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Comments on news posted 2008-08-28 09:30:26: Back in May I broke the news that in addition to throttling back high-consumption users to "DSL like speeds," Comcast was considering implementing a 250GB monthly cap as part of their shift toward "protocol agnostic" network management. ..

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pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Will Comcast cap the number of users capped?

Will Comcast restrict the number of users capped to 14,000?

K3
join:2008-05-06
Kankakee, IL

1 edit

K3

Member

Re: Will Comcast cap the number of users capped?

thats funny, everyone who has a comcast HSI account will be capped
ossito16
join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN

ossito16

Member

they think it belongs to them

Will just be a matter of time before the Internet becomes a utility and everyone has right to have access. The moment the speeds increase to 30mbps+ up and down and the medical establishment begins to use it more for high tech operations and health monitoring it will all be snatched away from the greedy corps running them. When someone dies because the hospital surgeon's connection was throttled for streaming operating procedures that exceeded is monthly cap, then maybe control of the Internet should be a nationalized commodity.

IPonIT
@comcast.net

IPonIT

Anon

Re: they think it belongs to them

If they were running a business on a residential service, they should get sued for endangering their patients. if they need true dedicated bandwidth, they should be using dedicated lines, not a cable modem.
ossito16
join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN

ossito16

Member

Re: they think it belongs to them

very true, did not think about that one

Kfedka
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Spokane, WA

Kfedka

Premium Member

Now that comcrapstic!

This is my first time calling comcast comcrap in a post. But if this is the case, I have no choice. Most of the technology around us progresses forward, but this is the opposite!

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

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Now that comcrapstic!

Noo. You mean Comcraptastic!!!

I've heard enough ugly stories with them. I'm glad we have Bresnan where we are. I've been stressing the sh*t out of our connection from day 1 and they don't complain (15mbps/1mbps).
ctggzg
Premium Member
join:2005-02-11
USA

ctggzg

Premium Member

Drop it to 50 GB and you've got yourself a deal

That's way more than enough.

comcrapppy
@centurytel.net

comcrapppy

Anon

This how to censor your internet

The censorship has started and before the cap starts I would remove my account and go with dsl and if the put a cap on that then get a dialup unlimted and let comcast know you will never submit to a censored internet. Think about it how in the heck do they want you to surf the internet when a lot of videos can be large these days and even the new hard drives 1tb or larger and do you know why? THINGS HAVE GOT LARGER and this is a way to stop you from viewing videos or even have a say on the web and then the say oh so we can cut down on the pirates ummm yah sure we know the real reason. So comcast the real abuser is you and the people will make you sorry for what you have done and your monopolistic days are numbered and we know you dont want people using vonage and we know you hate dissent and a war is comming will you network be able to handle the flames.

pongo
@comcast.net

pongo

Anon

enough?

250GB is enough right now, but in a few years it won't be. Lets hope a real unlimited ISP comes out.

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

4 edits

aaronwt

Premium Member

Re: enough?

said by pongo :

250GB is enough right now, but in a few years it won't be. Lets hope a real unlimited ISP comes out.
It's already here, FIOS has no caps and they have true speed too. I have the 50mbs tier with them for $90 a month.

I hit the max speed anytime of the day, any day of the week for as long as I want. Unlike Powerboost which only boosts the speed for a very short time.

Woody79_00
I run Linux am I still a PC?
Premium Member
join:2004-07-08
united state

Woody79_00 to pongo

Premium Member

to pongo
I am currently on ATT and there is no caps. I had an ATT guy here the other day. I saw a group of them working on a RT down the street and i walked down and talked to them. I straight up asked them about ATT implementing "usage caps" and expressed my concerns about leaving their service if this is true

The one guy who looked like a "field manager" said he hasn't heard a peep about anything concerning any types of caps and that ATT is not going to caps its users and that is an ugly rumor. He said ATT is not limited like Comcast in network bandwidth usage because of the fundamental differences in the way DSL is set up as in Nodes . vs RTs

Pretty much he said Comcast and the like just simply keeps plugging more and more users into the same node.

With ATT they create a RT on a "per block" basis and only put enough plugins for as many houses on that block. Sometimes their are 2 or 3 or more per line length. He said this in turn means these nodes don't get overloaded as easily and the CO are hooked in differently than the way cable internet is deployed.

