Comcast Cap coming?

[Regs]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Canai
I still fail to see how using bandwidth that I paid for is abusing it.

I don't know how to make it any more simple. You are NOT paying for that kind of bandwidth at normal market rates. You are paying for a residential connection. If you want to slam your connection 24x7 then pay for it - business class service.

I'm calling your bluff. I just got off the phone with a Comcast rep (which oddly enough was a girl I met casually before from the university of Pittsburgh) and you can only have a business account at an address that is zoned accordingly. She wasn't sure if this was going to change when the user agreement changed but the entry level tier starts at almost $60 a month. I say hello verizon. I also called you in that my post full of valid points would go ignored. You lost what little credibility you once had. Have fun trolling away, you're migrating (with oden) to my ignore list.

edit: Wow, I never realized how much nicer I can make the forum for myself with the ignore list. It is almost as if the troll all just go *poof*.

"Carreiro said he received a message from a Comcast Security Assurance representative in December, who warned him that he was hogging too much of the company's bandwidth and needed to cut down. When Carreiro contacted customer service about the call, they had no idea what he was talking about and suggested it was a prank phone call. Unconvinced, Carreiro contacted Comcast several more times, but was again told there was no problem."

"A month later, he woke up to a dead Internet connection. Customer service directed him to the Security Assurance division, which Carreiro said informed him he would now be without service for one year."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2111373,00.asp

Maybe nismotigerwvu connection gets turned off, then he can get to enjoy being ignored by the whole internet. It must be some self-fulfilling prophecy he had when joining a public forum.

 

[Xavier434]

I'm on the phone with Comcast right now because I want to know my bandwidth usage history over the past 6 months to see where I stand. They have transferred me to one of their "higher" internet tech departments. They have absolutely no access to this information and on top of that they didn't even know that this was going to be happening starting Oct. 1 of 2008. This guy's supervisor wasn't even aware. I am basically sitting here reading the FAQ and article directly from their site teaching their employees about their new policies.

I have requested that I would like to be able to constantly monitor my usage by being able to directly access their data through a an online web application which shows me my usage history. Basically, I want what cellular companies provide on their websites. The guy agrees with me and seems pretty pissed off that his department was not even informed of any of this stuff. I have also requested that the idea of roll over bandwidth to be considered because we are all basically paying for 250GB a month whether we use it or not. I don't necessarily expect these changes to happen over the next 30 days but I feel it is good that they are getting feedback.

I am just appalled that their department had no clue what I was talking about with exception of being aware that something might happen based on some talk 6 months ago. After this guy started reading through the article he also told me that what appears to be happening is nothing like any bits and pieces of the details they were given 6 months. He said they were not expecting any changes until at least late 2009.

In the end, the guy was nice, helpful, and seemed pretty competent. His supervisor is also learning about this now and reading their own websites. I asked them to call me back on my cell once they get caught up to speed and can give me feedback about how I am going to be able to look up my usage history. I realize there are web tools out there which do such things, but considering the strict penalties in place I don't want to use them. I want to be able to get my data from the source so I know my account will be safe. After all, it doesn't make sense to enforce rules that your customers are unable to properly follow due to lack of information which should be made available to them.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: sdifox
It's their decision, don't like it, go somewhere else. Rogers decided to enforce the 65gb cap (up and down), 2 dollars per additional gb. So I dropped them.

It's nice to say - don't like it, go somewhere else, but where else is there to go? For many people the choice is cable or dial-up or extremely slow DSL (according to ATT's website, I can't even get that in my building, so for me it, it's Comcast or nothing).

this is also a major issue there is no real competition unless you happen to live in a massive urban area

most people in the country have the choice of 1 high speed Cable provide, 1 shitty speed DSL provider or dial up

I do live in a major urban area, just the wrong one I guess. My parents were lucky since LI has been a huge place for Verizon's FiOS service (which they switched to in June). Heck, I wish I could have Cablevision over Comcast. My Comcast connection (supposedly 6/1.5) likes to slow to about .8mbps/.6mbps with 200+ pings between 8 and 10PM on most nights.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: sdifox
It's their decision, don't like it, go somewhere else. Rogers decided to enforce the 65gb cap (up and down), 2 dollars per additional gb. So I dropped them.

