Internet Metering

What Does Internet Metering Mean?

Internet metering is a service model in which an Internet service provider (ISP) tracks a customer’s bandwidth usage, and the customer pays according to how much has been consumed, effectively likening Internet connectivity to utility services like electricity, water and gas.

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Geared toward controlling heavy bandwidth users, the idea of Internet metering is that casual users should not have to pay as much as power users.

Techopedia Explains Internet Metering

Internet metering is a method of bandwidth throttling, as it causes customers to take note of their usage in order to avoid paying more. The usual service scheme for Internet metering is that customers are offered a specific amount of bandwidth for a certain price, and any usage above that limit is charged an extra fee, usually per GB.

There is some debate about Internet metering. Experts say that it limits advancement in technology, as users would shy away from Internet-based services and applications for fear of having to pay more for their usage. Bandwidth also is becoming very cheap because constant technology innovations ensure greater availability, even on current generation lines. The fiber optic bandwidth limit has not yet been reached. According to its detractors, this is a way for cable companies, who, incidentally, are often ISPs, to eliminate online competitors that provide cable TV alternatives, like Netflix and Hulu. Another viewpoint is that metering can make bandwidth usage more fair for all.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…