When you connect the phone to the Atlantis Ethernet via a wireless router, you use the Atlantis ISP. And, you are not charged by the phone's ISP for any download charges. When you are out of the country, there is an International roaming download charge imposed by each country. The costs differ by country and they are all higher than the download service would cost if the phone were used in the US. The package you buy in the US is usually only for US downloads. So, BTW, is the calling package which is only for US calls.
So, using your phone for calls and downloads in the Bahamas is an expensive proposition. Connecting a couple of phones via a wireless modem through the Atlantis Ethernet allows a person to avoid any download charges. It also allows kids (and adults) to set their phone to download things like Netflix movies, games and music while they are sleeping or at any time at all. Then you add in the iPads, Kindles and computers. One poster said she had 6 devices attached to the wireless modem in her unit.
I have not been saying that all devices are actually used at once all the time. I am saying that as the number of devices hooked up to the Atlantis Ethernet system by wireless routers increases, it will increase the number of minutes you will have concurrent users on the system and the numbers of concurrent users. The more concurrent users; the more stress on the system (the highway is only so wide). The more stress on the system (Harborside or anywhere else) by data hogs, the more the system will work imperfectly. And, because the system will work imperfectly for all guests, the owners will be asked to pay to revamp the system to fulfill the wishes of the data hogs.
In the article I linked, Verison is going after data hogs by setting up a tiered price system based on download sizes. Unlimited downloads may be becoming a thing of the past.
Hope this helps you understand. ... eom
Jarta,
All this illustrates is that you don't really understand the technology or the issues involved. I don't mean that as a dig at you, but your explanation above really doesn't address any of the specific issues involved in running a network at a fixed location. While certainly there is some overlap in the technology and the issues, your lack of attention to the nuanced differences really fail to make your illustration very helpful.
1) What Ada did in no way burdens the hard infrastructure (wired or wireless) provided at the resort as she used a SINGLE wired connection to connect to her OWN provided wireless equipment. While she connected 6 devices, the resort saw all those devices as one and only had to service one (the router she installed). You're completely incorrect in your assertion that the way in which she connected her devices in any way burdens the internal infrastructure at the resort and would result in a push to upgrade. As I mentioned in a previous post, by bringing her OWN wireless router, Ada has assumed the cost of the infrastructure required to connect multiple devices.
2) The only increased burden Ada may have imposed on the system relates to the overall internet bandwidth the resort purchases for all internet users to share. However, as I have pointed out, very simple procedures are available to the resort to limit the bandwidth consumed by the one connection Ada utilized. These "Quality of Service" settings are available on the $70 router that I use at home, so it's not something that would be cost prohibitive for the resort to deploy (and I am confident their existing infrastructure likely has these capabilities). Bottom line, is the resort can address this burden should it really become an issue. Furthermore, addressing it in this way allows guest to connect their 6 or 10 or 100 devices and those devices will share the limited bandwidth assigned to the unit. In other words, the guest can decide how much to burden their allocated bandwidth.
3) You completely fail to explain how a fixed location set up (such as at a personal residence or Harborside) is sufficiently analogous to a mobile system (such as that of Verizon) to make the articles you have posted valuable to the conversation. Verizon must deal with substantial numbers of users across a vast geography making the problem considerably more complex. Further, you fail to consider the real crux of the issue is with the amount of bandwidth being consumed by certain types of activities. In fact it is SINGLE devices used to download large amounts of data that are causing the problems on Verizon's network. The takeaway is that what really matters is not the NUMBER of devices on the network that Verizon is addressing with this move, but rather the type of activity. Ada could consume just as much data with a single device as should could with six if she chose to undertake media streaming or heavy downloading on that single device.
4) Regardless, nothing in your posts provides any normative evaluation of the situation. Given the costs imposed to use internet at Harborside, I assert the Resort SHOULD provide sufficient bandwidth to connect multiple devices. The nature of the resort as a fixed location justifies it, the nature of the resort as a vacation home alternative justifies it, the number of people the units are designed to accommodate justifies it, and the amount of money currently charged justifies it (although, admittedly, I don't know a lot about the internet market in the Bahamas). The bottom line is that for $80 a week, I feel completely justified in expecting the resort to provide sufficient bandwidth for me to connect AT LEAST six devices from a unit.
