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goneplaid
join:2010-02-15
Fresno, CA

goneplaid

Member

DOCSIS 3 Tiers and 250GB Monthly Bandwidth Limit?

Does the 250GB limit apply to the high end DOCSIS 3 tiers? I'm a new customer and with a cloud backup solution such as Carbonite or Backblaze it seems I will hit the limit in a matter of days.
Angrychair
join:2000-09-20
Jacksonville, FL

Angrychair

Member

Out of curiosity, are you on a business or residential account?
goneplaid
join:2010-02-15
Fresno, CA

goneplaid

Member

Residential.

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech

Premium Member

Yes.

I know carbonite limits you to 2-3 gigs a day and then throttles your connection down so low you stop backing up. So if you only do a couple gigs a day you will have plenty of room.
goneplaid
join:2010-02-15
Fresno, CA

goneplaid

Member

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually using Backblaze which does not throttle or limit.

I guess I will have to handle the throttling myself.

With the plan I pay for I could hit that cap in less than 24 hours of downloading and less than 5 days of uploading. In reality I would be doing both with backups running in the background.

It is likely that if I had not posted on this forum I would have hit the cap less than a day after the install tech left my house.

It seems like paying for more bandwidth should include a higher ceiling on that limit. I'm sure I'm not the first to post about this though.

Again, thank you for your reply.

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech

Premium Member

Then I would suggest you look into a business class connection to fit your needs. I can't imagine backing up that much data every day constantly. Maybe once to get a backup started, after that it's only files that change.

I used to work in IT and had 50-100 users businesses that didn't have that much data to backup every day.

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ to goneplaid

Premium Member

to goneplaid
Yes, people do not seem to grasp that you can pay more for TWO things

Speed & Bandwidth use.

Currently, the only variable available on the residential side is speed. On the business side there is (implicit) higher bandwidth use allowed as you go up in speed. Along with dramatically higher costs.

We can (and have) argue if this cost model is a good one for comcast, but for right now it is the only one they offer.

Throttle yourself, or switch to business class and pay more, or find a different provider (if that's an option)

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

Sunny to goneplaid

to goneplaid
said by goneplaid:

It seems like paying for more bandwidth should include a higher ceiling on that limit. I'm sure I'm not the first to post about this though.

You would most certainly be correct about that. Check the links in the first post in this stickied topic. ---> »The Bandwidth Limits/Congestion Management Topic
goneplaid
join:2010-02-15
Fresno, CA

goneplaid to beachintech

Member

to beachintech
Yes of course, I'm talking about an initial backup. I am a parent. I take photos and videos of my kids. Years of HD video and high res photos taken with a DSLR. Really nothing out of the ordinary in this day and age.

After the initial backup is complete I hope to not worry so much about the limit.

Then again, with all the various media streaming my family does (Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Pandora) ... I suspect I will need to keep an eye on it.

JimThePCGuy
Formerly known as schja01.
MVM
join:2000-04-27
Morton Grove, IL

JimThePCGuy

MVM

said by goneplaid:

Yes of course, I'm talking about an initial backup. I am a parent. I take photos and videos of my kids. Years of HD video and high res photos taken with a DSLR. Really nothing out of the ordinary in this day and age.

After the initial backup is complete I hope to not worry so much about the limit.

Then again, with all the various media streaming my family does (Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Pandora) ... I suspect I will need to keep an eye on it.
I use JungleDisk which is also a cloud backup solution. The first backup is a killer but after that it's only changed data. With compression and deduplication (even on the initial backup) I actually only transfer about 50% of the data I back up. In other words, if I back up 50G it only sends 25G (plus or minus) up the pipe. If I restore a file(s) it transfers the entire file as far as I can tell. I don't restore files often.
FWIW I love JungleDisk.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to JohnInSJ

Premium Member

to JohnInSJ
said by JohnInSJ:

Yes, people do not seem to grasp that you can pay more for TWO things

Speed & Bandwidth use.

Currently, the only variable available on the residential side is speed. On the business side there is (implicit) higher bandwidth use allowed as you go up in speed. Along with dramatically higher costs.

We can (and have) argue if this cost model is a good one for comcast, but for right now it is the only one they offer.

