jplove71
IBEW 113
Premium
join:2001-03-16
Colorado Springs, CO
| New Comcast user
I'm a new Comcast subscriber and if I ever receive one of these letters, I'm dropping them like a hot potato and going with another high speed internet provider.
Comcast needs to stop f***ing around and make public what that 'glass ceiling' is.
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Browsing with Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1 |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28 | Invisible Data Cap?
Is that anything like a tinfoil hat? Mine gets too hot in the summer, and I'm looking for alternatives...
Apologies for this guaranteed-content-free post.
-- B |
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ronpin
Imagine Reality
join:2002-12-06
Nirvana
 ·AT&T Southwest
| reply to jplove71
Re: New Comcast user
said by jplove71  :
if I ever receive one of these letters, I'm dropping them like a hot potato and going with another high speed internet provider.
They're hoping you do! |
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joebear29
join:2003-07-20
Alabaster, AL
| said by ronpin :
said by jplove71 :
if I ever receive one of these letters, I'm dropping them like a hot potato and going with another high speed internet provider.
They're hoping you do!
I was thinking pretty much the same thing:
"What? That All-You-Can-Eat Buffet warned me about eating more than 12 plates of food in a sitting?! I'll show them, and never come back. They're never getting another $3.95 from me!"
[text was edited by author 2003-10-13 11:02:06] |
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Sarick
It's Only Logical
Premium
join:2003-06-03
USA
·FrontierNet Intern..
|  Why can't they just go public?
I can't understand why this hasn't gone mainstream as much.
Why isn't anyone contacting the BBB or whatever to get this into main media?
Worse off why won't the cable companies just set it straight?
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Trouble with spelling.. This browser extension changed my internet life. www.iespell.com (it's really nice!) -Sarick |
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Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Why should they have to? It would be bad PR if they DID announce this. Instead, just send these to the people who they're losing money off of. Who cares how you treat them.
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The Internet Hitman | TIHM chat | Aftershock |
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AthlGrond
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-25
Aurora, CO
 ·Comcast
| reply to joebear29
Re: New Comcast user
said by joebear29 :
"What? That All-You-Can-Eat Buffet warned me about eating more than 12 plates of food in a sitting?! I'll show them, and never come back. They're never getting another $3.95 from me!"
Have you been looking at the Comcast manager's hand book again?  |
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Athlon III
join:2000-08-27
Corvallis, OR
| reply to ronpin
said by ronpin :
said by jplove71 :
if I ever receive one of these letters, I'm dropping them like a hot potato and going with another high speed internet provider.
They're hoping you do!
Yes, that's exactly what they want people to do. They would probably send someone out to help pack. 
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Athlon III |
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Sarick
It's Only Logical
Premium
join:2003-06-03
USA
·FrontierNet Intern..
| reply to Archivis
Re: Why can't they just go public?
You don't seem to get the issue here, they aren't setting a limit.
Set a limit and then you can complain, don't set one and your cheating anyone who buys the service.
How can you tell if your over the limit if there is no limit?
Come to think about it what do you think would happen if credit cards ran this way?
Mr Credit card.
CARD Co.. : You have unlimited use of our credit card.
Customer : Really?
CARD Co.. : Yes you can use it as much as you want..
You buy tuns of stuff.
Card Co calls back.
Customer : Hello?
CARD Co.. : You've used over your cap. We are suspending your account and suing you for misuse of our service!
Customer : What yada yada, you said unlimited..
CARD Co.. : Read the TOS, and deal with it.
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Trouble with spelling.. This browser extension changed my internet life. www.iespell.com (it's really nice!) -Sarick |
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shstrang
join:2003-01-10
West Monroe, LA
| reply to joebear29
Re: New Comcast user
quote:
What? That All-You-Can-Eat Buffet warned me about eating more than 12 plates of food in a sitting?! I'll show them, and never come back. They're never getting another $3.95 from me!
How do you know he's abusing his "all you can eat" internet service capacity? He may end up using less bandwidth than you ever would.
While no reasonable person expects to be able to go to an "All you can eat" buffet and be able to load up more than once or twice using data services aren't always as cut and dried.
