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Comments on news posted 2013-09-06 16:28:23: About a month ago I pointed out that Mediacom would soon be forcing all of their customers on to capped and metered plans. ..

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Gilitar
join:2012-02-01
Mobile, AL

Gilitar

Member

Far better than AT&T

Mediacom just told me that they are working toward building out our area. These caps IMHO look completely reasonable vs AT&T and it's 150 gig cap on DSL. Mind you I currently pay over $50 for 6 meg dsl! I'd take these type of caps any day.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Far better than AT&T

Strange pricing at top of the line tiers. An extra $5/mo gets you twice the speed and twice the cap as you move from Ultra to Ultra Plus. Who wouldn't pay $5/mo more for double speed and cap bytes?

RyanThaDude
Indiana's No. 1 Zero
join:2004-01-24
Walkerton, IN

RyanThaDude

Member

Re: Far better than AT&T

Only select areas have the Ultra 105 tier, and probably have competition, so I'm guessing that's why.

SHoTTa35
@kfvaluation.com

2 recommendations

SHoTTa35

Anon

....Because we can

Let's just see what we can get away with....

That's basically how I always see caps (especially overages charges!). If they went down the "we will slow you down once you are over the cap" road then I generally don't have a problem with that but charging overages has always and will always be a money grab and always get frowned upon in my book.

radem
join:2001-05-31
Windermere, FL

1 recommendation

radem

Member

Re: ....Because we can

If this was really about bandwidth, they would throttle heavy users only during prime time when they would most likely to be bandwidth constrained. Blanket caps covering all parts of the day with overage fees are purely about getting more money out of customers and nothing more.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: ....Because we can

more money? nah. protecting LEGACY VIDEO, YES!!!!!!!!
Bengie25
join:2010-04-22
Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Bengie25 to SHoTTa35

Member

to SHoTTa35
Caps are an easy and strait-forward way to measure, plus they follow the 80/20 rule and apply effectively to your average user that mostly uses their computer during peak hours.

But caps do absolutely nothing to encourage users to use off-peak time.

I think the simplest way to fix the whole "cap" issue is to have off-peak no-cap.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

1 recommendation

sonicmerlin

Member

Re: ....Because we can

Mediacom hasn't even demonstrated evidence of congestion. They can only do this because they have a captive market.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: ....Because we can

Every MSO has issues with congestion at the nodes. This is fact of life with cable. They do node splits and it'll last for awhile; rinse and repeat.

Caps have nothing to do with curbing congestion.

If they didn't want congestion they would not keep increasing speed tiers or they would throttle users.

Xioden
Premium Member
join:2008-06-10
Monticello, NY

Xioden

Premium Member

Re: ....Because we can

They're really the only business at the moment that gets away with this.

If you go to a restaurant and order a 12oz steak and they bring out a 6oz steak, people would throw a fit.

If telephone service become nothing but "all circuits are currently busy" between 3pm and 10pm people would throw a fit.

If a gas station started giving less gas per gallon purchased when they ran low people would throw a fit.

But an ISP? Cram as many people onto the same node as physically possible, bitch and moan about the horrible, horrible, handful of people who actually use the connection they pay for while slapping every single user with caps and extra charges and people don't so much as bat an eye at the practice.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

1 recommendation

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: ....Because we can

said by Xioden:

But an ISP? Cram as many people onto the same node as physically possible, bitch and moan about the horrible, horrible, handful of people who actually use the connection they pay for while slapping every single user with caps and extra charges and people don't so much as bat an eye at the practice.

People that use their connection are "abusive".

Look at how clueless most of the usual's that post here are. The general public are worse.

They would rationalize why the analogies you provided are perfectly fine and you have to think of the poor shareholders.
iowaman5
join:2013-08-30
Davenport, IA

iowaman5

Member

Re: ....Because we can

How is it abusive to use what I pay for. I pay for 50mbps and 999 gigs. How is it abusive to use all 999 gigs.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: ....Because we can

Xioden already commented on the gist of the issue.
houghe9
join:2008-02-27
Lexington Park, MD

houghe9 to SHoTTa35

Member

to SHoTTa35
"If they went down the "we will slow you down once you are over the cap" road then I generally don't have a problem with that but charging overages has always and will always be a money grab and always get frowned upon in my book."

You should have a problem with caps. If an area has no competition you will always get screwed. Saying you dont generally have a problem translates to if they just screw me a little less i can live with that. But screwing me overage charge is unacceptable.

