Why should we invest 1 minute of time or $1 dollar of resources, to ensure people on the clock can watch YouTube? The entitlement mentality of employees with Internet connections, never ceases to amaze me.

Besides - shaping doesn't eliminate the bandwidth costs associated with the content in question - it simply ensures it's given a lower priority, than data deemed more critical. And, when the YouTubers or Pandora users bump against the bandwidth quota, and their apps start to buffer or fail - how do you think they respond? I assure you, they don't say to themselves "Oh...the QOS must be keeping me from watching my cat chase a laser in HD." He!! no - they pick up the phone, call the Help Desk, and proclaim "The Internet is broken."

Having been doing this for many years, there's a truism that applies more often than not. Those who b!tch the loudest about IT policies, are the biggest abusers, and least productive employees.

We're quite liberal with our Internet access. We allow virtually unlimited surfing - porn, gambling, and violence sites are the primary exceptions...policies handed down by legal, not IT.

Beyond that - nothing makes our phones ring faster, than bandwidth issues. Blasting a handful of items that have zero work related value, cuts our astronomical monthly bill significantly, and keeps legitimate complaints about bandwidth issues to a minimum.

Iffin' the above policies really chap one's hide - bring your smartphone to work, and use yer own damn bandwidth for whatever you like.