If one wants to listen to live internet radio, surf websites with high graphic content (no I don't mean porn. Believe it or not there are other high graphics content sites on the net.) and download some new programs suggested by cnet, how will one know if they're over their "all you can eat" limit? If Comcast wants to enforce maximum allowed usage in GB chunks they need to make some kind of outline of that policy available to it's customers.
Now it appears that Comcast uses some arbitrary usuage amount to determine whether you're over the alloted amount.
Whether they actually do this or not matters not. Perception is reality. |
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Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Sarick
Re: Why can't they just go public?
Well, if you've got a problem with it, then take your money elsewhere.
We're talking about internet service. I think this place is making a big stink about nothing. How many letters have we seen that have been sent out? A few?
Send them out en masse towards our everyday high users and I'll sing a different tune.
Wanna tell a guy who's got 4 radio streams capturing every single second of every single day to knock it off? Go for it.
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The Internet Hitman | TIHM chat | Aftershock |
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joebear29
join:2003-07-20
Alabaster, AL
| reply to shstrang
Re: New Comcast user
said by shstrang :
How do you know he's abusing his "all you can eat" internet service capacity? He may end up using less bandwidth than you ever would.
While no reasonable person expects to be able to go to an "All you can eat" buffet and be able to load up more than once or twice using data services aren't always as cut and dried.
You miss the point of my post. I wasn't arguing the ethics of either side, merely pointing out that leaving wouldn't bug Comcast too much, or else they would not have sent the letter in the first place. |
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Athlon III
join:2000-08-27
Corvallis, OR
| Just the top 5% or so?
I think the reason they're having trouble putting the same cap on everyone is because every part of the country is different. If a node is overloaded and gets slow some times during the day, they're going to go after the few that are causing it. I have almost no one on my node (my speed never slows down) so I could probably get away with downloading more than, say, someone in Caleeeforneea or New Yawk that's on an highly oversold node.
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Athlon III |
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jplove71
IBEW 113
Premium
join:2001-03-16
Colorado Springs, CO
| reply to joebear29
Re: New Comcast user
said by joebear29 :
I wasn't arguing the ethics of either side, merely pointing out that leaving wouldn't bug Comcast too much, or else they would not have sent the letter in the first place.
I think it would matter when I'm also using Comcast for my phone and TV service as well.
Me - "Hello? Comcast? Yea, um, I want to cancel all of my services that I have with you."
Them - "Why do you want to do that?"
Me - "I received one of your 'high usage' letters and since there is no set limit in the TOS or AUP, I feel that you really don't want my business so I'm going to take it elsewhere."
Them - "Your account shows that you have phone, TV, and internet with us. Are you sure there's nothing we can do to keep you from leaving?"
Me - "There is one thing."
Them - "And what is that?"
Me - "Add this so-called 'download limit' to the TOS and/or AUP so that subscribers to your internet service know what it is."
Them - "I'm sorry, but we aren't going to do that."
Me - "Then disconnect all of my services immediately"
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Browsing with Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1 |
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GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL
| Hmm, maybe....
The credit card analogy made me think...
Comcast's comments seem to be that the "cap" of what constitutes abuse varies from area to area, and perhaps month to month. So maybe Comcast should do what American Express does and say:
"No pre-set usage limit"
K.
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TheGlobalMind.com
"On a clear disk you can seek forever" |
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joebear29
join:2003-07-20
Alabaster, AL
| reply to jplove71
Re: New Comcast user
said by jplove71 :
I think it would matter when I'm also using Comcast for my phone and TV service as well.
Well, it would depend on how much Comcast made off your other services versus how much they lost to excess bandwidth charges. Since I don't know the answer to either, I can't say for sure if they would regret losing you or not.
But it seems to me to be pretty stupid to send out the letter if you didn't want the customer to either cut usage or leave, so I assume that is the intent of the letters. |
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Sarick
It's Only Logical
Premium
join:2003-06-03
USA
·FrontierNet Intern..
| reply to Archivis
Re: Why can't they just go public?
QOS.
It's the networks design flaw.