This has already been shown in areas where google has deployed the incumbants have had to raise data speeds and lower prices.

Cell phone data plans amaze me. you have att and verizon they sell the same plans but both keep the prices high. they are supposed to be competing with each other but as it is now there no incentive to lower prices. Isnt there a law against this?
OrangeC
join:2013-07-07
Oelwein, IA

OrangeC

Member

3T

What kind of speeds w will be getting with the 3TB cap plan?

Duramax08
To The Moon
Premium Member
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX

Duramax08

Premium Member

Re: 3T

"In addition to these tiers, Mediacom says they're now offering an Ultra Plus 3T tier in many locations that offers 105 Mbps downstream speeds, and a 3000 GB cap for $150 per month."

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: 3T

So, an extra TB for $50/mo more. Meh.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: 3T

That's a good way of making pure profit on nothing. Bloody marketing genius.

nekkidtruth
YISMM
Premium Member
join:2002-05-20
London, ON

nekkidtruth

Premium Member

Smart...

At least these caps are reasonable. Don't know WTF other ISP's are thinking with 50GB and 90GB caps. I'm looking at you Canada.
egilbe
join:2011-03-07

1 edit

egilbe

Member

Re: Smart...

20MB/s is 6GB an hour download speed. You can burn up that up in three days. My son and I each bought the Humble Origin and on one weekend, just downloading the games, we used up 140GB of any potential cap space. That is, if TWC's internet meter is accurate *laugh*
True
join:2013-08-08

True

Member

Re: Smart...

I have run my own dd-wrt meter and compared it to TWCs it was 1% off.

Sarick
It's Only Logical
Premium Member
join:2003-06-03
USA

Sarick to egilbe

Premium Member

to egilbe
If you're scared about that you can always install tomatoUSB firmware on a decent router and use it's bandwidth limiter.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven to egilbe

Member

to egilbe
I think you mean 20Mb/s, not Gb/s.. unless you have a pair of 10GigE lines going directly to your house.

20Gb/s = 2.5GB/s = 9TB/Hr ((20/8)*60*60)
20Mb/s = 2.5MB/s = 9GB/Hr ((20/8)*60*60).
egilbe
join:2011-03-07

egilbe

Member

Re: Smart...

OOps! You are correct

RyanThaDude
Indiana's No. 1 Zero
join:2004-01-24
Walkerton, IN

RyanThaDude to nekkidtruth

Member

to nekkidtruth
I feel for you guys to the north. I still wouldn't call these reasonable, although they look much better than yours in CA. Many of us, including myself, will blow the 250 GB caps with ease.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Mediacom

The caps are larger than those offered by most other cable companies. In fact they are large enough on the upper tiers that it would have little to no impact on Netflix usage. The average usage per Netflix user is slightly under 100GB per month assuming they stream everything in HD, which they likely won't. And they are offering promotions to eliminate the $15 per month internet-only fee. So preventing cord cutters does not seem to be their goal here.

RyanThaDude
Indiana's No. 1 Zero
join:2004-01-24
Walkerton, IN

RyanThaDude

Member

Re: Mediacom

Where are you getting your information? The $15 fee is still there: »$15 Internet only Fee Yes or No - Once in for all?
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: Mediacom

It still exists, but there are promotions where it is waived. Perhaps only people in areas with competition can get the fee waived.

RyanThaDude
Indiana's No. 1 Zero
join:2004-01-24
Walkerton, IN

RyanThaDude

Member

Doing all my cloud backups now

I've been spending quite a bit of time uploading all my valuables to the cloud before my caps kick in on my next billing cycle (not the 7th for me, thankfully). Get your stuff in now before these ridiculous needless caps take effect!
Bengie25
join:2010-04-22
Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Bengie25

Member

Not bad

Simple, strait-forward, and better than most.

I'm not a fan of caps, but at least you know what you caps are, and they're "decent". Few people should actually run into issues.
bigb
join:2011-02-01

bigb

Member

Decent high end caps but why need lower end ones at all?

Caps are still funny to me.

They say it's to protect the network and they are not anti-competitive.
Why do different speeds have different caps in that case? They say because faster speeds means faster to hit caps but technically that is not true.

If 2 people are doing the same thing but one pays for 50Mbps and one 3Mbps end of the day they both use the same bandwidth just one finished faster . Faster speeds really allow for doing more but if that's your selling point to get faster speeds why limit the lower ones at all, they technically could be self limiting due to the speeds.

If it's fine for someone on a 50Mbps plan to use 999 why do you limit someone on a 3Mbps plan who would obviously have less of a network impact? This to me proves that caps generally exist to try to make them more money.