It's nice to say - don't like it, go somewhere else, but where else is there to go? For many people the choice is cable or dial-up or extremely slow DSL (according to ATT's website, I can't even get that in my building, so for me it, it's Comcast or nothing).

this is also a major issue there is no real competition unless you happen to live in a massive urban area

most people in the country have the choice of 1 high speed Cable provide, 1 shitty speed DSL provider or dial up

I do live in a major urban area, just the wrong one I guess. My parents were lucky since LI has been a huge place for Verizon's FiOS service (which they switched to in June). Heck, I wish I could have Cablevision over Comcast. My Comcast connection (supposedly 6/1.5) likes to slow to about .8mbps/.6mbps with 200+ pings between 8 and 10PM on most nights.

my 5/384 line never has better then 200ms pings no matter what time of the day
at least the speed is consistant at about what is advertised

and proves my point even further that you do live in a major urban area and dont have any choice

 

[Regs]

That seems to be quite bad Xavier434, that not even most of Comcast knows about these new Policies. It seems like Comcast upper management only communicated to their security division.

If they were to cap us at 250GB's then I think its well within reason to provide us access to see how much bandwidth we are using. I do find it rather appalling not even their own customer service agents were told about this.

 

[13Gigatons]

The problem here is that four people using the same line only get 62GB a month then. Which is only 2GB a day.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: bvalpati

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: bvalpati
Since Comcast's options for expanding their infrastructure are limited until they begin laying fiber at the residential level they will lower the cap every year that demand increases. I would expect the cap to be around 25GB/mo. within 2-3 years but at that point hopefully there will be options for fiber internet access. Comcast, and all cable companies for that matter, can't even deliver decent HD television content over their POS old networks and if they don't invest heavily soon they will be out of business in 10 years.

You really have NO idea what you're talking about.

Explain how you're going to expand to 100mbps service to the curb over coax lol?

OK,
1. That's not the statement I was disagreeing with, so I'm not sure why I have to explain it.
2. They can do that very easily. I believe each channel has a bandwidth of about 5 MHz; using 64-QAM you get 6 bits per baud for a total of 30 megabit/second per channel. 4 channels = 120 Megabits/second. 64-QAM is conservative. 256-QAM + more channels = much faster.

Those copper wires can handle a ton of data. By converting analog channels to digital, they can continue to expand without laying any new wires. But my point was, you're only thinking about the lines between the headend and your house. I think Comcast doesn't want to expand the fat pipe between the headend and the Internet (at least not until more than 0.1% of their customers require it).

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: Regs
That seems to be quite bad Xavier434, that not even most of Comcast knows about these new Policies. It seems like Comcast upper management only communicated to their security division.

If they were to cap us at 250GB's then I think its well within reason to provide us access to see how much bandwidth we are using. I do find it rather appalling not even their own customer service agents were told about this.

They will. Unfortunately the website will require a 249GB PDF download to view said data.

 

[zoiks]

While I'll probably never use 250gb in a month, I just hate the fact that there is a cap.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: ric1287
Too lazy to copy past the article. Comunestcast

So they're proposing a 250gb cap per month. $15 for every 10gb over that.

I think comcrap is the only company going the complete opposite direction technology wise. With streaming media (movies, tv, music,) and online gaming becoming more popular, this stupid cap will cripple all of it. Absolutely ass backwards.

actually, comcast is doing it in order to be able to sell you online services they host. they need pre limit bandwidth usage of customers in order to accommodate the stuff they want to sell.

Given the limits comcast face with their network, i don't see how they are possibly going to keep up with the services fios offers without taking these kinds of measures.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: Regs
That seems to be quite bad Xavier434, that not even most of Comcast knows about these new Policies. It seems like Comcast upper management only communicated to their security division.

If they were to cap us at 250GB's then I think its well within reason to provide us access to see how much bandwidth we are using. I do find it rather appalling not even their own customer service agents were told about this.

They will. Unfortunately the website will require a 249GB PDF download to view said data.

:laugh:

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: Regs
That seems to be quite bad Xavier434, that not even most of Comcast knows about these new Policies. It seems like Comcast upper management only communicated to their security division.

If they were to cap us at 250GB's then I think its well within reason to provide us access to see how much bandwidth we are using. I do find it rather appalling not even their own customer service agents were told about this.

They will. Unfortunately the website will require a 249GB PDF download to view said data.

Not according to what is stated in their own FAQ at the moment:

How does Comcast help its customers track their usage so they can avoide exceeding the limit?

