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Perhaps what we need is an easily understood analogy that will offer a comparison between data caps and the "real world."

The best I can come up with is that dial-up users are the equivalent of those riding heavy, old-fashioned bicycles and that the Internet is a nice sealed road that stretches on forever.

Dial-up users can engage on a journey of exploration and information gathering by cycling along this road, but their pace is very limited and this can make for a frustrating journey because there are many stretches which are devoid of interest or refreshments.

Those cyclists who are lucky enough to be riding near the middle of the road can race along at 56Km/H, but those (rural) riders who must travel on the rough shoulder are lucky if they can reach 14.4Km/H. These rural riders are also often flung off their bikes and onto the ground thanks to the uneven contour and unexpected strands of electric fencing wire.

Now broadband -- that's the McLaren F1 supercar.

Instead of strolling along at a leisurely 14.4-56Km/H, broadband users can zip along at speeds of 256Km/H or faster -- woohoo!

Obviously if you've got an F1, you can do an awful lot of travelling in a very short space of time -- or at least you could if it weren't for the data caps.

You see, as things stand right now, your McLaren F1 is subject to an extra toll on the information superhighway.

The problem is, once you get up to a cruising speed of just 256Km/H, you'll find that within a very short space of time, after you've used up your meagre 10Km or 20Km section of toll-free road you'll run into a toll booth that will charge you hefty sum to proceed.

Well it's worse than that actually -- you see there are no toll booths but there are little cameras that will take a picture of your car every Km and add additional charges to your monthly account.

Now, faced with all this speed and power, what McLaren F1 driver isn't going to want to enjoy themselves. But how can you enjoy yourself when you realise that, unless you're very rich, you're still limited to travelling little more than the same distance your friends on their bikes can travel.

What good is all that speed if you only get to spend a few hours per month behind the wheel and have to spend the rest of the time making "brrmmmm, brrrmmm" noises while parked in the garage?"

Of course the broadband providers will tell you that the "average" user consumes far less than 1GB and that a "heavy" user should be satisfied with 2GB. Well if that's the case, why bother to have caps at all?

Surely the "average" users will still use just their sub-1GB level and the heavy users will use less than 2GB?

No, the broadband providers know better than that. They realise that the reason few people use much more than 1GB on their broadband connection right now is that they simply can't afford to. Take away the price barrier (data caps) and I think you'd find that most people would really enjoy taking that McLaren F1 for a good long run on the information superhighway.

But that's just my (probably flawed) analogy. Do readers have a better one?

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