Comcast Cap coming?

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: 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 that much time? 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.

I was doing 650, 760,850 in 3 consecutive months, apparently.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: 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 that much time? 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.

I was doing 650, 760,850 in 3 consecutive months, apparently.

What were you downloading?

 

[dmcowen674]

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."

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

I am encouraged to see once a a while ATers get it.

It's 100% about the money.

Very good Anubis.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

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."

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

I am encouraged to see once a a while ATers get it.

It's 100% about the money.

Very good Anubis.

its always about money
ive said basicially that same thing before about the cap issue, that quote however said it better then i normally do

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: sdifox
I was doing 650, 760,850 in 3 consecutive months, apparently.

What were you downloading?

HD programming, mostly recorded OTA. Didn't feel like rebuying 1200 movies.

And they claimed I had a machine that was infected and was hammering their system.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

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."

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

I am encouraged to see once a a while ATers get it.

It's 100% about the money.

Very good Anubis.

its always about money
ive said basicially that same thing before about the cap issue, that quote however said it better then i normally do

The only problem with that conspiracy is it has yet to come true and highly doubtful it ever will nor would the FCC allow it. So just stop with the conspiracy stuff.

 

[bvalpati]

Originally posted by: spidey07
DOCSIS 3.0 which comcast and other cable providers are already rolling out. Do you know what T3s are delivered on? Yeah, coax.

T3 is ~ 45mbps which is the bandwidth limit for coax, hardly even worth mentioning when compared to fiber.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: bvalpati

Originally posted by: spidey07
DOCSIS 3.0 which comcast and other cable providers are already rolling out. Do you know what T3s are delivered on? Yeah, coax.

T3 is ~ 45mbps, hardly even worth mentioning when compared to fiber.

I know, I just found it amusing that you didn't know you could have 100+ Mbs on coax.

And 10 Gbs on regular twisted pair cabling will be here within a year.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

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."

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

I am encouraged to see once a a while ATers get it.

It's 100% about the money.

Very good Anubis.

its always about money
ive said basicially that same thing before about the cap issue, that quote however said it better then i normally do

The only problem with that conspiracy is it has yet to come true and highly doubtful it ever will nor would the FCC allow it. So just stop with the conspiracy stuff.

hey dont lump me in with Dave and the conspiracy people,

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Anubis
hey dont lump me in with Dave and the conspiracy people,

Sorry, didn't mean to. But honestly the FCC would smack down such a practice. They've been very good about leaving the internet alone and only stepping in when anti-competitive practices are shown.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anubis
hey dont lump me in with Dave and the conspiracy people,

Sorry, didn't mean to. But honestly the FCC would smack down such a practice. They've been very good about leaving the internet alone and only stepping in when anti-competitive practices are shown.

while i agree i can really see some ISP trying to do it, cap internet DLs and puch ondemand cable

however the Govet I dont know if it is the FCC hasent done shit about the blatent mononoplys ISPs have all over the country. there IMO really needs to be more then 1 highspeed provider available to people

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: 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.

You have absolutely no idea how a help desk works, do you?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

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."

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

I am encouraged to see once a a while ATers get it.

It's 100% about the money.

Very good Anubis.

its always about money
ive said basicially that same thing before about the cap issue, that quote however said it better then i normally do

The only problem with that conspiracy is it has yet to come true and highly doubtful it ever will nor would the FCC allow it. So just stop with the conspiracy stuff.

You really need to get out from behind your monitor more, it's on the front page of the news today.

Granted it's being overshadowed by the hottie VP the U.S. is about to have but sheesh.

8-29-2008 Comcast to limit customers' broadband usage

Comcast Corp, the largest U.S. cable operator, said on Thursday it will cap customers' Internet usage starting October 1

The Philadelphia-based company is not alone in trying to come up with ways to limit heavy Internet usage.

Time Warner Cable Inc, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, said in January it would run a trial of billing Internet subscribers based on usage rather than a flat fee.

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said Comcast was also considering so-called consumption-based billing, but no decisions had been made.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: 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.

You have absolutely no idea how a help desk works, do you?

