Cable Internet Account Suspended

[VenomXTF]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Blue Ridge cable, eh? Where are you located, if I might ask? I've also got Blue Ridge, and have received 2 of the bandwidth warnings. It's so very nice of them to say NOWHERE on their website what the monthly bandwidth allotment is.

I was just glad to get home from college though - we are allowed 1.5GB/week of downloads and 1.5GB/week of uploads. Yeah, total monthly download allottment of 6GB. That sucked. In the first week on campus I exceeded my 1.5GB. By about 2GB. In the first 3 days. Without filesharing or porn. I'll admit it - the first weekend on campus was boring as hell, and I wandered onto Metacafe.
The next time I exceeded, it was from downloading high-res pictures from Cassini and the MER sites, as well as user-created panoramas from another forum I frequent. Some of those things are over 50MB. High-res TIFF's also are quite large. Listening to online radio stations almost put me over another time.

I live in Milford, PA. The letters that we were supposed to get were not sent by Blue Ridge Cable but by Prolog (PTD). We have had no problems with BRC. PTD controlls most of the internet/fiber in the NE PA area.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: VenomXTF
Nice of you to jump the gun Spidey. The letter was not for illegal content, none of which was downloaded.

Cliffs:
Internet gets shut off one day.
Next day tech comes up and removes blocker. Internet still not working.
Call again, get forwarded to 10 different departments/people none of which help.
The internet was shut off for using too much bandwidth. Three letters were supposebly sent, all of which the "post office lost."
After 4 hours on the phone, a manager turns it back on, tells me there is a 50GB limit and it's still the fualt of the post office.
The next day the internet finally works.

Sorry.

50 GB a month is definately abuse. Many large business with a DS3 don't move that much.

Don't want to get shut off? Pay for a higher service.

Sorry want to give me a limit then state it clearly in the TOS rather than making up some magic number and keeping it a corporate secret until some exceeds it. In addition quit marketing a limited connection as an unlimited connection.

 

[ebaycj]

If all of your posts are like this, it's no wonder you hit your 50GB monthly limit.

 

[MaxDepth]

News 2 is on your side! Seriously, I checked on bandwidth usage on both sites and found only one reference but no established limits. Call a local TV station and ask to speak to an investigative reporter. tell them your story and show them that there appears to be no stated bandwidth on the website. Throw out the word "fraud" and get the reporter all worked up that this is something that will put them on TV with some hard hitting, fact finding journalism.



Notes
Hmm, this kinda sucks. I looked on their website:

Pricing, terms and conditions subject to change without notice

Did some more checking. This is from the residential policy site http://www.ptd.net/POLICIES-RES.html

Broadband Bandwidth: PenTeleData and your broadband service provider offer multiple tiers of high speed Internet access with different speeds and bandwidth usage limitations (not all packages are available in all areas). Customer acknowledges that any quoted bandwidth rating/transfer rate for broadband Internet Service is a maximum rate and are not guaranteed. PenTeleData and your broadband Internet provider reserve the right to manage its networks to provide for maximum efficiency. As a user, you must ensure that your activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user?s use of the service or PenTeleData?s ability to deliver and monitor the service, or our network resources and do not represent (in the sole judgment of PenTeleData) an unusually large burden on the network itself. Users found to be (in PenTeleData?s sole judgment) in violation of this policy may have their accounts terminated, suspended, or upgraded to a higher level of service, subject to the appropriate fees. PenTeleData will use reasonable efforts to notify a customer prior to service termination for excessive bandwidth use.

But on the Blue ridge ppolicy site (http://www.brctv.com/prodserv/prolog_express/pex_policies.php) #16 states:

Customer shall use reasonable efforts to minimize unnecessary network traffic and interference with the work of other users of interconnected networks. BRC and PTD reserve the right to terminate service, if in PTD & BRC?s sole determination customer utilizes excessive bandwidth.

