As with many evolving technologies, blogging is something of a gray area when it comes to the law. While many aspects of blogging is subject to the same laws of defamation as other mediums, it is an evolving process that needs precedents in order to make it clear.
Recently, the anonymity of bloggers has been called into question. It was once thought that those who blogged anonymously had protection against prosecution. Subsequent court rulings indicated otherwise.
Up until relatively recently, blogging anonymously was relatively safe. Thanks to the 1995 McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, the Supreme Court had ruled that the right to anonymous free speech was squarely protected by the First Amendment.
The ruling stated that anonymity was a viable tool in allowing a minority voice to be heard.
“Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views…Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority…It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation…at the hand of an intolerant society..”
However, the law never stands still. Model, Liskula Cohen from New York successfully applied for a court ruling to compel Google to provide the details of a blogger who defamed her. The New York Supreme Court upheld her case and forced Google to hand over the details.
The court said that the misuse of the internet cannot be ignored and the protection of anonymity has to be balanced with the rights of people who suffer damages. Those who suffer damages as a result of actionable communications on the internet should have a redress in law.
A similar case in California resulted in a slightly different approach by the California Superior Court. The Chang Case as it became known involved an agreement between a former police officer and the University of California. Chang blogged about the case, which received some anonymous feedback, which Chang believed to be from the University.
Rather than forcing Google (who owned the blog) to provide the details of the posters, the judge ordered a third-party investigator to view the details and only provide them if they were indeed from the University. This is a useful compromise that seeks to protect both the defamed and the blogger.
This ruling was received positively by the internet community at large. It pointed towards a court that viewed the bigger picture and worked to balance the First Amendment and the right to redress.
Going forward, bloggers need to be careful about what and whom they blog about. The laws of defamation have not changed, even if the mediums through which they can be practiced have. The law is clear, in that the freedom of speech prevails, but people have a right to redress if they are defamed.
Bloggers, anonymous or otherwise need to be careful what they say and who they say it to if they want to avoid being taken to court. The law is clear, opinion is free, defamation is not.
December 19, 2011
by admin Comments Off
The number of Charlotte furnished apartment units is on the rise despite the fact that the economy is still in the slumps. The reason for this is that everyone, starting from businessmen to workers who choose relocation for work, wants the comforts of home even when they’re far away from it. Besides, in comparison with hotel rooms, furnished apartments and houses are more pocket-friendly than hotel rooms.
However, if you seek corporate housing, you need to make sure of three things before you pay the rent and move in.
Factor #1) Location
One of the first things you should consider while looking for furnished apartments is their location. The best furnished rentals are available at city centers or near business areas and facilities. They are also located in areas well known for their safety because they will accommodate other businessmen and workers on the move. So, you need to do your research to first investigate ideal areas you can live in and then find corporate furnished housing providers.
Factor #2) The Amenities
Whether you go for apartment rental or home rental, you need to make sure that you have everything you need on site or close to your furnished accommodation. One of the first aspects you should consider is ease of transportation. If you will commute by car, you should have access to parking; on the other hand, you need to be close to bus stops in case you prefer traveling by bus.
Another facility you will really need is shopping centers. Your furnished housing unit should be close to shopping malls, drug stores and convenience stores so that you can always get your necessities with ease. In addition, being close to a few entertainment centers such as a movie theater or a club is never be a bad idea.
After all, you need a few hours to relax, unwind and prepare for the next working day and the series of meetings you will have to sit through. If you want, you can add more amenities and facilities to the list. Just focus on things which can make your stay more comfortable, because that is what furnished homes are all about.
Factor #3) Apartment Features
After ensuring your furnished apartment or home’s location and nearby facilities, you need to give enough thought to the unit itself. Depending on how many people will live with you, you need to find out whether the numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms are sufficient.
In addition, you should investigate different aspects such as the quality of the furniture, the size of the rooms, the building or housing complex’s security, type of appliances offered and the availability of necessary services such as wireless access.
You may believe that seeing a few pictures of the furnished housing units is sufficient, but you need to check the premises yourself to make sure that you’re getting what you have been promised. If you can’t fly or commute there yourself or know someone living there, consider checking user reviews. Someone must have stayed in that unit previously and written about their experience.