Other than the fact that I worked at one for over a year? No, I guess I don't. :roll:

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anubis
hey dont lump me in with Dave and the conspiracy people,

Sorry, didn't mean to. But honestly the FCC would smack down such a practice. They've been very good about leaving the internet alone and only stepping in when anti-competitive practices are shown.

while i agree i can really see some ISP trying to do it, cap internet DLs and puch ondemand cable

however the Govet I dont know if it is the FCC hasent done shit about the blatent mononoplys ISPs have all over the country. there IMO really needs to be more then 1 highspeed provider available to people

FWIW, most people do have options. One could make the argument (and I'd tend to agree) that they aren't very good options, but alternatives are available. For example, I think satellite internet is available almost anywhere in the US. Cellular data services are also becoming more pervasive -- 1xRTT/GPRS (which, granted, aren't much faster than dialup) covers most of the US, and high-speed data (EVDO/EDGE) is becoming available in more markets. Alltel has been great about rolling out EVDO in rural markets, IIRC about 75% of their coverage area is EVDO capable. I do about 1.5Mbps down w/my EVDO (have seen 2.0+ on occasion), which is pretty decent IMO. Biggest downside is latency, but future technologies are supposed to address this.

Like I said, none are very exciting, but if you absolutely can't stand the idea of giving Comcast your money but still want "broadband," there you go.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anubis
hey dont lump me in with Dave and the conspiracy people,

Sorry, didn't mean to. But honestly the FCC would smack down such a practice. They've been very good about leaving the internet alone and only stepping in when anti-competitive practices are shown.

while i agree i can really see some ISP trying to do it, cap internet DLs and puch ondemand cable

however the Govet I dont know if it is the FCC hasent done shit about the blatent mononoplys ISPs have all over the country. there IMO really needs to be more then 1 highspeed provider available to people

FWIW, most people do have options. One could make the argument (and I'd tend to agree) that they aren't very good options, but alternatives are available. For example, I think satellite internet is available almost anywhere in the US. Cellular data services are also becoming more pervasive -- 1xRTT/GPRS (which, granted, aren't much faster than dialup) covers most of the US, and high-speed data (EVDO/EDGE) is becoming available in more markets. Alltel has been great about rolling out EVDO in rural markets, IIRC about 75% of their coverage area is EVDO capable.

Like I said, none are very exciting, but if you absolutely can't stand the idea of giving Comcast your money but still want "broadband," there you go.

should i clarify that there should be more then 1 option for top tier speed at a similar price point? i know you knew what i ment but thats what i want, i want to be able to choose between TWC, Comcrap, VZ... whoever offering me the same 10/10 package for example

not 1 provider with that and the next provider only having a 1.5/.5 line

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: spidey07
DOCSIS 3.0 which comcast and other cable providers are already rolling out. Do you know what T3s are delivered on? Yeah, coax.

You are wrong, a little white van brought us our T3's...what's a Coax, Ford's new hybrid?

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: spidey07

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

What difference does it make? I don't get what I pay for most of the time, and that's a long way from DOCSIS 1.x top speeds. They didn't upgrade to handle DOCSIS 2.0, so why should I believe they will for 3.0?

And they are still limiting my torrent speeds, even though they were told to stop.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: spidey07

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

What difference does it make? I don't get what I pay for most of the time, and that's a long way from DOCSIS 1.x top speeds. They didn't upgrade to handle DOCSIS 2.0, so why should I believe they will for 3.0?

And they are still limiting my torrent speeds, even though they were told to stop.

And you know what? You can thank people using torrents 24x7 for the situation you are in, not the provider. The fact of the matter is the prices residential customers pay for the bandwidth they have is beyond cheap because of residential traffic patterns. Move that pattern into raping it and don't be surprised if you have to pay more for it or be limited.

It's NOT free and you're not paying market rates for the data you are moving. 250 GIGABYTES a month. Think about that for a minute. 250GB a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: spidey07

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

What difference does it make? I don't get what I pay for most of the time, and that's a long way from DOCSIS 1.x top speeds. They didn't upgrade to handle DOCSIS 2.0, so why should I believe they will for 3.0?

And they are still limiting my torrent speeds, even though they were told to stop.

And you know what? You can thank people using torrents 24x7 for the situation you are in, not the provider. The fact of the matter is the prices residential customers pay for the bandwidth they have is beyond cheap because of residential traffic patterns. Move that pattern into raping it and don't be surprised if you have to pay more for it or be limited.