There are many online tools customers can download and use to measure their consumption. Customers can find such tools by simply doing a Web search - for example, a search for "bandwidth meter" will provide some options. Customers using multiple PCs should just be aware that they will need to measure and combine their total monthly usage in order to identify the data usage for their entire account.

Great. So in order for me to follow your rules properly, I need to go and get a 3rd party tool which constantly monitors and records my usage. Of course, let's not forget that in order for that data to even be remotely accurate my computer must be TURNED ON! I cannot use any other device that uses internet bandwidth such as my game consoles (XBOX Live HD Movie rentals are 8-10 gigs each) unless my computer is turned on and this monitor is running. Even then, I don't know if these monitors will record the bandwidth that these other devices use which go directly to my router. Not to mention that every customer needs to worry now that their kids and husbands/wives will have the computer on and monitor running whenever they use the devices. The way I see it is that recording such things isn't my job anyways. That is what I am paying for them to do. That is why it is called a "service".

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Xavier434


Great. So in order for me to follow your rules properly, I need to go and get a 3rd party tool which constantly monitors and records my usage. Of course, let's not forget that in order for that data to even be remotely accurate my computer must be TURNED ON! I cannot use any other device that uses internet bandwidth such as my game consoles (XBOX Live HD Movie rentals are 8-10 gigs each) unless my computer is turned on and this monitor is running. Even then, I don't know if these monitors will record the bandwidth that these other devices use which go directly to my router. Not to mention that every customer needs to worry now that their kids and husbands/wives will have the computer on and monitor running whenever they use the devices. The way I see it is that recording such things isn't my job anyways. That is what I am paying for them to do. That is why it is called a "service".

If you're using 250 GB per month, they don't care what you think of their "service." If you're not using 250 GB per month, you don't need to worry about monitoring your usage.

You actually expect them to develop tools to satisfy the top 0.1% users? The customers who cost them the most money already?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: Regs
That seems to be quite bad Xavier434, that not even most of Comcast knows about these new Policies. It seems like Comcast upper management only communicated to their security division.

If they were to cap us at 250GB's then I think its well within reason to provide us access to see how much bandwidth we are using. I do find it rather appalling not even their own customer service agents were told about this.

They will. Unfortunately the website will require a 249GB PDF download to view said data.

Not according to what is stated in their own FAQ at the moment:

How does Comcast help its customers track their usage so they can avoide exceeding the limit?

There are many online tools customers can download and use to measure their consumption. Customers can find such tools by simply doing a Web search - for example, a search for "bandwidth meter" will provide some options. Customers using multiple PCs should just be aware that they will need to measure and combine their total monthly usage in order to identify the data usage for their entire account.

Great. So in order for me to follow your rules properly, I need to go and get a 3rd party tool which constantly monitors and records my usage. Of course, let's not forget that in order for that data to even be remotely accurate my computer must be TURNED ON! I cannot use any other device that uses internet bandwidth such as my game consoles (XBOX Live HD Movie rentals are 8-10 gigs each) unless my computer is turned on and this monitor is running. Even then, I don't know if these monitors will record the bandwidth that these other devices use which go directly to my router. Not to mention that every customer needs to worry now that their kids and husbands/wives will have the computer on and monitor running whenever they use the devices. The way I see it is that recording such things isn't my job anyways. That is what I am paying for them to do. That is why it is called a "service".

That is outrageous. The only brightside I see right now is that I have bandwidth monitoring in my router thanks to install DD-WRT v24 on it.

On a side note, it's good that Stage6 turned itself off. With so many DIVX quality videos on it (particularly tv shows), I could easily increase my bandwidth usage.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: mugs
If you're using 250 GB per month, they don't care what you think of their "service." If you're not using 250 GB per month, you don't need to worry about monitoring your usage.

You actually expect them to develop tools to satisfy the top 0.1% users? The customers who cost them the most money already?

How about if you come close, want to obey the rules, but see no way to properly do so? What then? Two notices in six months and you are banned for year? That's what they are telling us.

Also, even if you use a lot of bandwidth but do not really come close to the limit you are going to have paranoid customers who fear going over that limit. No one wants to be worried about such things. They just want to pay for their service and use it without having to worry. Providing instant access to your usage is a great way to do that.

Seriously, it isn't asking much. They have the data already. They just need to write a web app which queries the database and displays the info. That is not hard and it is not expensive to do. If cellular companies can do it then I see no reason why they cannot do it too. It would also hit two birds with one stone. Their CS reps have no access to this info when they should. Make the app and then both your customers and your employees now have access to information that they deserve to have.