 

[tw1164]

Prolog was my first ISP, first in my area to offer 56k. They supported that diamond "shotgun" modem too lol.

 

[xanis]

Ouch... looks like MaxDepth is right.

 

[PingSpike]

If they'd informed you in any way and not falsely advertised the service as unlimited, they might have a point. What they're really saying is "we want people to pay for high speed internet, but not use it"

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: ebaycj
If all of your posts are like this, it's no wonder you hit your 50GB monthly limit.

 

[Kalvin00]

Originally posted by: Zach
I agree with Spidey about it being abuse. 50G/month is like saturating low end DSL 24h/d, 7 days a week. That does seem excessive.

156.5kb/s / 8b/B = 19.5kB/s
19.5 kB/s * 60s/1m = 1170kB/m
1170kB/m * 60m/1h * 24h/d * 31d/m = 52228800kB/month
52228800kB/month * 1m/1024k * 1g/1024m = roughly 50gB/month

What? Since when is low end DSL set at 150 down? 1500 maybe... in which case that is 187kB/s, which is about 15GB per day if you max it out all the time..

 

[bigfil]

if dsl is available in your area give them a call and ask if there are limits
if not switch it up

 

[Rumpltzer]

I read your whole post. Interesting. Isn't it frustrating when people have the power to help you out but just refuse to?

50GB/month isn't very much. Makes the whole highspeed cable concept a little useless...

 

[VenomXTF]

Originally posted by: Xanis
They have no right to do that to you unless it specifically states a bandwith limit in any of their official documents pertaining to your account.

That would be the logical thing. But it is not.

Their Policy

"Broadband Bandwidth: PenTeleData and your broadband service provider offer multiple tiers of high speed Internet access with different speeds and bandwidth usage limitations (not all packages are available in all areas). Customer acknowledges that any quoted bandwidth rating/transfer rate for broadband Internet Service is a maximum rate and are not guaranteed. PenTeleData and your broadband Internet provider reserve the right to manage its networks to provide for maximum efficiency. As a user, you must ensure that your activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user?s use of the service or PenTeleData?s ability to deliver and monitor the service, or our network resources and do not represent (in the sole judgment of PenTeleData) an unusually large burden on the network itself. Users found to be (in PenTeleData?s sole judgment) in violation of this policy may have their accounts terminated, suspended, or upgraded to a higher level of service, subject to the appropriate fees. PenTeleData will use reasonable efforts to notify a customer prior to service termination for excessive bandwidth use."

Let me tell you how this "burder on the network" works. ISPs pay based on bandwidth used by all their customers. The more bandwidth a customer uses that month, they more they pay, and the less they like that customer. So what happens if you use more bandwidth than they want to pay for because it cuts into their profits from your account? They terminate it. This is nothing about hurting their network, restricting, inhibiting, or degrading other users service. This is about them making as much money of you as possible. And don't worry, 50GB a month does not cost them more than you pay for the monthly charge. If you use your internet too much (they prefer the people that check their email once a week but still pay for full price for "high speed internet", not real computer users), you cut more into their profits, end of story.

For those of you who are saying "downloading 50GB is ridiculous, you are abusing your connection." I will be laughing at you in 2-5 years. I'm sure you were saying 5-10 years ago that downloading 500mb a month is too much.

As far as "reasonable efforts to notify". I guess sending 3 letters, or saying they sent 3 letters, that we never got is reasonable enough. Too bad, time to pull the plug!

 

[Queasy]

I had a similar experience with a cable company years ago (speaking about the CSR end..not the downloading end). That is part of the reason I refuse to sign up with a cable company again. I'm fortunate that I have DSL and DirecTV/DISH as options.

 

[Warthog912]

Originally posted by: Zach
I agree with Spidey about it being abuse. 50G/month is like saturating low end DSL 24h/d, 7 days a week. That does seem excessive.