He said cable has a bit of an advantage in speed but a huge disadvantage in being as scalable to support more concurrent users than DSL.

As a matter of fact, the guy told me for his region there is still roughly around "40%" of current RT's that are simply empty and no one is even plugged into them. so it would make no sense for them to cap because their not even close to reaching any time of network congestion.

He did say they may jack the price a bit, i mean every compnay raises prices every now and then just simply because the cost of living goes up, im fine with that. which is probably what ATT will do while grabbing users who bail on comcast's caps. this is a smart move by ATT a price increase and no cap in return for unlimited usage...ATT should get a lot more customers from this come october

besides, i allready got 3 other options for internet if they do decide to cap...1 being a local small wireless providor who i am very good freinds with that has promised me he will never go to cap usages that has dsl type speeds, and a satellite provider who i called recently

The Sat folks told me there is no need for them to cap because they are not restrained nearly as much by bandwidth as others due to its wireless nature and what not...its a long explanation but switching to satelite does make sense...if you can't get att or someone else in your area..sat internet is available anywhere in the world.
blips
join:2001-04-17
Addison, IL

blips

Member

Re: enough?

AT&T is talking about going to pay per use:

»Is AT&T Hinting At Usage-Based Pricing This Fall?

Scatcatpdx
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR

Scatcatpdx to pongo

Member

to pongo
I think you are making and assumption that may not be true. Nobody knows the future.

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

So is Blast no longer worth it?

If you pay the extra $10 a month for blast, you'll just hit the cap that much faster so is it even worth it now?
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

1 edit

Rick5

Premium Member

Ding Dong...

The hogs are dead. Which old hogs? The Bandwidth Hogs!
Ding Dong! The bandwidth hogs are dead!
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the bandwidth hogs are dead.

They've gone where DSL does go,so SLOW...so SLOW so SLOW!
Yo-ho, let's open up and sing... and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong the merry-oh, sing it high, download it slow.
Let them know The Bandwidth Hogs are dead!




Levity aside, I think that comcasts 250 gig caps are more than fair for the price paid. And, this doesn't restrict users from using more. It just restricts them from doing it off the backs of other paying customers.

Is that fair? I certainly think it is.

sturmvogel6
Obama '08
join:2008-02-07
Houston, TX

2 edits

1 recommendation

sturmvogel6

Member

Re: Ding Dong...

said by Rick5:

The hogs are dead. Which old hogs? The Bandwidth Hogs!
Ding Dong! The bandwidth hogs are dead!
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the bandwidth hogs are dead.

They've gone where DSL does go,so SLOW...so SLOW so SLOW!
Yo-ho, let's open up and sing... and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong the merry-oh, sing it high, download it slow.
Let them know The Bandwidth Hogs are dead!




Levity aside, I think that comcasts 250 gig caps are more than fair for the price paid. And, this doesn't restrict users from using more. It just restricts them from doing it off the backs of other paying customers.

Is that fair? I certainly think it is.
I am not dead and wish the best to you as much as you wish to the people I represent.

We do not exist on the "backs of other customers". CC uses a flat rate pricing system. The fact that YOU are not competent to use your connection to the larger extent that we can does not mean that WE should go down to your lack of expertise level.

I can drive 80 MPH for 12 hrs straight on I10. Do I drive on the "back" of grannies that can do only 40 MPH for 30 minutes in the slow lane ?
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

1 edit

Rick5

Premium Member

Re: Ding Dong...

said by sturmvogel6:

We do not exist on the "backs of other customers".

Of course you exist on the backs of other customers.

There is no way in the world that these kinds of bandwidth numbers would be available to you otherwise for this kind of money except for the fact that this is a shared network.

A 6 or 8 Mb pipe delivering to you 250~400Gigs per month would cost you THOUSANDS per month were you not on a shared network arrangement. What has been happening is everyone has been footing the bills while the vast minority helps themselves to everything they can get. As the comcast statements notes, the average user is consuming 2 to 3 gigs per month while others apparently are going to extremes of 250 to 400 gigs. It is time that people using the excessive amounts start to pay for it.

It's really that simple.

~Rick
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Ding Dong...

