81399672
Premium
join:2006-05-17
Los Angeles, CA | reply to neufuse
Re: wtf? comcast asked us not to use VPN
Do you have dsl in the area available if so then just ignore them, if they suspend account tell them to reactivate it or you will take your business to another provider
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i am not a lawyer but I do play one on tv |
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Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
| reply to neufuse
Re: wtf? comcast asked us not to use VPN
Did you specifically mention that you're using a VPN technology, or did it just come up? While there is some provisionary disallowment of VPN usage on a residential account, it's likely that what really triggered the phone call was some other bandwidth-using service.
20 GB/month isn't what they would call you over, just, period. You've got to be doing something else that sparked some interest. Regardless of whether or not it's entirely ethical to have such arbitrary caps, you're going to have to do something to demonstrate that you're "improving" the situation.
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"Some people never see the light till it shines thru bullet holes." -Bruce Cockburn
I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 12900+ messages currently using 406 MB. |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| reply to NetFixer
said by NetFixer  :As has already been posted by quatrix , the Comcast TOS for it's residential HSI service does indeed contain a prohibition against using VPN for commercial purposes. What the hell? So they consider logging into work a "commercial purpose"? It's not as if he's hosting a VPN. He's simply logging into his work's VPN.
Personally, I think this is a load of BS. Someone can download 100 GB of torrent stuff in a month and it's fine, but someone VPNs into work and they're violating the TOS? What is comcast worried about? It seems to me that it's either extortion (to require a "business" account just to login to your work), or they're too worried about people complaining about an "oversold node" - instead of actually being proactive about their bandwidth allocation.
So what if my company didn't use a VPN, and I just directly connected with VNC? Would that violate the TOS, too?
It's their network, and they can do whatever they like with it, but it's policies like this that have me scratching my head. I think it boils down to them being cheap. They'd rather prohibit VPNs where there is a steady stream of bandwidth as the person is connected, instead of just addressing their bandwidth issues proactively. Even if it uses less bandwidth over the course of a month than people downloading things via torrent.
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"Hey honey! Do you think KFC's still open?" |
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NetFixer
Freedom is NOT Free
Premium
join:2004-06-24
Murfreesboro, TN
 ·Vonage
 ·Cingular Wireless
·AT&T CallVantage
 ·AT&T Southeast
3 edits | I didn't write, nor do I enforce Comcast's TOS, I only posted the relevant section regarding corporate teleworker usage of their residential HSI accounts. Anyone who wants to setup a VPN over a Comcast residential HSI account to their company's LAN is free to do so as far as I am concerned, but don't pretend to be surprised if Comcast decides to enforce the TOS and shut your service off.
The screen capture below, taken from »https://www.comcast.com/business/teleworker.html shows Comcast's official service for teleworkers.
EDIT: I originally posted the wrong link and image.
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We can never have enough of nature. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
Test your firewall. |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| No I understand you were just quoting Comcast.  I just think it's extortion to require business service just to VPN into work.
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"Hey honey! Do you think KFC's still open?" |
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DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Carrollton, TX
| Before everyone gets on their high horses, I suspect that the term "commercial purposes", which the TOS explicitly outlaws, has a very particular meaning. I take it to mean "in connection with running a business". In other words, you cannot use a residential account as the internet connection for a business. I would argue that an individual connecting into their place of work via a VPN is just a form of personal use. A similar distinction arises with car insurance, where a typical policy prohibits using ones car for business while not prohibiting using it to get to and from work. |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| said by DMS1 :Before everyone gets on their high horses, I suspect that the term "commercial purposes", which the TOS explicitly outlaws, has a very particular meaning. I take it to mean "in connection with running a business". In other words, you cannot use a residential account as the internet connection for a business. I would argue that an individual connecting into their place of work via a VPN is just a form of personal use. A similar distinction arises with car insurance, where a typical policy prohibits using ones car for business while not prohibiting using it to get to and from work. That's what I hope, too. But the wording is ambiguous and probably intentionally so. I just don't see how they could prohibit connecting to work over a VPN to work from home. If they do that, it's 100% extortion.