If they have a set limit all they need to do is TELL them that limit..
by them not stating a limit and keeping the caps hidden they are using a bait tactic. how so? Well they are expecting people to buy into a service under the impression that its unlimited while secretly maintaining a limit. When someone pays for the service and decides to use it as it is advertised (broadband internet) they get shafted?
It looks like a slithering snake oil salesman.
They aren't setting a real limit yet saying it's unlimited no matter how you put it its falsely promoting a service as something its not meant to be.
Cable Co's Are KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY cheating people by selling a service they can't support. It's simple if they can't support the streams then they should state it before any money transactions are made.
Thats what people want!
Since the provider can't balance the loads then it's their fault for the poor backbone design. Isn't that what stream caps are? If they want to limit his streams then all they need to do is cut back on the connection.
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Trouble with spelling.. This browser extension changed my internet life. www.iespell.com (it's really nice!) -Sarick |
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hobbesk
join:2002-03-24
Seattle, WA
| reply to jplove71
Re: New Comcast user
Just use as much as you want and if you get this letter, sue their @$$ off. A few litigations like this and they will be forced to either Define a Clear Limit or Stop sending those letters.
If Comcast had anyone in power who was able to look forward they wouldn't be doing this. In order to woo people onto broadband, broadband has to be able to offer a substantial improvement in the "Online Experience". As of technology right now, the "Substantial Improvement" can ONLY come with high bandwidth, i.e. online media content.
So Comcast should be encouraging their users to experience all the online media content they can and go out and tell their friends about it. But with this cap, I feel like I'm at Disney Land waiting 3 hours in line for 3 minutes of thrill ride on some roller coaster.
The analogy of buffet is WAY OFF THE MARK, since our appetite for online content is way higher then what the buffet is allowing us to eat.
A true buffet analogy would go something like a buffet advertising all you can eat and not allowing us to eat more then a half a plate full.
That is a true analogy of what's going on right now.
But since there are no other prominent Online-Buffet that is allowing us to eat our fill, Commicast can get away with it. |
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Athlon III
join:2000-08-27
Corvallis, OR
| reply to Sarick
Re: Why can't they just go public?
said by Sarick :
Come to think about it what do you think would happen if credit cards ran this way?
American Express has no spending limit on their card but if you spend more than you normally spend, they'll probably but a lock on it.
I just think Comcast is trying to control heavy users on individual nodes. If you're part of the group (top 2%?) that's causing the slow down you might get a letter. Every node would be different. 100GB downloaders might be a problem on one node and 250GB might be a problem on another.
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Athlon III |
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joebear29
join:2003-07-20
Alabaster, AL
| reply to Sarick
said by Sarick :
QOS.
It's the networks design flaw.
If they have a set limit all they need to do is TELL them that limit..
Apparently there is no set limit, it varies from location to location and node to node.
quote:
by them not stating a limit and keeping the caps hidden they are using a bait tactic. how so? Well they are expecting people to buy into a service under the impression that its unlimited while secretly maintaining a limit. When someone pays for the service and decides to use it as it is advertised (broadband internet) they get shafted?
It looks like a slithering snake oil salesman.
They aren't setting a real limit yet saying it's unlimited no matter how you put it its falsely promoting a service as something its not meant to be.
You can't run a server off the service either. That is a non-publicized (yet in the TOS/AUP) limit as well, yet few are complaining about that.
And who is getting shafted? You pay your $40, download 400 gigs, get a letter. Repeat next month. Third month, they shut off your service at the end. You paid for three months unlimited, you got three months unlimited. Where were you "shafted" by being charged for something you did not get?
quote:
Cable Co's Are KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY cheating people by selling a service they can't support. It's simple if they can't support the streams then they should state it before any money transactions are made.
Thats what people want!
Again, how is anyone being cheated? For as long as they pay for the service, they get unlimited access.
quote:
Since the provider can't balance the loads then it's their fault for the poor backbone design. Isn't that what stream caps are? If they want to limit his streams then all they need to do is cut back on the connection.
So, if they want to limit his usage to lets say 100 gigs a month, they should throttle his connection to a 323 kilobits down? i would be angrier at paying $40 bucks for 323 down than I would simply having the service cancelled and not being charged anymore. |
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