It's NOT free and you're not paying market rates for the data you are moving. 250 GIGABYTES a month. Think about that for a minute. 250GB a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, but I blame the provider. This is no different than when people used their dialup 24x7. The telcos were going nuts then, because they over subscribed more than what their networks could handle. They adapted though, and came out with dsl, while Comcast just took on more subs.

Sure, this cap is a way to stop the torrent abusers, but they could have stopped it long ago, by stopping the ads telling people they had unlimited data.

I can't wait to see their ad for this new 250GB cap. I'm sure Verizon is chomping at the bit too.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
Oh yes, I'm pirate, you caught me. It couldn't have anything to do with my schooling (videos of lectures here and from other universities that I'm responsible for, large data sets, high resolution images...ect ect getting a Ph.D in Biochemistry isn;t one of the easier things to do in life) on top of legal downloads (my spiffy zunepass, linux distros for my 2nd hand system refurbishing side business I run out of my bedroom, loads of skype video chats with family that I otherwise would only get to see once a year, media streaming to ppc (at evdo rev. A speeds on a vga screen) mostly live TV from my capture card, independent (i.e free to share) music (including live performances)). To assume that one must be doing something illegal to use this kind of bandwidth is pretty short sighted. Somehow I get a feeling this post will go ignored.

"linux distros for my 2nd hand system refurbishing side business" - so... you're whining about a 250GB cap while admitting that a huge portion (linux distros are pretty big) of your bandwidth is commercial in nature?

Not now, no. But what does this do to future media? Do companies like netflix and MS just say "screw it" since nobody will be able to use their service without paying $10000 a month to the ass-rapers over at comcast?

Ahhh, so ISP's need to expand their services, irregardless of how much it costs them and what profits they can make, just for other services to provide a convenience to you. Hey Comcast! I just invented 3-D video. Each video is 250GB. I need you to make your pipes bigger, because you're holding up technology.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu

Originally posted by: spidey07
You can call me a troll all you want (not you Canai), but I've been doing this shit for 15 years. I understand what the providers are facing and thankfully they pay me to understand. No I don't work for Comcast.

It doesn't matter how long you've worked in network administration, act in manner much akin to a troll and prepare to be treated as such. The fact that you know what you are talking about and still spill nonsense is what really amplifies this feelings. that and the fact that you crop up in every thing thread that has anything negative to say about Comcast (even ones without Comcast mentioned in the tagline) really makes things smell like nRollo.

The problem is folks thinking I'm spewing nonsense. I don't care what provider or network we're talking about, the challenges are still the same and they are ALL facing it.

Then why applaud the cheap-out tactics. Bandwidth usage has increased exponentially for god only knows how long now. If they couldn't realize this a long time ago they do not belong in the business. They have had PLENTY of time to see this point (their network becoming overloaded) coming and they sat on their hands and did nothing. Now they still wish to do nothing, instead of increasing their capacity. THAT is what I take offense to, and in MY opinion is inexcusable.

Bandwidth usage has increased exponentially... Have the prices increased exponentially? No. Is the exponent the same for all users? No. They're happy to accomodate 99% of their users. But, that 1% of *abusers* they don't want to accomodate. Why should they?
It's like having a 24 hour buffet open. Some people come in every day for 3 meals. Some at regular times, others at weird hours. Some of those people who come in every day for 3 meals eat huge meals; they're going to be obese in a week. But, then there are customers who simply stay in there 12 hours a day, eating as much as they possibly can, and stuffing their bags with other stuff.

250GB a month of legitimate downloads? Sure, maybe for one month. But month after month, regularly? You're either a pirate else you're hoarding. (Else, you've gotta learn that hard drives are for storing data; you really shouldn't be downloading the same 25GB file every other day.)

 

[ChaoZ]

I already used up 225gb. I'm not sure if this is what I usually use as this was Olympics month and had a lot of streaming.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Muadib
Sure, this cap is a way to stop the torrent abusers, but they could have stopped it long ago, by stopping the ads telling people they had unlimited data.

They did!

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: OdiN
Anyone using over 250GB/month is pirating stuff illegally.

Yep. No question