Here you go:
1. The best way to look at the broadband cap issue is not from a technology perspective but from the perspective of human rights. Before the printing press was invented, the struggle between English and the French / Latin languages was tipped when most of the learned clergy died during the bubonic plague. Since Latin and French were the languages spoken by the few and the learned, only people of the Church were allowed to speak it. The clergy was put in charge of tending to plague victims and hence, also succumbed to it and perished. It was the same with whatever written manuscripts there were — only read and understood by the enlightened, until Wycliffe decided to translate the bible into English. Because of this tip, English prevailed as the new language of the western world since everyone that mattered was dead from the plague. The spoken word, the printing press, and today, the Internet are examples of prime movers – of mediums of communication. Capping it would similar to cutting off your tongue or denying the right to free speech. Very dark ages. If you hamper the medium, you stunt culture. I thought we were all about nation building.
The broadband cap is a last stand effort to cry out, giving existing telcos a chance to compete using sub-par products with attractive marketing lures. I’d go as far as saying that this happens in other industries that eventually translate to policy: the open skies program of the DOT which was heavily criticized by the “old guard” in an effort to save Philippine Airlines from competition. Hr hr hr.
2. On the subject of “illegal downloads” this is a faulty argument. I for one spend money to legally download torrents from legitimate online stores such as Steam and Games for Windows and Battle.net. Sure, people do download illegally. But so do government institutions. Dicks. Implement a policy that rewards people who download legally. Today, downloading 1GB updates is common. Imagine a 5GB / day cap. With crappy Internet, you probably need to download the same file more than 5x without a download manager. Before you know it, you’ve used up your limit because of Internet that doesn’t deliver. So many local businesses need more than 5GB / day. What year are we in? 2001? I don’t know about you — but netizens who are all for the broadband cap live really boring lives online.
3. Am I willing to pay more for better Internet? Of course. But in a country where the “best Internet” is laughable, it is very justified to have providers man up first. You know what? Maybe it should happen. So that new players can come in to offer something much better than the BS we have to cope with.