You can always add more factors to this list, but these three are the essential keys to ensuring you few disappointments after choosing and paying for a fully furnished rental.
Leased Line : As a leading internet service provider, Net4 in partnership with its ISP partners provides PAN India Leased Line connections on high-tech 3 GN Network. Its network is multi-redundant and fully meshed, with connectivity to FLAG, i2i, SEAMEWE-4 and NIXI in all PoPs (Points of presence). Net4’s bandwidth options consists of N x E-1 (2mbps), DS3 (45 mbps), STM1 (155 mbps) and STM4 (620 mbps).
December 14, 2011
by admin Comments Off
Why should you have solar back-ups? This is easy to answer. If you power goes out for any reason you will have enough power at least to keep the lights on at night. And with them being charged with solar energy you do not need to worry about having natural gas or propane.
Nothing is more aggravating than a storm blowing through and knocking out the lights and anything run by traditional electricity. While you are waiting on the electric company to fix their problem you will at least have lights thanks to your solar back-ups.
Having power available for you at anytime even during outages, makes it much more convenient for you. The back-up systems are not just for residential use but also can be used in commercial applications. This way the business can keep operating on some level even if a blackout occurs.
If a disaster happens such as a tornado you can have power. In times of major disasters like this it is comforting to have power if the rest of the city does not. Remember, you need no electrical or fuel source to run these back-ups. So if there is none available you can still run at least your lights. Some back-ups can store enough power for other uses too.
As you use the power out of them the solar panels you have installed will collect more sunlight and store some more power. This way you continually have energy to use. You constantly can replenish your supply. This is how convenient solar power is. Are you beginning to see why to have solar back-ups?
The Benefits of Using these Back-Ups
Anything solar powered is clean energy
System switches to back-up without a problem
They are recharged each day from the panels installed
Hardly any maintenance is required
Large Systems
Most large solar power systems already have the back-up batteries included. Some of the smaller ones you might have to add them to. So pay attention to this as you are setting your systems up in the first place. If you include it from the get-go you will never have to be without some reserve-solar power.
General Information
We have a major crisis in the world today with our energy supply. Too many people are in need of electricity and it is getting harder to just use traditional methods for providing it. The fossil fuels are being used at an alarming rate. Also this type of energy is very polluting to the environment. More renewable energy should be used not only because it will not be used up, but also because it is cleaner. Solar is one such method.
Now you know why to have solar back-ups as part of your system. With using them you will be more assured of having power available to you whenever you need it even in outages. Because these are charged by the sun they are also a clean source of renewable energy.
Lanyards are such popularly used items that almost everyone breathing has in one way or another seen or received one as a promotional give-away. In fact, they are becoming the standard for carrying identification badges needed in a number of different venues where security is a concern. Additionally, they make handy tools for keeping certain personal items easy to find such as an important set of keys. Different length and styled lanyards allow users to hang them around a neck, arm, wrist or attached to a belt loop or possibly even a backpack. Two specific facts about lanyards make these items so successful – the design is simple and the production cost is extremely low.
Clips Keep Changing
The interesting point about lanyards is they keep improving, or at least changing, through the years. One area that has seen this change is the lanyard clip. Today, there are a variety of clips with the O-ring being the most commonly popular. The O-ring can be easily attached and removed. It is easy to use hanging your car keys sitting on one end of a split connector while the lanyard remains sitting around your neck. Other lanyards come with a standard bulldog clip – a jaw-like clamp that is used to hold a name tag or ID badge. It can also be use in conjunction with a swivel snap hook that allows for a nit more comfort when wearing a badge. Some lanyards are built with a retractable feature when the ID badge is also used as a key access card to enter through an electronically programmed door. Others use the retractable lanyard to hang traditional lock keys. The retractable lanyard allows use of the hanging or attached item without having to remove it from the cord. The breakaway clip at the end of the back if a lanyard help provide additional security and safety. This prevents injury in the event any force is applied pulling at the attached item so I will quickly be released. Safety conscious individuals will benefit from this type of strap. With safety and security priority concerns today, breakaway clips are becoming part of the standard lanyard design.
