Apparently most of the ISPs want usage-based pricing. That is a little scary, given that it's currently difficult for average users to control what they're downloading (e.g. you hit a page caked with Flash, you've now paid extra for crap you didn't want).
On the other hand, maybe this would spark a revolution. It might encourage both sites and users to do things they should have done anyway. For example, making sites optimize their byte size, since they'll either lose customers or have visitors harping at them for "wasting" their download money. And, average users may start to criticize what is being uploaded on their behalf by programs, etc.
That's what it was like with dial-up modems and monthly fees based on the hours you wanted, you regulated your own use, websites had to be small otherwise you didn't get any traffic. I think I was paying $30 for 30 hours in 1994, the $60 plan was roughly 80 hours or 100 hours, a better deal.
I remember being thrilled with download speeds of 3Kbps and at 4Kbps it was smokin'! Now I download torrents and most of the time (router ports config correct) I get torrents coming down at 4Kbps but the average is probably 40Kbps...with a 15Mbps connection!
A metered system will cause massive changes, probably not at first since human nature will still make people want to do what they did before but then they realize their money is going fast which will cause them to cut back.
On the other hand, maybe this would spark a revolution. It might encourage both sites and users to do things they should have done anyway. For example, making sites optimize their byte size, since they'll either lose customers or have visitors harping at them for "wasting" their download money. And, average users may start to criticize what is being uploaded on their behalf by programs, etc.