Rant - It's All About to Come to a Screeching Halt

As if it's not enough that our gasoline bill has tripled in just this past month, I recently got a letter from my cable company.  If you're like me, you get your internet connection along with your cable because "bundling" is cheaper (we no longer have a land-line phone.  The only people who called us on it were survey takers and people wanting to sell us something, anyway.  Even after we put the number on every Do Not Call list we could find, companies still found a way to get around it.)

In short, the letter said that they noticed we used a lot more bandwidth than the "average" household.  Well, that's true.  My husband works at home for a company that writes and installs (and supports via internet) software for hospitals.  Which means he's on the computer all day with his company, with hospitals needing help, or via video conference calls.  Then when I get home, I get online to check my email, be available via Yahoo IMs to my editors, cover artists, and publishers (and friends!), work on my website, read my favorite blogs, etc., AND I REMAIN LOGGED ON.

I'll bet that a lot of authors who have the luxury of being able to write full time do the same thing.  They log onto the 'net and pretty much stay on it as they pull up their latest WIP and write.

That may all come to a screeching halt, and soon.

Apparently the cable companies (and I'm going to assume the internet companies who also provide) are going to start charging Per Bandwidth.  It isn't enough now that we have to pay to be able to log on to the internet in the first place, but we will soon begin to pay for how long we're on, and how much we use it.

If they do, then those of us who log on and remain online will no longer have that luxury.  We'll have to log on, retrieve our emails, then log off and remain off-line while we work.  Of course, the plus side is we'll probably be able to get a lot more writing done.  But to me, this is just another way for a company to find a way to gouge us twice for receiving the same service.

End Rant.