156.5kb/s / 8b/B = 19.5kB/s
19.5 kB/s * 60s/1m = 1170kB/m
1170kB/m * 60m/1h * 24h/d * 31d/m = 52228800kB/month
52228800kB/month * 1m/1024k * 1g/1024m = roughly 50gB/month

Gimme a break. I'll hit that limit LEGALLY in ~10 Days or so on my ~3meg DSL.

 

[neutralizer]

What you should be more pissed off is the fact that they listed no actual bandwidth limit. Bastards. At my university, we're given 5 GB of bandwidth per week (up and down), which is considerably more than 1.5 GB, but I still run out of bandwidth easily. Usually when I need to download something I do it the hour before the bandwidth resets so I don't get my internet cut off. I easily did almost 8 GB in 30 minutes. 50 GB of bandwidth seems very little considering today's multimedia content.

 

[xanis]

To me, 50GB/month seems pretty crazy... I have Verizon ADSL and I don't use near what my bandwith allowance is. However, I can see your point and it should have been stated more clearly what the precise bandwith limit is.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: SLCentral
50GB really isn't a lot at all, especially for cable internet AND legal downloads. Vista Beta 2 was like 4GB, demos from XBL can add up to 30GB easy, and other downloads/regular surfing adds up. What a bunch of crock.

http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/internet/terms_of_service.html

Specifically, "Acceptable Use" "Sunflower Broadband limits bandwidth usage for Basic Residential Internet service to 6 GB per month." They also have limits of 1 gb/day or 2 gb/week up to the limit of 6 gb/month.

yeah, they suck. Thats why I use SBC DSL. no limits, no hassle.

 

[K1052]

50GB a month is excessive?

LOL....I usually break at least 150GB on my Comcast 8 meg package, peaked at just over 300GB transferred one month with nary a word out of Comcast.

 

[Abel007]

Great read. :thumbsup:

Good for you for sticking to it and not letting them screw you.

 

[hardcandy2]

276 GB downloaded last 42 days, about average for the last year. 8MB/sec cable. No word from Comcast. They do have a 2 GB per month limit on downloads from their news server.
I really think on cable it depends on whether your downloads affect your particular node on their network. If someone else starts calling and complaining about the speeds dropping, they look for downloads eating up the bandwidth. If no one complains, they do not sweat it.

 

[Kadarin]

Sounds like piss-poor customer service to me. If there's an alternative in your area that's remotely viable, I would suggest using it instead. These clowns don't deserve your money.

 

[The Batt?sai]

Originally posted by: Warthog912

Originally posted by: Zach
I agree with Spidey about it being abuse. 50G/month is like saturating low end DSL 24h/d, 7 days a week. That does seem excessive.

156.5kb/s / 8b/B = 19.5kB/s
19.5 kB/s * 60s/1m = 1170kB/m
1170kB/m * 60m/1h * 24h/d * 31d/m = 52228800kB/month
52228800kB/month * 1m/1024k * 1g/1024m = roughly 50gB/month

Gimme a break. I'll hit that limit LEGALLY in ~10 Days or so on my ~3meg DSL.

i have 5 meg down and 2 meg up of cox cable. whats the max if i maxed it out every second for a month?

 

[The Batt?sai]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
If they'd informed you in any way and not falsely advertised the service as unlimited, they might have a point. What they're really saying is "we want people to pay for high speed internet, but not use it"

:thumbsup:

i hope i don't get in trouble with this with cox cable

of course it is in my roomates name

 

[The Batt?sai]

Originally posted by: K1052
50GB a month is excessive?

LOL....I usually break at least 150GB on my Comcast 8 meg package, peaked at just over 300GB transferred one month with nary a word out of Comcast.

i don't even want to know how much i've done

from venomXTF

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: ebaycj
If all of your posts are like this, it's no wonder you hit your 50GB monthly limit.

ROFL! :beer:

Read the whole rant, sounds like Prolog don't know their arse from their elbow.