 

[alkemyst]

funny how in politics, conspiracy is laughed at...yet in the world of broadband and counterstrike is well known and feared.

lolz.

 

[sdifox]

I would like to see detailed billing

Ip Date/Time GBs Filename
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx blah 4.3GB Debbie.Does.Dallas.avi
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx blah 4.3GB Debbie.Does.Dallas 2.avi
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx blah 4.3GB Debbie.Does.Dallas 3.avi
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx blah 4.3GB Debbie.Does.Dallas 4.avi
.
.
.

 

[Xavier434]

This also is a bummer as the Netflix feature with XBL is coming soon. They will be offering plenty of downloadable HD movies soon enough in that library. That is a service I really want to have and it most certainly will be upping my bandwidth usage since, unlike the current rentals on XBL, I won't have to pay per movie with this.

 

[Anubis]

"The main reason Comcast will do this, is to prevent IPTV to get a chance. They are trying to protect their TV and VOD services. By limiting, they will ensure that no one will be able to rely on services that may start competing with their core business. Netflix and iTunes rentals are their biggest concern. Both undercut Comcast in price. And VOD services are a big chuck of their profitability. So much for not having net neutrality."

comment on this issue from someplace else which IMO is prob correct

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Anubis
"The main reason Comcast will do this, is to prevent IPTV to get a chance. They are trying to protect their TV and VOD services. By limiting, they will ensure that no one will be able to rely on services that may start competing with their core business. Netflix and iTunes rentals are their biggest concern. Both undercut Comcast in price. And VOD services are a big chuck of their profitability. So much for not having net neutrality."

FUCKERS!!! :|

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: bvalpati

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: bvalpati
Since Comcast's options for expanding their infrastructure are limited until they begin laying fiber at the residential level they will lower the cap every year that demand increases. I would expect the cap to be around 25GB/mo. within 2-3 years but at that point hopefully there will be options for fiber internet access. Comcast, and all cable companies for that matter, can't even deliver decent HD television content over their POS old networks and if they don't invest heavily soon they will be out of business in 10 years.

You really have NO idea what you're talking about.

Explain how you're going to expand to 100mbps service to the curb over coax lol?

LOL!

DOCSIS 3.0 which comcast and other cable providers are already rolling out. Do you know what T3s are delivered on? Yeah, coax.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: mugs
Wow, that's actually really, really reasonable. As much as I hate Comcast, this is one of the only GOOD things I think they've ever done. Instead of having to worry about being shut off for hitting some unknown cap, you would actually KNOW how much you can use in a month, and it's a ridiculously high amount. They're not punishing the "power users" who might use 60 GB in a month - a 250 GB cap would really punish ONLY the abusers. You could stream Youtube and Netflix for hours a day and not hit 250 GB.

2 Netflix movies a day (pretty easy if you had a family or roommates situation, and Netflix allows multiple simultaneous streams on one account), and you will top 250 GB in a month. That's just the movies, not counting any additional legitimate surfing, UMA/VoIP, YouTube, Pandora, VPN, or gaming activity.

And that cap apparently includes uploading as well, so remember that all download traffic carries associated upload bandwidth, as well. Even if you never "upload" anything, you'll still hit the cap before you actually download 250 GB.

Don't get me wrong, it's probably enough data for most individual people, but it is easily possible to exceed that amount with legitimate activities, and the ease of exceeding it goes up with each additional person in the household.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: Genx87
250GB isnt bad for now. In 5 years when HD online movie rentals are hitting mainstream not so much. At 10-15GB a movie one can hit that cap pretty quick.

Then they will up the cap. They aren't trying to hit the 99% of users that don't abuse the bandwidth. They are trying to hit the 1% that are doing 100TB a month (ok, exaggeration).

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: mugs
Wow, that's actually really, really reasonable. As much as I hate Comcast, this is one of the only GOOD things I think they've ever done. Instead of having to worry about being shut off for hitting some unknown cap, you would actually KNOW how much you can use in a month, and it's a ridiculously high amount. They're not punishing the "power users" who might use 60 GB in a month - a 250 GB cap would really punish ONLY the abusers. You could stream Youtube and Netflix for hours a day and not hit 250 GB.

