| Let Me Pipe In I just read all of the above comments so let me add mine to the bottom of the long list here.
As far as a large amount of bandwidth being used.
The very first month I had Comcast I received an excessive bandwidth notice. How much did I use you wonder? 300GB? 500GB? Not even close. I only used 45GB. That's total, up and down.
I politely responded to the letter inquiring as to the cap also including a copy of my invoice when I signed up (this was my first month with them remember). Clearly written on the invoice is "Unlimited Bandwidth".
They couldn't be bothered to respond to my request so I couldn't be bothered to curb my usage as I didn't consider a mere 45GB to be excessive.
Five more months have gone by. I have used more than 45GB each of those months, never exceeding 100GB during any of them though. I have not received another excessive bandwidth notice to date.
My point here being excessive usage is not always the issue.
As far as the BitTorrent (BT) network.
This is where it gets complicated and frustrating for me. I signed up with the 8/768 tier-2 plan in order to have a faster upload speed because I use the BT network.
I am a photographer and use the BT network to help distribute my work.
The solution of slowing the download speed so the torrent finishes at about the time you have shared the entire copy does not work when you are the initial uploader of the torrent.
I am the creator and owner of the files that I share and Comcast is denying me the right and ability to share these files over the network of my choice. It is almost impossible to seed a torrent that I create anymore. The latest example being that even after more than two entire days of seeding I had not uploaded more than 20MB of data. With the tier-2 plan 20MB should have been uploaded in a matter of mere minutes.
If Comcast is concerned with bandwidth hogs then the proper thing to do would be to identify these individuals and rectify the problem on a per-user basis. But they are not doing it like that.
By blanketing the entire BT network with the Sandvine Technology they are also blocking the legal uses of the technology and that should be a suable offense against them. I am paying them $75/month for their bandwidth, but they are deciding where I can and cannot upload files that I am the legal owner of. That should be illegal if it is not.
Yes I am now looking into other options in my area, but there is only one and it is only about half as fast. Yet when you consider Comcast ups at 0KB/s, even half as fast would be better.
Something definitely needs to be done though. When an ISP has the power to decide for their customers where they can and cannot share files they are the owners of it has gone too far. They need to provide the bandwidth, with concrete caps if necessary, and not interfere in any other way. |
