There's an old saying in the car world – people buy horsepower and drive torque. Car companies always talk up the HP (even when they're kind of sad for the weight of the car, but I digress)…
ISPs sell peak speeds and customers live the reality of the fine print that talks all about it being a shared line and that real speeds will often be lower than the advertised peak…
Yes, it's their fault, but no, it's not – expecting average consumers to fully investigate every spec and to understand things like SLA guarantees for every product and service they buy in a world that is growing ever more complex has to end somewhere right? At some point, that total burden becomes unreasonable from a user-centered perspective, right?
Even the power company -- which, for all its complexity, is a vastly simpler system to model and predict -- turns off my AC from time to time to keep up with load.
Availability of a shared network cannot be guaranteed. It's the irresistible force. Even if consumers don't understand, it still cannot be guaranteed.
Or, they could each have explicitly allocated pipes. They will pay a lot more for the privilege, though, just like they would pay a lot more for a private road instead of one they have to share with their neighbors.
ISPs sell peak speeds and customers live the reality of the fine print that talks all about it being a shared line and that real speeds will often be lower than the advertised peak…
Yes, it's their fault, but no, it's not – expecting average consumers to fully investigate every spec and to understand things like SLA guarantees for every product and service they buy in a world that is growing ever more complex has to end somewhere right? At some point, that total burden becomes unreasonable from a user-centered perspective, right?