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"Hey honey! Do you think KFC's still open?" |
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quatrix
Premium
join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL
1 edit | reply to DMS1
said by Comcast :
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Service is for personal and non-commercial use only and you agree not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider, a server site for ftp, telnet, rlogin, e-mail hosting, "web hosting" or other similar applications, for any business enterprise, or as an end-point on a non-Comcast local area network or wide area network. Even if "commercial use" didn't include VPN, VPN would be "an end-point on a non-Comcast local area network or wide area network".
And making you get a more expensive account to use VPN is about as much extortion as the water company shutting off my service for not paying the bill. They provide a service under their conditions, and you can pay for it or not.
All that said, if you use VPN but not too much bandwidth, Comcast likely doesn't care. |
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neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA
 ·Comcast
| reply to Nerdtalker
Comcast called here to "warn" me about bandwidth usage... I said I don't know how that could be possible, because I couldnt be using more then what was rumored to be the limit. I said all I use at home is VPN, general browsing, and AIM chat online. Right after I said VPN they said, to connect to a workplace? I said yes, and thats when the whole don't use a VPN thing started then they started to say that was the cause blah blah blah... violates TOS... I asked how, they then proceeded to tell me about their 'business accounts' that would allow it and never really answered my question so I just hung up on them after they said the price... |
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Loker
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Fargo, ND
clubs:
| reply to neufuse
so that shows the original intent of the call had nothing to do with VPN usage....they were simply calling to say that you were using a lot of bandwidth and needed to cut back....
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"While preceding your entrance with a grenade is a good tactic inQuake, it can lead to problems if attempted at work." -- C Hacking |
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asjamias
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN
·RoadRunner Cable
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to neufuse
i think they're just trying to move you into a higher account for more money....
my wife has vpn connection to her work, although I wasn't quite sure how much bandwidth we used, we never got a call from comcast.
we switched now to ATT DSL since comcast isn't available yet in our community. |
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hobgoblin
Sortof Agoblin
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY
clubs:
| reply to Loker
said by Loker :so that shows the original intent of the call had nothing to do with VPN usage....they were simply calling to say that you were using a lot of bandwidth and needed to cut back.... Agreed...the VPN is a smokescreen.
Hob
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Gilitar
join:2000-11-20
Mobile, AL | reply to neufuse
Just switch to DSL. |
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hobgoblin
Sortof Agoblin
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY
clubs:
| said by Gilitar :Just switch to DSL. It would be interesting to compare the DSL terms of Service to the Comcast ones!
Hob
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | I think that would depend on the DSL provider itself. I know ATT/SBC TOS you can do more with your connection. |
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neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA
·Comcast
| reply to neufuse
yeah I'll switch to DSL which doesnt even make it to our house.... not an option... its cable, sat, or dial-up...
the call even came from the comcast BUSINESS! department... which was wierd... not the abuse department... and using what they claim was well under 100GB doesnt even warrant a
"complaint" call... its like they where trying to force me into a higher priced account... |
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hobgoblin
Sortof Agoblin
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY
clubs:
| reply to gdm
said by gdm :I think that would depend on the DSL provider itself. I know ATT/SBC TOS you can do more with your connection. Abuse it?
Hob
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | They have no set caps or mention it. Many people run there own exchange server off the dsl line...personal domain. Go through some of the ATT forums and search you can see how much bandwidth they use a month. |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| reply to quatrix
said by quatrix :And making you get a more expensive account to use VPN is about as much extortion as the water company shutting off my service for not paying the bill. They provide a service under their conditions, and you can pay for it or not. Logging into work from home is a very common thing these days, so I'm sorry but I have to disagree. How does logging into a VPN to catch up on some work affect Comcast's network? If a few KB/s to keep the VPN tunnel alive is taxing their network so much, they have serious problems.
There is no legitimate reason why a residential customer shouldn't be able to connect to their place of work. They're not serving anything, they're not selling anything on the connection. They're simply logging into work remotely to be more productive in their job.
I'd love to hear a reasonable justification for this policy. I can't think of a single good reason for not allowing VPN. Yes, Comcast can do whatever they want with their network/service. And people can chose not to use the service or go elsewhere. That doesn't mean it's a justified policy. The only fathomable reason I can think of is to sucker people that work from home into forking over twice as much money to Comcast.
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"Hey honey! Do you think KFC's still open?" |
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