So, I think bandwidth caps are a good thing, they are a more accurate way of charging for a service. It seems no one else out there thinks this is so. I want to try to explain why I think it is so. Previously, when expressing this opinion, people have assumed that I must clearly be a right wing republican, or perhaps have no understanding of how networks work, in order to have such repugnant views. How funny and insulting these people are...

The Myth of unlimited bandwidth

First, I want to say that there is not now, nor will there ever be, a truly unlimited data plan. Unlimited data pipes don't exist, and if you think you have one connected to your computer now, well, you don't. Clearly, there are only so many megabytes that can be transferred over a network connection in a month. Furthermore, nor is there even an easy answer to question of "how many" megabytes that is. The nature of a network is that you're not the only one trying to fit those megabytes through it. Different pipes at different points in the network may become the bottleneck based on usage patterns. (see also my comment on "peak" times below)

Your connection is limited

You can only transfer so much with your connection. The question is how we should classify and bill it. The traditional method is to do it by speed alone -- that is, to downgrade your hardware's data transfer speed to a lower setting than it is capable of unless you pay for the most expensive data plan. A new possible method would be to classify and bill by total bandwidth consumed in a time period, such as a month. Billing by bandwidth (total bytes) is a more direct and accurate way of charging you for your load on the network since it is not speed of transmission which causes congestion, but rather total bytes transferred. Limiting speed affects you even if you loaded just a single webpage all month. Limiting bandwidth only affects you when you attempt to transfer huge amounts of data. All people who oppose bandwidth caps are implicitly favoring speed caps as the way of controlling network traffic demand.

Speed caps can't be abolished, but...

Of course we can never do away with speed caps. They too are an intrinsic limit of the hardware, and ISP's will likely continue to impose further speed limits on all customers who do not sign up to the fastest plan. I believe they will do this mostly due to historic reasons and due to customer backlash against a change in billing patterns to control total bytes and not speed.

Note that mobile data plans are usually not billed by what speed your connection is, with all devices usually allowed to connect at their full capable speed. This is because mobile data speeds are (until recently) much slower. If the current consumer backlash against bandwidth caps continues then I think we will see operators are forced to limit mobile data speed (instead of total bytes) in order to stop congestion and ensure service. This will be especially true observing that next generation (4G LTE) devices can deliver 100mbps.

On "peak times"

Some point out that at night and other non-peak times the network is not congested and bandwidth is then free. This is true. To make billing even more direct and accurate ISP's should charge by only usage at peak times, much as how cell phone plans often include "free nights and weekends". This would likely be a good idea. The only downside is that it makes data plans less simple.

Summary

Internet bandwidth demand increases at a fast pace. If the situation were instead static, with consumers demanding the same bandwidth year after year, then technology would likely accommodate them quickly, allowing for un-capped (by speed or bandwidth) data plans. This is not the case

Bottom Line (tl;dr)

I hope some people reconsider bandwidth caps (total bytes used) as I think they are a much better way of controlling network congestion than speed limit caps. Otherwise, ISP's may soon be forced to limit mobile data speed, charging for different speed tiers, much as they do landline data speeds.

(Please excuse my hasty writing and run-on sentences. Thank you.)

(327 redditors downvoted this submission and posted a negative comment based on the title alone.)