互联网数据封顶不像比萨饼，在比萨饼里吃一片可能意味着其他人吃的更少。我不认为Verge的读者理解这个概念有困难？众所周知，互联网服务提供商不难提供无**的数据，即使是在（比方说）全球大流行期间，大批民众突然发现自己在家工作。

然而，这并没有停止WideOpenWest（又名哇！）据Ars Technica报道，从2021年6月1日开始，从使用比萨饼来证明全新的，可能是从未见过的有线互联网用户的数据上限。

以下是订户收到的部分电子邮件：

What’s a monthly data usage plan? Let us illustrate …

Imagine that the WOW! network is a pizza. Piping hot. Toppings galore. Every WOW! customer gets their own slice of pizza, but the size of their slice is dependent on their Internet service plan. While customers who subscribe to 1 Gig get the largest slices, those with Internet 500 get a slightly **aller piece, and so on. But, it’s all the same delicious, high-speed pizza that you know and love.

Now, say you’re not full after your slice and you grab another. That extra slice is like a data overage. Don’t worry—we got extra pizza... umm, data... just in case. If you exceed your data allowance, we’ll automatically apply increments of 50GB for $10 to your account for the remainder of the current calendar month. Total overage charges will not exceed $50 per billing statement no matter how much data you use. Even better—the first time you experience a data overage, we’ll proactively waive fees.

为了解释这有多荒谬，下面是我去年年底写的一篇文章，我认为你也可能喜欢阅读：

Forget for a moment that Comcast itself was caught red-handed explaining that data caps have nothing to do with network congestion. Forget that the CEOs of several **aller ISPs have admitted that internet capacity is anything but scarce. Forget that Comcast disabled its own congestion management system because it found it was unnecessary. Forget even that Comcast is a wildly profitable company whose cable division spends only a tenth of its yearly revenues on keeping that network strong. The proof that data caps are a swindle is something you probably witnessed yourself earlier this year: Comcast, AT&T, and T-Mobile all suspended their data caps when the pandemic hit, and the internet kept on working without a hitch.

这里的关键是，WOW很清楚它的网络与比萨饼不一样——因为多年来，包括在大流行期间，该公司自豪地夸耀自己没有数据上限。一位用户告诉Ars Technica，这是选择WOW而不是Comcast的原因。

一些证据：

对此我说：哇。

是什么导致魔兽世界为了盈利而放弃了它的价值观？我不能肯定，但我敢猜测，康卡斯特最近决定从明年3月至7月的某个时候开始在全美范围内将数据上限定为标准，这可能会让它更加大胆。因为这就是美国互联网“竞争”的现状：几乎没有什么真正的选择，以至于当一个ISP获得利润时，相邻的ISP也可以这样做。如果你被困在一个或两个错误的选择你住的地方，我建议告诉联邦通讯委员会。