Meh, you can get 250-400 GB per month, it just won' be at extreme speeds. Meet the $359 T1, which is likely available (it is here) where Comcast has their lines. Slower? Yes. Capped? Uh uh.

sturmvogel6
Obama '08
join:2008-02-07
Houston, TX

1 edit

sturmvogel6 to Rick5

Member

to Rick5
said by Rick5:
said by sturmvogel6:

We do not exist on the "backs of other customers".

Of course you exist on the backs of other customers.

There is no way in the world that these kinds of bandwidth numbers would be available to you otherwise for this kind of money except for the fact that this is a shared network.

A 6 or 8 Mb pipe delivering to you 250~400Gigs per month would cost you THOUSANDS per month were you not on a shared network arrangement. What has been happening is everyone has been footing the bills while the vast minority helps themselves to everything they can get. As the comcast statements notes, the average user is consuming 2 to 3 gigs per month while others apparently are going to extremes of 250 to 400 gigs. It is time that people using the excessive amounts start to pay for it.

It's really that simple.

~Rick
I do not have a problem to pay for my usage, but I have a problem with your position regarding that we "the hogs" are somehow ripping others offe or existing at their expense.

The argument works both ways. If the ones that use more should pay more, how about those that use the service almost not at all ?

Should they get a refund ?

Who is then ripping people off ?

Bellundo
@teksavvy.com

Bellundo to Rick5

Anon

to Rick5
These figures are from the year 2008. The average subscribers downloads and uploads between 20 and 30 gigabytes a month. The average subscriber on dial-up downloads and uploads 5 gigabytes a month.

badtrip
Premium Member
join:2004-03-20

badtrip to Rick5

Premium Member

to Rick5

Trinijoy
Premium Member
join:2005-09-12
Brick, NJ

Trinijoy

Premium Member

Come on fios...

Fios is still not Available in my area in Brick NJ!!! I AM SO PISSED!!!!!

Pir8
@comcast.net

Pir8

Anon

Re: Come on fios...

You can thank Toms River for that. TR was offered FIOS and turned it down. We (Brick) were supposed to get it this year, but once TR heard how much Freehold and other parts of Monmouth County liked it, they threw a hissy fit and demanded to be next.

hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium Member
join:2005-06-29
Florence, SC

hayabusa3303

Premium Member

Time to switch to DSL.

I will give comcast credit 250 vs 5 gb tw wants to play with.
jdmatl
join:2000-04-27
Deerfield Beach, FL

jdmatl

Member

Re: Time to switch to DSL.

AT&T & Qwest are ready with DSL caps also and they could be lower than 250g
Flip1105
join:2008-07-04
Richmond, TX

Flip1105

Member

Re: Time to switch to DSL.

ATT regular DSL may have a cap coming however ATT Uverse has no cap. Check the ATT UVerse web site.
jdmatl
join:2000-04-27
Deerfield Beach, FL

jdmatl

Member

Re: Time to switch to DSL.

no cap yet.

They could cap non-Uverse SD/HD Tv traffic easily.

Uverse doesn't cap, but is using the same DSL infrastructure and cable plants, but using bonding VDSL technology. Bittorrent over Uverse will give the same problems it does over standard DSL, sucks up the bandwidth. Now it will be effecting the SD/HD TV streams being deployed over the AT&T network. Hopefully AT&T has QOS that will always deliver SD/TV over bittorrent.

Remember this is the same company that said the internet was running out of bandwidth.

Xela18954
join:2000-10-06
Richboro, PA

Xela18954

Member

Per Byte Billing

Honestly I think the better model would have been to set a certain flat per byte rate and charge users for bandwidth used vs. speed and byte cap price plans. Something more in line with the way electricity is sold. I pay for kWh I use and electric company does not limit me how much I can use or how fast the electrons flow. I limit myself by making sure I do not leave lights on everywhere 24/7. That way the responsibility would be on a customer to manage his/her bandwidth usage.

The Internet providers, like Comcast, should give just provide the fastest possible connection technically possible and just charge per byte used. Heavy bandwidth users will pay more and some if not most will pay less. That way no one will subsidize others and nobody will have to be punished for a few bad apples.

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

aaronwt

Premium Member

Re: Per Byte Billing

said by Xela18954:

Honestly I think the better model would have been to set a certain flat per byte rate and charge users for bandwidth used vs. speed and byte cap price plans. Something more in line with the way electricity is sold. I pay for kWh I use and electric company does not limit me how much I can use or how fast the electrons flow. I limit myself by making sure I do not leave lights on everywhere 24/7. That way the responsibility would be on a customer to manage his/her bandwidth usage.