Now that said I think most of these caps are fair. 999GB is well beyond enough for just about any consumer so I do give them props for doing better vs. other companies on that part.

Just hope others that are going to cap are as generous.
True
join:2013-08-08

True

Member

Re: Decent high end caps but why need lower end ones at all?

Think of it as buying cap 2 cheapest plans are 18 cents a gig. The 15 cents a gig then 9.5 cents then 5 cents as you buy more bulk the overage charge is 20 cents a gig . The speed just lets you actually use that much.

Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
Asus RT-AC3100
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

1 recommendation

Packeteers

Premium Member

translation

customers who pay for a higher level of service deserve faster speeds

translates into; we are too cheap to upgrade our network to meet growing capacity demands as internet offerings continue to mature (netflix), so we are now rationing out our bandwidth particularly because we have no competition and regulators have been bribed with campaign contributions and post term cushy job offers, so they will not interfere with our price gouging.

•••••••••••
True
join:2013-08-08

True

Member

eh..

I not fond of caps. For the same reason i did't like paying per txt message in or out with ATT. I can't control if some spammer txts me and runs up my bill then i spend an hour on phone getting charges removed. What happens if i tick off wrong person and get DDOSed and run up my cap. At least the size of the caps are decent assuming your not a P2P nut. But I can see a family with a few power users and a small child watching Netflix 8 hours a day blowing the 350 . 999+ would take some effort

anonome
@verizon.net

anonome

Anon

"A higher level of service"

...yeah, because it really costs a lot to change a few bits in someone's account records.

Duramax08
To The Moon
Premium Member
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX

1 recommendation

Duramax08

Premium Member

Well then,


Good O Boy
@mchsi.com

3 recommendations

Good O Boy

Anon

Monopoly, Caps, Greed, Breach of Contract, Class Action

Service originated at approx. 19.95 a mo. for a year, then it was raised to approx. 39.95 a mo. for basic cable and internet. The charge has doubled and the service has actually decreased with fewer channels and a slower connection, for a penny less than 70.00 a month.

Almost nothing would make me happier than to call Mediacom and cancel my service, in protest to this ridiculous action that not only rips off customers and interferes with freedoms, but will likely make a CEO, very rich.

Mediacom is already a monopoly in this area. Operated by the local utility; owned by the local 'good O' boy network; controlled by City Council; in cahoots with one major, local hospital, which has every attorney in the area on payroll.

Other cable-internet providers are not allowed to come into the area, and now, forcing "caps", which will amount to higher rates on all customers (breach of contracts?), even though the rates charged to Internet providers have become cheaper (with faster speeds).

Increased rates and unforeseen over-charges (caps) are unaffordable for many families on fixed-incomes such as Unemployment, Social Security Retirement, or Disability income. Caps then, are effectively repressing these families, many with a disabled family member or children still in school.

Repression is something that Digital Defenders Project works tirelessly to prevent and abolish. Capping internet usage goes against the policy of The Freedom Online Coalition of which the United States is a coalition partner.

"Countries that join the Coalition endorse a strong declaration of support for the principle that all people enjoy the same human rights online as they do offline, including the freedoms of expression, assembly and association; the freedom of religion or belief; and the right to the protection of the law against arbitrary interference with privacy."

When wanting to make a profit becomes outright monopolized greed; when contracts are breached; when there is an immediate threat to 'internet' freedom; when 'internet repression' is looming on the horizon or has been carried out, then the magnitude of the issue is very serious and consideration should be given to class action.

__________________________________________________________________________

Net neutrality?
If you can't legislate and regulate control, increase prices to limit or prevent access to it?
(Just another form of bullying, abuse and repression of low-income, disabled and poverty-stricken citizens of the world.)

BTW. Do you know who pays for the internet access for your congress persons, representatives and president, with all those .gov and .us and .insert state here ... IP addresses?

