
said by Linklist:Their kids know how to keep track. The new technologies don't bother them at all. Kids didn't know how to keep track of their phone minutes when they were making phone calls. Kids must have unlimited text plans because there is no limited plan that can contain them. These reasons are why metered billing for bandwidth is probably a cash cow for carriers.
said by Linklist:And I bet they will know, if they are incentivized to, how much they are using. And that is where parents come in. Kids go over their limits - then TAKE AWAY THEIR DATA PLAN. I haven't been following closely but I believe that both AT&T and Verizon require a minimal dataplan for all smartphone devices. The parent would have to take away the phone -- which carriers are betting is akin to capital punishment in contemporary American families.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Cape Cod, MA -- KE1MO
Tweet! Tweet! -- »twitter.com/funchords |
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 MemphisPCGuyTaking Care BusinessPremium
join:2004-05-09
Memphis, TN
·Comcast
| Regardless, you can't know "how much" until Afterwards Regardless if you "know" what a Gigabyte is, you can't know "how much" something is until after it has been consumed. I think that is the biggest problem. With a world of variable bitrates and sizes, there is no easy way a person can quantify "how much is that" before clicking on it. And you can't give them back if it wasn't worth it
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Onsite Computer Support in Memphis
»www.memphispcguy.com |
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funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:6 | reply to BF69
Re: If you don't what a Gigabyte is said by BF69:then you kind of deserved to be over charged.
Everyone deserves reasonable charges. "Gotcha" capitalism just to bring in big profits is an evil.
said by BF69:Seriously I'm tired of having to explain to people what certain "tech" things are even though they have had computers, internet access and cell phones for over a decade.
If you're having to explain it to them, then someone is asking. Those are, by your definition, are good people trying to become more savvy users. Why are you irritated?
I think this "Most Still Have no Idea What a Gigabyte is" argument, while true, isn't a good enough reason to rail against consumption-based billing. Plenty of people use electricity without knowing what a kWh is and how it affects their bill. I use tap water without comprehending how many glasses I can drink per 100 cubit meters (the unit of measurement on my water bill).
If the rates and overages are fair, and not designed to be "gotchas" intended to trap normal customers doing normal things, then what's the harm? A sign of consumption-based billing going correctly will be that very low users can get very low bills. If that's not happening, then the situation deserves scrutiny.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Cape Cod, MA -- KE1MO
Tweet! Tweet! -- »twitter.com/funchords |
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Reviews:
·Earthlink Cable ..
 ·Verizon FiOS
| reply to cableties
Re: A Gigabit is not a Gigabyte... said by cableties:Gigabit is a million bits.
...
Gigabyte is a million bytes. BZZZT!
Nope. Sorry. Thanks for playing! |
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 GlennAllenSunny with highs in the 80s
join:2002-11-17
Richmond, VA | reply to cableties
Actually, 'Gb' has no real usefulness. There's 'GB' (gigabyte--a binary value; for storage [memory or disk]) and 'gb' (gigabit--a decimal value; for communications speed, as in 'gbps'). |
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| Usage. Most users sign up thinking they have unlimided usage. When they go over they say I didn't know it was capped. |
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kxrm
join:2002-07-18
Fort Worth, TX | I think the real concern... is that people can't look at say a youtube video or an application and really understand how much data it uses. You can buy a car and predict fairly easily how many miles you can drive per gallon of fuel. You can buy an appliance at the store and know fairly quickly and easily how much electricity it consumes. However ask anyone how much data an app might use or a video and most won't have a clue. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to funchords
Re: If you don't what a Gigabyte is the main hole in consumption based billing is that I doubt current monthly rates will drop. Even if we went purely billed by the gig I bet internet services would still be 40-60 bucks a month rather than a small access fee+usage like most electric companies do.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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| Lexx a gigabyte is when one giant insect comes and bits your home planet right?
lol |
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 djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
kudos:1
 ·VOIPo
 ·Verizon Wireless..
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T U-Verse
| Most people don't know what a kilowatt hour is either. I'm no fan of usage based internet billing, but the electric company has been billing me in "kWh" units for decades. My water bill is even in a strange unit of cubic feet. My natural gas is billed in "therms". Most people don't understand the units, but have figured out how their usage habits impact their bill anyway.
Accurate meters, and access to functional realtime meter monitoring seems like a more important issue than understanding what a gigabyte is.
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AT&T U-Hearse - RIP Unlimited Internet 1995-2011
Rethink Billable.
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Reviews:
·Shaw
| reply to cableties
Re: A Gigabit is not a Gigabyte... It is a shame they decided to use both forms of measurement.
In the early 90s it seemed everything was advertised in bytes. Then when networking took off they decided to measure in bits. Probably because they didn't want to advertise they ran at 12.5 megabytes's. 100 mbits sounds cooler.. ugh. |
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GlennAllenSunny with highs in the 80s
join:2002-11-17
Richmond, VA | reply to djrobx
Re: Most people don't know what a kilowatt hour is either. The real problem is that greater usage on the part of a customer does not correlate with greater cost on the part of the ISP, which is something the ISP really doesn't want to explain. |
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GlennAllenSunny with highs in the 80s
join:2002-11-17
Richmond, VA | reply to zod5000
Re: A Gigabit is not a Gigabyte... Communication speeds have always been measured in bits per second. (Transfer rates on the other hand...) |
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| reply to GlennAllen
Yep some use the SI units to confuse people even more. Binary SI prefixes don't use the Kilo, Giga, or Mega like back in the day. Now it is Kibi, Gibi, and Mebi bytes or bits. You might see a file from a website that you might want to download in KiB instead of KB.
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