Lanyards Can Have a Strapping Difference
The actual strap or cord that makes up most of what is typically known as a lanyard can be made from a wide choice of materials. Common selections include polyester, nylon, cord and cotton. Incidentally, choice of lanyards is made further attractive since they can easily be customized to meet specific needs. Customized lanyards can make excellent advertising items. Businesses, schools, clubs, churches, hospitals and non-profit organizations can easily benefit through using lanyards as promotional items. The choice for using a lanyard is a good one since these items cost relatively far less than many traditional promotional goods. Since it is so inexpensive and can be customized to any type of color, carry any type of logo and even a photo, it can easily be distributed as a free giveaway to visitors at trade shows, conventions or through other marketing venues.
Other creative uses for lanyards can be as party favors, keepsakes to remember a special event or milestone in life.
The need to buy backlinks as part of the search engine optimization process has become mandatory for web development nowadays. Link building can even be considered the very foundation of search engine optimization; just because a website has a great design and interesting content doesn’t mean it will get any traffic or a high ranking on search engines for specific keywords that are even remotely related to your site’s content.
Setting up these backlinks can be particularly time consuming, so the ability to outsource this difficult task can often be a godsend. Many search engine optimization companies offer backlinking as part of basic and comprehensive packages, depending on how vital the need to backlink is for the client. Regardless, the need to buy backlinks cannot be understated in the competitive world of search engine optimization.
What Is Backlinking and What Does It Do?
The many terms and forms of jargon involved with the web design, development and general internet usage can often leave a person clueless about certain terminologies. Coincidentally, the meanings of many words can now be found on the internet with online dictionaries backlinked to search engines, but for those lacking the willpower to overcome laziness, the answer will be discussed below.
A backlink is any link received by a web node such as a web page, directory, or website from another web node. Backlinks are also known as incoming links which are linked to a web page. Prior to the emergence of search engines, inbound links were the primary means of web navigation, but their significance has gradually curbed with the rise of search engine optimization services. Nowadays, a good indication of the popularity or importance of a website comes from backlinks. The number and source of backlinks may also indicate what kind of audience pays attention to a specific webpage’s content.
Search engines typically use a specific website’s number of backlinks as one of the determining factors for its search engine ranking, as well as importance and popularity. These rankings are also an integral part of the search engine optimization process, where SEO companies increase the number of backlinks pointing to a client’s website. While some methods are free to use by anyone, some methods such as linkbaiting may require a little professional marketing and planning in order to work. A client may choose to buy backlinks in order to leave this marketing and planning to professionals.
Several factors, that can be both controlled and uncontrollable, may determine the value of a specific backlink. As a rule of thumb, authoritative sites based on related topic usually produce highly valuable backlinks. Inbound links are also weighed against link popularity as well as the originating context of the link. However, building too many backlinks over a short span of time can call for penalizations against a web page’s rankings, with more extreme cases causing the web page to be removed from a search engine index entirely.
Buying Backlinks
Finding a reputable place to buy backlinks from can be an especially difficult thing to do nowadays, especially since most cheap and easy solutions end up bad for the client. Choosing a cheap SEO company which utilizes spamlinking can be an easy way to get your website de indexed from a search engine.
As search engines are become better and better at determining good backlinks from bad ones, search engine optimization companies will typically advise clients to get an even spread of different kinds of backlinks. An inexperienced search engine optimization company may spam different links which all end in the same suffix such as a .net or .org link, which may look conspicuously unnatural to the search engine’s eye.
The best ranked sites typically have balanced mixes of contextual backlinks, directories, webpages and other things which appear normal to search engines, eventually leading to netting in higher rankings.
SEO companies offering obscenely large amounts of backlinks for low prices are often bad news: Websites built by these shady establishments may involve the utilization of buggy spam tools which are easily detected by search engines, doing a client significantly more harm than good. Reputable companies only utilize proven automated tools approved by search engines, and while they may not offer large amounts of backlinks at a time, you are guaranteed to at least be indexed by a search engine and stay on that index for a long time to come.