2 Netflix movies a day (pretty easy if you had a family or roommates situation, and Netflix allows multiple simultaneous streams on one account), and you will top 250 GB in a month. That's just the movies, not counting any additional legitimate surfing, UMA/VoIP, YouTube, Pandora, VPN, or gaming activity.

And that cap apparently includes uploading as well, so remember that all download traffic carries associated upload bandwidth, as well. Even if you never "upload" anything, you'll still hit the cap before you actually download 250 GB.

Don't get me wrong, it's probably enough data for most individual people, but it is easily possible to exceed that amount with legitimate activities, and the ease of exceeding it goes up with each additional person in the household.

Clearly this is the top, minute percentage of their customers. You can make up whatever obscure scenario you want, but it really only affects a small group of people. That small group of people are using up a large chunk of the company's bandwidth - and because of that they want to make them pay for the excess.

Also, Netflix streaming movies are max ~2GB - typically 1GB per 90 minutes of video. If you managed to watch 30 movies over the course of 1 month, you would hit maybe the 100GB mark.

250GB is currently a lot of data - especially for a 1-month span.

In the future it may not be. But in the future, the 250GB limit may be adjusted accordingly.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: Regs
That seems to be quite bad Xavier434, that not even most of Comcast knows about these new Policies. It seems like Comcast upper management only communicated to their security division.

If they were to cap us at 250GB's then I think its well within reason to provide us access to see how much bandwidth we are using. I do find it rather appalling not even their own customer service agents were told about this.

They will. Unfortunately the website will require a 249GB PDF download to view said data.

Not according to what is stated in their own FAQ at the moment:

How does Comcast help its customers track their usage so they can avoide exceeding the limit?

There are many online tools customers can download and use to measure their consumption. Customers can find such tools by simply doing a Web search - for example, a search for "bandwidth meter" will provide some options. Customers using multiple PCs should just be aware that they will need to measure and combine their total monthly usage in order to identify the data usage for their entire account.

Great. So in order for me to follow your rules properly, I need to go and get a 3rd party tool which constantly monitors and records my usage. Of course, let's not forget that in order for that data to even be remotely accurate my computer must be TURNED ON! I cannot use any other device that uses internet bandwidth such as my game consoles (XBOX Live HD Movie rentals are 8-10 gigs each) unless my computer is turned on and this monitor is running. Even then, I don't know if these monitors will record the bandwidth that these other devices use which go directly to my router. Not to mention that every customer needs to worry now that their kids and husbands/wives will have the computer on and monitor running whenever they use the devices. The way I see it is that recording such things isn't my job anyways. That is what I am paying for them to do. That is why it is called a "service".

That is outrageous. The only brightside I see right now is that I have bandwidth monitoring in my router thanks to install DD-WRT v24 on it.

On a side note, it's good that Stage6 turned itself off. With so many DIVX quality videos on it (particularly tv shows), I could easily increase my bandwidth usage.

Try Vreel.

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: mugs
Wow, that's actually really, really reasonable. As much as I hate Comcast, this is one of the only GOOD things I think they've ever done. Instead of having to worry about being shut off for hitting some unknown cap, you would actually KNOW how much you can use in a month, and it's a ridiculously high amount. They're not punishing the "power users" who might use 60 GB in a month - a 250 GB cap would really punish ONLY the abusers. You could stream Youtube and Netflix for hours a day and not hit 250 GB.

2 Netflix movies a day (pretty easy if you had a family or roommates situation, and Netflix allows multiple simultaneous streams on one account), and you will top 250 GB in a month. That's just the movies, not counting any additional legitimate surfing, UMA/VoIP, YouTube, Pandora, VPN, or gaming activity.

And that cap apparently includes uploading as well, so remember that all download traffic carries associated upload bandwidth, as well. Even if you never "upload" anything, you'll still hit the cap before you actually download 250 GB.

Don't get me wrong, it's probably enough data for most individual people, but it is easily possible to exceed that amount with legitimate activities, and the ease of exceeding it goes up with each additional person in the household.

Netflix movie streams are 4GB a piece? I find that hard to believe.

I don't think a lot of people realize how hard it is to hit 250GB a month. You have to download *a lot* of stuff, IMO more than most people even have time to watch/play/whatever. Sure, it may be possible to hit the limit if you download 30 game demos a month, but who has the time to actually play 30 demos a month anyways? Most of the people who use insane amounts of bandwidth like that are hoarding music/movies, which is a practice I've never really understood. I don't download stuff I have no intention of listening to or watching, it's just a waste of bandwidth.