Richard Brandon of Juniper Networks, a "self-confessed broadband communist" (we don't know either =]), has today spoken out in support of BTs' new capped £20 broadband ADSL service:

Following BT’s decision yesterday to launch a capped broadband service, self-confessed broadband communist, Richard Brandon of Juniper Networks, would like to talk to you about why he thinks this is a good move for the market and the consumer. He would also like to say a quick - “I told you so!”

When NTL announced its capped broadband services this time last year, the country was in uproar and the ‘end of Internet democracy’ was decried. Richard disagreed and then put fuel to the fire by saying that other ISPs would soon follow this lead.

He was not wrong. While UK ISPs have rolled out just a handful of subscription broadband services, across Europe people now have access to a wide range of services via their broadband connections including telephone, TV, video- and music-on-demand and radio, with Italy, Spain, Norway and Slovenia leading the pack. These revenue generating services are all the a result of making people pay for the broadband capacity that they use.

What the European ISPs have done is explain to their customers that broadband is a delivery mechanism and not the Internet and as a result, these customers now understand that they must pay for any capacity – in these cases services – that exceed an agreed subscription service.

True - to a point, yet welcoming any service that limits you to 1Gb per month (not week or day), is perhaps taking the perspective a little too far.

Broadband is being openly billed as a technology that not only makes the Internet faster, but also allows you to watch and listen to online videos and music. 1Gb per month makes this not impossible, but extremely restricted - EXTREMELY.

Even a dialup connection can easily use over 1Gb per month. How much would the price of flexibility be if BTs extreme vision were to become the norm? Perhaps we should all go back to dialup; slower, yet seemingly more flexible than some.

What’s the point of having speed if you can’t download or watch the latest media, demos and work files because your connection isn’t flexible enough to allow it? Nobody ever doubted that more ISPs would introduce caps, but to what extremity is a clear difference.

Out of interest, how many providers have lost money due to the current design of land based broadband services? We got the distinct impression that they were making money.