Throttle yourself, or switch to business class and pay more, or find a different provider (if that's an option)
I do agree with your post.. however, "dramatically higher costs"... Business class service is not that expensive at $69.00 per month for the 15/5 tier.
goneplaid
join:2010-02-15
Fresno, CA

1 edit

goneplaid

Member

fiberguy, or anyone...

Do you know if the 'business class' service pricing is Dependant upon other services being bundled? For instance, the price I am paying for DOCSIS 3 service was substantially cheaper when bundled in with a Triple Play plan than if I had just ordered a la carte internet.

-update-

If anyone is interested. I just got off the phone with a business class sales person and they do offer bundled services (minus the premium channels). Unfortunately the internet speed available is half of what I have now at twice the cost. I don't think the monthly limit would come into play as much at least not enough to justify the price increase.

Thanks again to everyone who has replied.

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ to fiberguy2

Premium Member

to fiberguy2
said by fiberguy2:

however, "dramatically higher costs"... Business class service is not that expensive at $69.00 per month for the 15/5 tier.
It's $200 for 50/10. That's a fair bit more then $99 for the same speed.

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

gar187er

Member

said by JohnInSJ:

said by fiberguy2:

however, "dramatically higher costs"... Business class service is not that expensive at $69.00 per month for the 15/5 tier.
It's $200 for 50/10. That's a fair bit more then $99 for the same speed.
the OP never said hes on 50/10.......
rugby
I think I know it all.
join:2000-09-26
Plainfield, IN

rugby to fiberguy2

Member

to fiberguy2
said by fiberguy2:

I do agree with your post.. however, "dramatically higher costs"... Business class service is not that expensive at $69.00 per month for the 15/5 tier.
We pay $100/month for 16/2 with 1 Static IP for our business connection. Where do you see $69/month for a 15/5 tier?
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

said by rugby:

said by fiberguy2:

I do agree with your post.. however, "dramatically higher costs"... Business class service is not that expensive at $69.00 per month for the 15/5 tier.
We pay $100/month for 16/2 with 1 Static IP for our business connection. Where do you see $69/month for a 15/5 tier?
I see it on my bill every month.. I have a business and work from home most of the time. With that, I ONLY have HSI on that account, not included with my personal account, and I pay $69 a month for it, and mine includes a block of 8 IP addresses.
AVonGauss
Premium Member
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL

AVonGauss

Premium Member

If I remember correctly, you're in a DOCSIS 3 market - it sounds like rugby is in an area still pending the upgrade.
rugby
I think I know it all.
join:2000-09-26
Plainfield, IN

rugby

Member

said by AVonGauss:

If I remember correctly, you're in a DOCSIS 3 market - it sounds like rugby is in an area still pending the upgrade.

That is true. According to our sales rep we should have the upgrade in October 2009.

Yep, still waiting.

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix to goneplaid

Premium Member

to goneplaid
the 250GB cap is a soft cap

so let the 1st backup run and then watch it the 2nd month

you can go way over the cap without repercussions

I think the official policy is you have to go over it two months in a row and be one of the top users in your area

Iswitched to a business account out of principle but would likely have never had issue witht he cap
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to goneplaid

Member

to goneplaid
As DarkLogix said you likely won't have an issue with the cap. I'd say keep your usage below ~400GB or 500GB and if you're on a relatively uncongested node Comcast won't bother you.

I went a little over 250GB (probably 300GB by Comcast's meter) last fall doing an initial backup on BackBlaze (yay for maxing out your connection to a backup provider!) and didn't hear a peep from Comcast. That said, I was on 50/10 (for a few days) and 22/5 (for the rest of the month), though for a *little bit* over the limit that doesn't really matter.

On the other hand I have some friends who pushed 750GB (mostly downloads AFAIK) on their 16/2 connection. They got a call from Comcast to kick their usage down a notch. They did, and everyone's happy now. No disconnections, no overcharging.

I would go ahead and back everything up without throttling the connection down. You won't get your internet connection killed on your first offense.

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

ya it seems some get worried about the cap but its there to prevent comcast from smacking you down not to ensure they smack you down

I have a friend that has downloaded over 1TB on more that one occasion and hasn't heard a word from comcast

I think another part of the rule is they have to have notified you twice before the Ban hammer swings into action

CAE
@comcast.net

CAE to goneplaid

Anon

to goneplaid
ok if your backup that much data that go over the 250gb monthly then just buy external harddrive or server to back up in you home cheaper, or use a dvd burner connect to the pc or your network. I don't like sending my personal data over the internet like that anyway.