Getting too many links too quickly can be something to worry about, especially if you have a particularly new site. Accumulating too many backlinks at once you may get you marked for blacklisting and even removal from indexes by search engines who deem your web page suspicious. Before making the choice to buy backlinks, determine a few things before pulling the trigger: What market does your site cater to? How long has your site been up? Does your website have the quality and quantity to merit buying backlinks for? Which particular keywords can target your website?
Aim for quality if you want to increase your PageRank
Other technical aspects can determine how long people stay logged on to your web page. These can range from things embedded in the coding of your web page, such as your website’s meta tags, as well as optimized keywords done by a professional search engine optimization company. Much of this can be done within the development stages of your webpage in order to net high search engine rankings, so keep these in mind when considering whether to buy backlinks or not.
If you are serious about getting out of debt, even if you have more than fifteen thousand dollars in dept, this is where you have to start. The next step of the process is getting your credit score. This is where you really have to be careful. There are a lot of commercials in the media about getting your credit score, but it isn’t free. You have the right to get a hard copy of your credit score once a year, from all three credit agencies. You can either send them a request in writing, or you can go through free websites.
Meanwhile, go through your credit cards. Write down which ones have the highest interest rates as well as annual fees. As mentioned earlier, you should always try to keep up on the minimum monthly payment no matter what, but the idea is to get them all paid off as quickly as possible. Start with the card with the least amount on it. If you can take what you would normally spend a month on going out, let’s say just fifty dollars, and add this to your credit card payment, you are going to pay this card off fast.
Here is an example. Your lowest credit card is maxed out at $1,500 and you are making a minimum of twenty dollars it is going to take years to pay it off. Adding fifty dollars to it, the payments are going to be eliminated a lot faster, because your minimum monthly payment is a little more than your interest each month. If you find that you have more money after your monthly budget, you can even split it up between your lowest cards.
Look, this isn’t going to happen overnight. You didn’t get into this debt overnight, and even with money management and debt consolidation, you won’t get out of it overnight. Most people who are in debt, whether it is a little or a lot feel they are all alone in the situation. You are not alone, and it isn’t entirely your fault. You are constantly bombarded with advertisements, in the media, on the internet, and in the mail from credit card and quick cash companies.
Now as you pay off your credit cards, you will start having more money at the end of the month. The first time you can completely cross a debt off of your budget list you will feel great about yourself. However, this is not the time to be complacent. If you must celebrate, do it one time and get on track. Take this money and apply it to the next set of credit cards, until unsecured debt is paid off.
Now you must go back to your credit report. Even with your credit cards paid off, sometimes it takes awhile for it to appear on a credit report. You may also have other outstanding debts, doctor bills, cell phones you didn’t pay off, and these are on your report as well. Your credit report will also have all the contact information for these debtors, and you need to contact each one to see if you can reduce the interest charges, or even get them to settle the debt for pennies on the dollar. Again, the idea is to start with the smallest amount and work your way up until this debt is paid off.
These are just few of the many free ways to get out of debt, you can find an abundance of free information about credit, money management, and a number of other topics online.
Should you be like many other organizations, that you are likely to have particular safety devices which you employ to defend your provider also because the workers. Usually, this might mean a piece of identification and also a safety card which will help to open up doorways. Due to the fact many of these may very well be magnified and it really is really a excellent notion to keep id handy for security to ascertain it, it definitely is a excellent notion to find techniques in which you can present your workers having a strategy to become positive that every single small thing is usually accessible. This really is probable each time you have got lanyards which you simply give to all your workers. They’re going to appreciate the capability not to want to reach inside of their pants pocket all day lengthy prolonged to be capable of go in and from doorways.
Acquiring Printed Items
One with all the wonderful points regarding every time you are purchasing new lanyards, it actually is probable to obtain the organization identify too because the organization colours added to them. This can enable a person to obtain some thing which just about all of your workers is going to become ready to acquire which will make them really feel proud of wherever they function. Whilst you could not impose a uniform within your workplace, this can be a excellent way which you just can present your workers with anything which will unify them.
Providing These as Presents
Nevertheless an additional wonderful aspect about lanyards is the fact that you simply is going to be ready to offer them as presents for the people that you simply basically are executing business with. They’re able to rely on them within their individual daily life and even at their workplace. If they are branded, it actually is often a great system in which they are going to usually be capable of bear in mind your business and why they need to be undertaking firm with an individual. It may allow you to to secure the curiosity of a lot more customers by delivering them a thing which expense a person seriously little to acquire.
