Yeah. This bandwidth problem is quite problematic. 

I first encountered the bandwidth problem when I was registering my account. Got an email saying my account was approved, clicked the link, filled a simple form, clicked the "submit" button, then there it was "Bandwidth limit exceeded" or sth like that. No support page, no email to reply, etc. When I googled it, it told me to go to steem chat or "just wait, and try again later" from a github page. I even registered to github because of this :') Well, luckily after an hour, I was accepted, then here I am.

After being on steemit for quite some time, I believe it's worthwhile to power up using own money when being hit with bandwidth limitation from time to time. However, that should not be the case for new comers. Imagine being advertised "Come to steemit, do things like you are on facebook, and get paid" and suddenly "bandwidth limitation" and people are telling you to pay (=power up) to use the platform, they could just go back to facebook. :D