NathanO
join:2008-08-21
Seattle, WA

NathanO

Member

you should follow the 3-2-1 rule

3 copys of every file
2 different media types (DVD and Hard disk or something)
1 offsite copy (either online, or somewhere else)
taz291819
join:2002-08-31
Huntsville, AL

taz291819 to CAE

Member

to CAE
said by CAE :

ok if your backup that much data that go over the 250gb monthly then just buy external harddrive or server to back up in you home cheaper, or use a dvd burner connect to the pc or your network. I don't like sending my personal data over the internet like that anyway.
I'll agree with ya on a home back-up server, that's what I do. But DVD, really? At 250GB a month, that would suck to burn to DVD, it would take forever. Even dual-layer Blu-Ray would take a long time to burn.

IMO, the best bet, and cheapest, is to go with a RAID solution. If one drive goes down, it's backed up on another drive. Hell, a 500GB hdd costs what, $50?
Zifnab
join:2008-03-30
Pittsburgh, PA

Zifnab

Member

said by taz291819:

IMO, the best bet, and cheapest, is to go with a RAID solution. If one drive goes down, it's backed up on another drive. Hell, a 500GB hdd costs what, $50?
The problem is that RAID is not a backup. It protects you against drive failure, sure, but not against file corruption, accidental deletion, catastrophic damage, etc. He'd be safer copying it to an external drive and sticking it in a safe deposit box (not that I recommend that, it would be a giant pain). RAID is great for redundancy and ensuring that you have something worth backing up, but relying solely on RAID is a good way to lose data eventually.

As far as the cap goes, the usual course of action is that you get a warning when you go over the limit. This assumes that they have decided to take action at all. If you continue excessive usage after receiving that warning, then you may be disconnected. Running through the initial backup and then being a little conservative about bandwidth afterwards should leave you in fairly good shape.
Strykur
join:2009-08-11
San Francisco, CA

1 edit

Strykur to goneplaid

Member

to goneplaid
I think that back in the old bandwidth usage thread, the lowest total that someone was called up for was 430GB. As long as you do not grossly go over the cap, you will not hear a peep from Comcast. If you on are on a node with little congestion, it's basically means you have a get-out-of-jail-free card.
goneplaid
join:2010-02-15
Fresno, CA

goneplaid

Member

Thanks for all the suggestions.

As for backing up to a NAS in my house. I do that as well, but everyone keeps an offsite back up too ... right?

Anyway, an offsite cloud storage solution like Backblaze is unbelievably cheap when paired with 10mbit upload speeds...

I've purchased a new router with a traffic meter so hopefully I don't have to worry about too much now. I will just have it cut me off before Comcast does.

The only real question remaining is when does the monitoring cycle reset. Is it at the first of the month or on a rolling 30 day .. I've read conflicting reports here.

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

Sunny

It starts on the first day of the month and ends on the last day of the month.

From the bandwidth abuse thread (first post) which is now linked in the forum links:

When does the meter start/stop each month?
»Comcast/Sandvine Traffic Managment System Evolves [63] comments
»When does the bandwidth meter start for the billing period?
»Comcast Montly 250GB up/down limit - when does it reset?
»Meter Stop/Start Time Subtopic #3
»Comcast Monthly CAP Time Rotation
»Does Comcast track by month? By rolling 30-day? What?
»What is a calendar month? (Bandwidth Tracking)
»Meter by calendar month illustrated
neil0311
join:2005-07-24
Marietta, GA

neil0311 to NathanO

Member

to NathanO
said by NathanO:

you should follow the 3-2-1 rule

3 copys of every file
2 different media types (DVD and Hard disk or something)
1 offsite copy (either online, or somewhere else)
Seems a bit like overkill. If you have a backup in addition to your original source, you aren't going to lose both at the same time due to hardware failure. Having a third copy offsite may be a good idea for critical files, but generally there is no need unless a natural disaster is likely in your area. A hard disk or DVD backup stored in a fireproof safe is usually sufficient for most needs.
AVonGauss
Premium Member
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL

AVonGauss

Premium Member

If the files are important to you, I would definitely recommend some type of offsite storage. There are fireproof safes that are rated for media storage, many aren't, but even then it is only for a certain amount of time. I would definitely stay away from DVD or Blu-ray media for any long term storage as they can and do degrade over time.