If you’re hunting for the best in web design and style, Cincinnati has plenty to provide. The enterprise marketplace right here is a competitive one particular, so you’ll need only pick the top of what’s on offer.
A site has to be lots of important things to many men and women. A normal business internet site has to do some or all of those tasks:
Showcase a variety of items Promote solutions and solutions Give a organization portfolio and brochure Be a meeting point among you and your buyers Make it possible for guests to download files or acquire patches Deliver the facility to make on-line bookings Allow staff to add and edit material around the fly Manage customer specifics Offer news and updates
To construct a website that does all that’s a challenge, but a single Thought Mechanics is properly equipped to take care of.
Our group of really skilled web designers will guidebook you via each stage from the design process. It is a collaboration. You deliver the dream, and we’ll turn it into reality.
Through the initial consultation, to thecompleted web-site, we function collectively to achieve final results. All our internet sites are intended particularly for you personally. We do not usetemplates, we do not outsource the project. You are able to even view us operate if you want to!
You’ll be able to be involved as considerably or as small you likethroughout the course of action. From the preliminary meeting, you can be offered with all the make contact with specifics with the designer functioning on your site, and be provided the possibility to input concepts all through the project.
You could provide your own pictures, text, and media for the website, or have it developed by our team. No matter if you wish a hands-on method or to leave it to us, the decision truly is yours.
We make relationships as well as websites.It’s component of what tends to make our Cincinnati internet style studio so specific.
Believed Mechanics web site design services include:
Site design and style and advancement Ecommerce web pages Logo layout Business enterprise branding Content Management Systems PHP and ASP server-side scripting Online marketing Videos Paid marketing management Social media interaction Search engine optimization Online promoting And a great deal, considerably more!
We are able to go over any of them in a great deal more detail at a absolutely free consultation. Just call us on 888-470-0004 , or use the form.
We do not just construct web sites for our Cincinnati customers. We also market place, optimize, promote and help every little thing we develop. Every single of our companies is offered as aspect of a bigger project or individually.
Certainly one of one of the most significant solutions we give is Search engine optimization. Search engine optimization will be the course of action of ensuring your web site is ranked as extremely as you possibly can inside the search engines like google. Above 90 percent of sites are identified applying search engines, so it is important for them to understand you’re there. Only then will persons have the ability to get what you’re promoting.
Websites such as Google and Yahoo by use keywords and phrases to rank sites according to how related they may be for the content. So if you are operating a website promoting camping gear, you are going to choose to be discovered for words like “tent,” “sleeping bag”, “camping”, “camp”, and so on. The words reflect what men and women use to search out websites on the subject.
Even the most beneficial wanting websites are rendered useless if no one understands they’re there. Working with our knowledge,Believed Mechanics can write material that incorporates key phrases, phrases and region combinations seamlessly. This goes a extended strategy to pleasing the search engines like google, and your visitors.
There is far more to promoting a web site than Seo. Believed Mechanics have the knowledge as well as the know-how to make use of each and every chance there is certainly to promote your web site. One particular this kind of strategy is video.
Resulting from the big popularity of YouTube and also other equivalent sites, video is becoming a beneficial tool for communicating crucial messages to possible customers. These videos might be hosted in your website, or posted on ones like YouTube. They’re able to be used for purely marketing purposes, or to present a little something of true worth to your buyers.
Video is a great medium for communicating complicated messages. For instance, movies are usually applied to demonstrate the way to repair objects, primarily if it is challenging to describe in writing. Many persons learn by seeing, which can be in which movies come in.
By offering some thing with intrinsic value to the client, their goodwill towards you increases. Not merely does it aid them get pleasure from the item they bought from you, it is going to encourage them to purchase a lot more, and spread the word.
Viral promoting is just among the tactics Believed Mechanics assists its Cincinnati web site design and style customers. Call us currently to view what else we can do for you!