The Internet providers, like Comcast, should give just provide the fastest possible connection technically possible and just charge per byte used. Heavy bandwidth users will pay more and some if not most will pay less. That way no one will subsidize others and nobody will have to be punished for a few bad apples.
With electricity(around here) you play less per KWh after a certain amount.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Per Byte Billing

How about a low (768k or so...enough for YouTube and such) CIR and above that have a bucket of bandwidth that you could use up and then drop down to the lower speed? Profitable and makes sure you still have internet!

Also, pay-per-GB is fine with me...I'll pay it like my electric bill...$25 in minimum charges plus 5 cents per GB sound fine with you? Me too. They're paying about that much in fixed costs and that much in variabe costs...
SlackerX
join:2002-07-10
Esparto, CA

SlackerX to Xela18954

Member

to Xela18954
The analogy to electricity would be better if electricity speed were limited. Like if you had to wait longer for a microwave to cook some food because your connection was slower.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88 to Xela18954

Member

to Xela18954
If I have Pay Per Byte billing I want to be able to download atleast at 100 mbit, no less.

Xela18954
join:2000-10-06
Richboro, PA

Xela18954

Member

Re: Per Byte Billing

said by patcat88:

If I have Pay Per Byte billing I want to be able to download atleast at 100 mbit, no less.
As I said the "last-mile" provider should open the pipe as wide open as technically possible and just charge per byte. If its technically possible to provide 100 Mbps then you'll get 100 Mbps but if the highest you can get technically is 5 or 10 Mbps then you'll get what you'll get.

I think that way everyone will have less headaches and confusion. If someone downloads/uploads 600 GB/month then that person pays for their usage equivalent amount and person who uses only 10 GB/month will obviously pay much lower amount.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: Per Byte Billing

But this system has been perverted by "minimum comits" which guarantee $1000s each month even if not 1 packet was sent across the link.
Couch Potato
What?
Premium Member
join:2004-08-29
Statesville, NC

Couch Potato

Premium Member

Poor Comcrap customers.

I feel for you all and hope there's some competition you can sign up for.
Rob2647
join:2008-08-12
Rochester, MI

Rob2647

Member

Re: Poor Comcrap customers.

I got U-verse available in my area, making the switch next weekend.

pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium Member
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA

pokesph

Premium Member

performance/blast tiers?

So no one has really said much about the higher speed tiers yet..
Considering we pay more per month, is this same 250GB cap going to apply to us as well?

IMO it should be higher, perhaps 450GB or so since it IS Comcast's premium service.. its only fair after all.

Hopefully someone can check in with Comcast and specifically ask about this.

A very sad day in the interwebs is soon approaching.. and someone once told me that the end of the world was going to be in 12/2012.. LIES. It will (begin to) end Oct 2008.
Matthewb
join:2000-02-09
Crofton, MD

Matthewb

Member

Re: performance/blast tiers?

I was wondering about this myself. They restrictions should be higher in my opinion as well!

I hope we here something back on this.

xxzone
@comcast.net

xxzone to pokesph

Anon

to pokesph
Very good question. Exactly what I was wondering myself when I first read this. If we pay more, we should get a higher cap for sure!

Comcast User
@telekenex.com

Comcast User

Anon

Comcast Sucks

I just called Comcast to see what my usage has been for August. I spoke to four different people including two managers and no one could tell me what my month-to-date usage has been. Comcast said that if I exceeded the cap, someone would probably call to let me know. I asked Comcast if they would call before my service was cut off or after my service was cut off, they weren't sure.

sturmvogel6
Obama '08
join:2008-02-07
Houston, TX

1 edit

sturmvogel6

Member

Re: Comcast Sucks

said by Comcast User :

I just called Comcast to see what my usage has been for August. I spoke to four different people including two managers and no one could tell me what my month-to-date usage has been. Comcast said that if I exceeded the cap, someone would probably call to let me know. I asked Comcast if they would call before my service was cut off or after my service was cut off, they weren't sure.
They will call you BEFORE your service will be cut off to ask you to curb the usage. However, the call would be well too late for you to actually be able to fix it, since it will be usually about two weeks into the billing cycle, so you will be probably cut off anyway if you are way above the 250 GB. What I have seen on the forum here if you are in the 400 GB range you are already marked for disconnection.

