It was with a future full of unfulfilled promise, and the smell of sausages roasting on the BBQ, that Sandvine was formed this day, in 2001. We all congregated at our temporary office until a new building could be secured, unveiled our green-leaf logo, and discussed what we might do going forward.

At the time, we felt we were at the bottom of the market, given that the telecom bubble had just burst and broadband connectivity was only emerging, but we talked excitedly of how we would be a significant player in such an industry rife with opportunity. We didn’t know for sure what we would do, but we knew that our team was unmatched: we understood IP networking and telecom, and we were invincible.

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In the US, both Verizon and AT&T have begun to identify subscribers who violate their Terms of Service (TOS) by using unauthorized tethering applications on mobile networks.  Citing these violations, users are being migrated away from their current, often unlimited data plans, and being enrolled in premium plans that permit tethering.

These recent actions aren’t the first attempts by carriers to manage the usage of tethering applications.  This past May, US-based carriers demanded that Google restrict access to applications that allow tethering in the Android Marketplace. This restriction brought Google devices in line with Apple and Microsoft, who both don’t allow third-party tethering applications in their official app stores.

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The growing popularity and fidelity of real-time entertainment applications has dramatically increased consumer Internet data consumption, leaving Communication Service Providers to face higher operating costs.  As a result, it seems that unlimited bandwidth service plans on both fixed and mobile networks are becoming a thing of the past. 

In the last 14 months alone, the two largest mobile carriers in the US,  Verizon and AT&T have both eliminated unlimited data plans, while the second largest cable internet provider, Time Warner Cable, has begun to lay the groundwork to introduce usage-based billing.  Comcast has already had a 250GB policy in place for several years. 

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