Our promoting efforts don’t need to cease there. We are able to also handle and optimize spend per click marketing campaigns, banner marketing, e-mail marketing campaigns and a lot additional. Our advertising and marketing group can offer a genuine nearby focus to ensure you appeal for the local Cincinnati market. They’re able to also widen the net to provide a national, or international audience to your web page.
By the clever use of words, and a translation engine, we can widen your prospective audience from several 1000′s, to many millions. All as component of the service!
Our spend per click marketing campaigns use the “Sponsored Results” part from the search engine outcomes page. Every single time an individual clicks on your link, you spend a small charge, usually a couple of cents. This is a great means of driving traffic to web-sites wherever all-natural search engine rankings are not nevertheless as much as speed.
This is a short-term measure, and offers a useful head commence to any promoting campaign. Facebook also has paid marketing, which could be employed in case your internet site includes a younger target audience.
Believed Mechanics will build you an eye-catching, client attracting, cutting-edge web site. We’ll also offer you to help it, host it, promote it, make it go viral, and advertise it. All as component with the service.
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For years, people have argued the face that machine and handmade cigars both have a different level of quality between them. While you can certainly admit that there are some noticeable differences between the two, it will be important for you to understand some of the differences that these items have.
Generally, the first thing a person is going to note when they are comparing the machine and handmade cigars that are available is the fact that they are visually difference. That is because machine cigars tend to be loosely wrapped and don’t have the same stretching and oiling process that their handmade counterparts go through. This of course leads to a difference in burning. Handmade ones tend to burn better than machine made ones in these cases.
Color is going to be another difference that you are going to find. Handmade cigars tend to have a more vibrant and fresh appearance to them. Machine made items actually have a dull appearance and can sometimes look like they are considerably aged, when they might be as fresh as the other cigars available.
Price is going to be another difference that you are going to find in this process. While many people will love the chance to save money, you are going to find that in terms of cost, the handmade selections are going to generally cost more money. Keep in mind that the more expensive these cigars are, the more time and effort that went into making them as well.
You will also want to take into consideration that generally, the machine made styles of cigars sit around in cellophane for long periods of time. Good cigars however are treated better and can be found fairly easily by browsing the internet and heading into quality smoke shops as well.
Another thing you want to keep in mind as you understand the differences is that there are fillers in these cigars as well. This filler is what provides the exceptional tastes that are associated with the cigar itself. Generally, a hand crafted choice will have cigar long fillers that will give a better flavor, while the machine will chop up tobacco and will include leaves as well as parts of the tobacco plant that don’t generally offer the best for their flavor.
As you go through your different options, it is going to be important that you keep all of these factors in mind. The reason is that you want to have the best possible experience as you smoke your pipe and you will not find that if you are smoking one style of cigar over the other one. So make sure that you do spend a little time looking into the options you have and determine if you prefer the flavor of one style of cigar over another one.
You can do this by heading down to a smoke shop and see if you can locate a cigar aficionado that would be willing to sit down with you and go over some of the top styles of cigars. They can teach you about what to look for and which brands are going to be some of the better ones that you can select from.
Along with that, they can teach you about caps and help you to understand how they are going to be the best method that cigar makers use to keep their product fresh and clean. This does of course mean you do need to spend some time learning about this important topic as there are different degrees of effectiveness that can be associated with these caps as well.
There are always going to be a number of different options available to you when you are looking to smoke a cigar. It is important that you take the time to get a full understanding of how each item works as that is going to play a role in this process as you begin to look for the cigars that are going to offer the most benefit to you. No matter if you are getting Cuban cigars or a choice that is more in your price range, there is going to be little doubt that you will have several options available to you.
The days when cellphone users could get all the Web, video, and downloads they want for a flat month-to-month fee are fading, as Verizon Wireless becomes the most recent cellphone carrier to complete away with unlimited information plans.
Beginning tomorrow, Verizon Wireless, the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier, will cap the amount of information downloads permitted below its $30-a-month wireless broadband strategy; it’ll also unveil more costly selections for users with major appetites for digital data.
The changes will impact only new clients. Clients who now have limitless information plans, or who sign with Verizon currently, will likely be in a position to continue paying a flat fee for all the data they want to download.