Just my opinion based on empirical observation.

Glaice
Brutal Video Vault
Premium Member
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY

Glaice

Premium Member

250GB

That is a rather healthy cap for just about everyone who uses the service.

Only if other halfassed services that put caps on it like that 5GB provider would listen up to their customers instead of their investors for once.

IM1811
join:2001-08-20
Haverstraw, NY

1 edit

IM1811

Member

My Typical Day: Why 250 Gigs just ain't enough.

My Typical Day includes:

ITunes, Ruku, Xbox360, WebSite Management as well as Megarotic (or Hulu depending on my mood). I have 3 HD tv's, all hooked to WMC via the 360, and I play COD4 and Halo3 online multiplayer.

I have a family, and that's important when speaking about my 'typical day'. What scares me is that if we allow the Cable Companies to do this with the data today, it will change the way online advertisers, producers, and jobbers 'perceive' their ROI. Once Mom's start saying 'knock off the downloads, we can't afford the extra $100', that simple 'perception' of an 'out of control expense' is going to go a long way in killing the online business.

In closing, I'd like to point out that the association of 'High Bandwidth' users and 'Pirating Content' is simply a crock of 'Comcrap'. The cable companies are begining to charge 'By the Byte' in an attempt to kill the fledging 'on demand' business so all those advertising dollars go into THE BROADCAST TELEVISION market, not the ONLINE market.

PS. At work, I use Fios business, 20-5 w/ 4 ip addresses, at a cost of $100 per month. That replaced a Verizon full T1 that cost $600 per month.

At home,I pay for unlimited data with Verizon, 20-20 tier. No caps, throttling, or DPI.

Oh, and by the way, I would be glad to 'pay per byte'. Just like i'd love ALA CARTE Cable. But, oh well, that ain't happening anytime soon.

telcolackey5
The Truth? You can't handle the truth
join:2007-04-06
Death Valley, CA

telcolackey5

Member

Re: My Typical Day: Why 250 Gigs just ain't enough.

And with all that network usage, I expect you are less than 100G of traffic / month.

The typical "hog" is very different from the typical "power user"

jsz0
Premium Member
join:2008-01-23
Jewett City, CT

jsz0 to IM1811

Premium Member

to IM1811
The traffic between your media center PC and 360 does not go over the Internet and wouldn't be included as part of the cap.
Dan8888
join:2007-08-21
Wilmington, DE

Dan8888

Member

My problem with this

There are 2,592,000 seconds in a 30 day period, if one has a 16mbps, in this time they can download, this would work out to 5,184 GBs, while the cap is only 250GB, which if I am doing my math right, is roughly 5 percent of what is possible.

•••••

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

Karl's Latest Update to the Original Article

said by Karl Bode:

Update: I've confirmed the October 1 start date for the cap with additional sources, and have seen documentation making reference to the plan. Interestingly, this information makes no mention of overage fees or increased DMCA enforcement, which might suggest Comcast decided against those additional measures at this time. It appears that right now, the primary goal is simply putting a very clear number on Comcast's long-standing glass ceiling. That should please those customers who've been complaining about this invisible cap for years. More information shortly.

hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium Member
join:2005-06-29
Florence, SC

hayabusa3303

Premium Member

What about business accounts?

tho they did say just for res. not business. If i was with comcast i would upgrade to business.

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

Update #2 from Karl

said by Karl Bode:

Update 2: Thar she blows. Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas directs my attention to their updated network management website, which confirms the October 1 cap launch. From the website:
250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of data, much more than a typical residential customer uses on a monthly basis. Currently, the median monthly data usage by our residential customers is approximately 2 - 3 GB. To put 250 GB of monthly usage in perspective, a customer would have to do any one of the following:

* Send 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)
* Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)
* Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
* Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)
Measuring your caps by e-mails sent is a little lame (though increasingly common). That said, 250GB is a generous cap, particularly when compared to the 5-40GB caps being considered by companies like Time Warner Cable and Frontier. It's good that customers will no longer have to guess how much usage constitutes gluttony, and it's great to see that Comcast left the overage fee concept on the cutting room floor (for now). The site says that Comcast customers should see notification in their bills shortly.

••••••
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