YOU DO!
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

1 recommendation

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Monopoly, Caps, Greed, Breach of Contract, Class Action

I hope you don't actually believe that that junk you spewed.

yahoo
@172.242.216.x

yahoo

Anon

Capping

my Basic cable & internet pkg. price has cost me just under $200.00. With them always leaving you with understanding you get - up to 50 mbp - . Our biggest problem with them tho, they're Always Down ! Could be 15 mins. or 1-3 hrs. , good deal of the time it's down most of day or evening (they're not picky) then there's the rain or worse that's when they're down t-i-l-l----..
then they're auto. answer is kind enough to tell you there is -a problem in your area - & we are working on it - what a joke.. Verizon is in the area, but they were not avail. to us. we've recently tried a satellite option. not bad but also a joke. we live in city limits, (small city) hate to be out in rural. But then again they supposedly w/tax $$ have fiber optic, which is suppose to be Very Good....
I'm starting to think old phone & handwritten letters, were faster, after all the time we spend w/no service & Alot of time trying to keep cell & computers free & clean of Viruses, malware, adwares, & on, on, & on..... Expensively Exhausting !!!!!!!!!!
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

SoHO & Business

SoHo & Businesses are NOT affected by this. Only residential customers are.

IowaMan
Premium Member
join:2008-08-21
Grinnell, IA

IowaMan

Premium Member

Holy Cow

 
Someone is getting canned I bet on Monday...
Paying for 50Mb /5Mb with a 1TB cap but...

Now says I have 50Mb/5Mb with a 2TB cap AND i'm getting 100Mb + speeds
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: Holy Cow

At least the page properly says "usage allowance" instead of improperly using the word bandwidth like 90% of the people who post on this site or elsewhere.

StevenP88
join:2010-11-01
Kansas City, MO

StevenP88

Member

Business Class Internet

My honest opinion is that if a customer doesn't like the caps, then why not just get a business account? Yes it's a little bit more expensive but then again, there are no caps with it, so no worrying...

I have a business account with Cable One, I don't have any caps or throttling, nothing period always 60/3 plus I also have an SLA with a 4 hour time turn around for getting my line backup and running...

I used to have Mediacom Business Internet when I lived in Springfield,MO and loved it, actually ended up switching over for Residential...

When I moved to Kirksville,MO, I found out Cable One services the area and so I went straight for Business Internet 60/3 for $104 per month

Good O Boy
@mchsi.com

Good O Boy

Anon

Caps, Tracking

How is it that Mediacom will impose caps without tracking customers. There would be no way to bill customers for overage if they are not being willfully, an deliberately tracked by Mediacom. Lies, Lies and more lies.

Mediacom doesn't need to know how many Netflix videos are watched by any one person or family. It's not necessary to know how many mp3 music files are streamed by any one customer. Spying like this is akin to a hacker siphoning information from the pipe between the user and the internet; or a window peeper violating the privacy of their victim. This is disgusting.

Mediacom is only a middleman (reseller between AT&T and the customer), they do not have the right to violate privacy by snooping on packets (to measure usage) and then charging the customer for deliberately violating their privacy. If Mediacom was not snooping and violating privacy, they would have no idea what a customers' usage is for any specific amount of time.

In order to hide proof of their sneaky, slimy little spying on customers, it will be interesting to see how quick Mediacom will take down or change the page that currently ensures customers and the public, that Mediacom does not track customers usage.

Also, Mediacom should stop interrupting customers browsing experience and violating their private online communications, and frightening users with popups about how Mediacom is changing. This kind of behavior is similar to the FBI virus that pops up and then locks users out of their computers. Very hacker-like and unprofessional. Next time Mediacom wants to notify customers of a change, lick a stamp.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: Caps, Tracking

said by Anon80:

Mediacom is only a middleman (reseller between AT&T and the customer)

Mediacom is a cable provider. AT&T is a DSL/FTTH provider. The rest of this post is nonsense.
Bengie25
join:2010-04-22
Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Bengie25

Member

How to fix it

Network neutrality already says that the ISP can't favor services. The ISP should have to apply all of the same throttling and caps to ALL services supplied over the connection.

No QOS or packet shaping should be allowed. If your network can't handle everyone watching TV, using phones, and the Internet at the same time, then they need to reduce the Internet speed or the quality of the TV stream.
strange_69
join:2001-08-07
Ridgecrest, CA

strange_69

Member

$.18 per GB?

So if I am paying $46 for 250 GBs, does that mean that I would only get charged $.18 if I only used 1 GB? ($46/250GB = $.18/GB) Idk, maybe my math is wrong. Anyways, since I only used 32 GB last month (I was on vacation) then my bill should only be (32*.18=5.89) $5.89. That would be fair, right. That way the more I downloaded, the more I would pay. The less I downloaded, the less that I would pay. Therefore, those nasty download hogs (notice that I did not say bandwidth, lol) would have to pay more. I honestly think that is what Mediacom meant to do but they just made a mistake cause otherwise they would end up looking like a bunch of greedy bastards trying to flees the sheep.
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