Verizon follows the country’s quantity one particular carrier, AT&T Inc., which did away with unlimited data plans last year. The smallest of the nation’s top four cellular companies, T-Mobile USA, still offers an unlimited service, but the company dramatically slows down data transfers for heavy users – in effect, imposing a speed limit instead of a usage quota. Of the top wireless companies, only Sprint Nextel Corp. still offers limitless data plans.
The trend follows an explosion in the quantity of digital information sent and received as much more people buy devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone and smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system. With limited network capacity, cellphone carriers can discourage heavy usage by placing caps on information transfers and charging a lot more. “What we’re trying to do is streamline our information strategy,’’ said a Verizon Wireless spokesman, Howard Waterman.
Limited plans “will certainly affect consumer behavior,’’ said Craig Moffett, a cellular industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein Co. in New York. “If it’s going to cost far more for the consumer to watch a video, they’re going to think twice before they click on that link of the squirrel on water skis.’’
Verizon Wireless subscribers now pay $29.99 a month for as much information as they want. That means unlimited access to e-mails, Web pages, and entertainment services that stream music, video clips, or movies.
After tomorrow, Verizon Wireless will allow new clients to send and receive a limit of 2 gigabytes of data per month for $30 – enough, said Waterman, to send 1,000 e-mails, view 100 Web pages, listen to additional than 20 hours of streaming music, upload far more than 20 photographs, and view over two hours of high-definition video.
Verizon will offer higher-priced plans for consumers who use far more data. Consumers will likely be capable to buy 5 gigabytes of data per month for $50, or 10 gigabytes for $80. Users who exceed their quotas is going to be billed $10 per extra gigabyte.
Edgar Dworsky, a former Massachusetts assistant attorney general who now runs the consumer education website consumerworld.org, noted that Verizon’s new program lacks a low-priced option for consumers who use very little wireless data. AT&T, for instance, charges $15 a month for 200 megabytes of data, but at Verizon, the lowest-priced program will probably be $30 a month, the price it now charges for unlimited information.
“What used to be the cap has become the floor,’’ said Dworsky. “They probably see it as a good moneymaking opportunity.’’
Waterman said that 95 percent of Verizon Wireless buyers use less than the 2 gigabytes per month limit. However, Parul Desai, telecommunication policy counsel for Consumers Union, the nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, said even users who do not exceed the cap might cut back on usage anyway, to avoid accidentally going over the limit. “Maybe you won’t use Netflix,’’ Desai said, “or maybe you won’t try some new application.’’
Verizon Wireless plans to reassure worried consumers by notifying them about how much they have used of their month-to-month information quota. A new service will send a free text message to smartphone users when they have used half their quota, with additional messages when the level reaches 75, 90, or 100 percent. Verizon Wireless will also warn users who have already crossed the line, texting them when usage hits 110 percent.
Meanwhile, Sprint said it sees no need to change its limitless cellular information plan. The carrier offers 450 minutes of talk, unlimited calls to other cellphones, and unlimited information on Sprint’s 3G or 4G networks for $79.99 a month.
Even as they build faster networks, cellular companies will discourage consumers from downloading more data because the companies have only so much bandwidth to carry the traffic, said Neil Strother, mobile services analyst at ABI Research Inc. in Oyster Bay, N.Y. “Wireless networks do have potential capacity constraints,’’ he said.
Landline cable or telephone companies can increase capacity by adding more cables, he added, but wireless companies must move voice and information over a limited spectrum of radio frequencies.
Amy Storey, a spokeswoman for CTIA, the cellular industry’s chief trade association, said the move toward wireless data caps underscores the need for federal regulators to provide a lot more radio frequencies for use by cellphone companies. “Right now, the quantity of spectrum we have available is not enough to meet consumer demand,’’ she said.
There is considerable evidence of a radio spectrum shortage. AT&T has said that its $39 billion bid to acquire rival T-Mobile USA is chiefly an effort to get access to T-Mobile’s radio frequencies. The deal would allow AT&T to quickly upgrade its cellular services.
Meanwhile, the cellular industry and the Federal Communications Commission are pressuring television broadcasters to sell some of the unused frequencies they currently control to wireless phone carriers.