dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
9107
taiganaut
join:2012-10-17

taiganaut

Member

[Caps] Comcast Business vs Residential and data usage

Hi all,

I understand the 250GB cap has been "suspended" according to this blog post: »blog.comcast.com/2012/05 ··· hes.html

I'm currently looking to get the hell off CenturyLink and Comcast is my only other realistic choice since I don't own my own home and can't sign up for our local WISPs (requires external antenna).

I'm a fairly heavy upstream bandwidth user. I did some calculating and found that if I got 16/3 business service, keeping the 3Mbps outbound saturated would be over 950GB/mo! I know there are "no" caps on business tier service, but, uh.... is that for real or what?

Also, factoring in install fees, over the first year the 16/3 service would be $83/mo. I can get performance 20/4 service for about $70/mo. Obviously even uploading 3Mbps, a sustained 75% of my allotment, would have me over 950GB of upload a month on the residential service. I have a hard time believing I wouldn't get a call.

What I'm curious about on residential service: if I configure my router (I'm running custom firmware) to throttle my outbound traffic back during peak hours and thus avoid getting put into BE traffic management mode, is this going to make overall high bandwidth usage less of a problem on residential, or not?

I'm leaning toward just getting business service so I don't have to deal with the chimps running the residential operation - even the web site is aggravating - but any opinions are welcome.
ExoticFish
join:2008-08-31
Zebulon, NC

ExoticFish

Member

Correct, business accounts have no caps.

If you will really use 950GB UPLOAD only then residential isn't for you. You will very very likely get a call your first month. Granted caps are suspended currently but they will be reinstated at some point soon.

Using bandwidth at off peak times racks up just as if it were during the day, it's not calculated any differently.

plencnerb
Premium Member
join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

plencnerb

Premium Member

I thought the 250 GB cap was on the download side of things, not the upload? If that is true, then does it actually matter how much you upload from your computer to the internet.

From what I remember, everyone talks about how much they download each month, not how much they upload.

If that is the case, then residential service may be an option, if your download is well under the 250 GB cap (or whatever it ends up being when it is active again).

--Brian
AVonGauss
Premium Member
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL

AVonGauss

Premium Member

The usage meter applies to both the upload and download combined.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList to taiganaut

Premium Member

to taiganaut
get business class and don't worry about it.

Ultibeam
join:2008-05-27
USA

Ultibeam to taiganaut

Member

to taiganaut
950GB/mo! Whoa! Business Class is perfect for you. Even though caps are suspended Comcast will notify excessive users, on Residential. Peak hours don't matter, they look at aggregate usage. You have a lot to upload so Business Class will be a lot less headache if your connection goes down because their CS is a lot better than the outsourced Residential CS.
Moffetts
join:2005-05-09
San Mateo, CA

Moffetts to taiganaut

Member

to taiganaut
I've never actually heard of this happening, but the myth has always been that if you go through a hellacious amount of data on a business tier (and 950GB per month of upload on the lower end tier does qualify) you will "allegedly" get the call to bump you up to a higher tier.
Thordrune
Premium Member
join:2005-08-03
Lakeport, CA

Thordrune to taiganaut

Premium Member

to taiganaut
Business is definitely where you would want to go then. I've done quite a bit more than that in one month (on business 50/10 at the time) with no call from Comcast.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

rody_44 to taiganaut

Premium Member

to taiganaut
950 GB upload every month. Comcast isnt for you. The infrastructure isnt set up for that kind of upload in a residential neighborhood. If you dont mind me asking what could you possibly be doing that requires you to send that much data? Doing that in one month is one thing. Doing that every month is another.

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

JohnInSJ to taiganaut

Premium Member

to taiganaut
said by taiganaut:

I'm a fairly heavy upstream bandwidth user. I did some calculating and found that if I got 16/3 business service, keeping the 3Mbps outbound saturated would be over 950GB/mo! I know there are "no" caps on business tier service, but, uh.... is that for real or what?

1TB (or near saturation) uplink use on starter will probably get you the "please upgrade to the next level or terminate" request. There are no PUBLISHED caps, but there are weasel words in the TOS about excessive use at a given service level. You might want to go with Premium, and limit your uplink to about 50-75% total capacity on average.
JohnInSJ

JohnInSJ to rody_44

Premium Member

to rody_44
said by rody_44:

950 GB upload every month. Comcast isnt for you. The infrastructure isnt set up for that kind of upload in a residential neighborhood.

With a docsys3 modem and three channels up, he should have no problem pushing 1TB/mo technically.
LocutusBorg
Premium Member
join:2005-12-25
Revere, MA

LocutusBorg

Premium Member

said by JohnInSJ:

said by rody_44:

950 GB upload every month. Comcast isnt for you. The infrastructure isnt set up for that kind of upload in a residential neighborhood.

With a docsys3 modem and three channels up, he should have no problem pushing 1TB/mo technically.

i UL at least 2TB a month. as i UL what i DL. Im in a residential neighborhood and i have never had and congestion probs. i get full speed 24/7

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall to rody_44

MVM

to rody_44
said by rody_44:

950 GB upload every month. Comcast isnt for you. The infrastructure isnt set up for that kind of upload in a residential neighborhood. If you dont mind me asking what could you possibly be doing that requires you to send that much data? Doing that in one month is one thing. Doing that every month is another.

Torrents probably
medbuyer
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN

1 edit

medbuyer

Member

said by Nightfall:

said by rody_44:

950 GB upload every month. Comcast isnt for you. The infrastructure isnt set up for that kind of upload in a residential neighborhood. If you dont mind me asking what could you possibly be doing that requires you to send that much data? Doing that in one month is one thing. Doing that every month is another.

Torrents probably

not probably....DEFINITELY..

we've never even reached that 950GB with sending and downloading big and heavy CAD file drawings...
medbuyer

medbuyer to LocutusBorg

Member

to LocutusBorg
said by LocutusBorg:

i UL at least 2TB a month. as i UL what i DL. Im in a residential neighborhood and i have never had and congestion probs. i get full speed 24/7

OP hasn't really stated what he's using it for but we all think it's torrents...

you on the other hand we all know stream and all that stuff...

»Re: [Speed] Northeast speed changes coming.

»[BW Meter] Comcast to Replace Usage Cap

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

JohnInSJ to Nightfall

Premium Member

to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:

Torrents probably

Could be backups. To the cloud. I guess.
medbuyer
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN

medbuyer

Member

said by JohnInSJ:

said by Nightfall:

Torrents probably

Could be backups. To the cloud. I guess.

backups of 950GB a month? initial back ups possibly but every month?

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

JohnInSJ

Premium Member

said by medbuyer:

said by JohnInSJ:

said by Nightfall:

Torrents probably

Could be backups. To the cloud. I guess.

backups of 950GB a month? initial back ups possibly but every month?

You're right. Likely it's a 24/7 video feed of his cat playing the piano.
Moffetts
join:2005-05-09
San Mateo, CA

1 recommendation

Moffetts

Member

Worth it.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· pgZ5iM5k

Atacand
@leaseweb.com

Atacand to medbuyer

Anon

to medbuyer
So what if s/he is torrenting? Hopefully s/he is using a VPN to mask the payload. S/he is paying for the bandwith and it is theirs to use as they see fit.

pflog
Bueller? Bueller?
MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA

pflog

MVM

said by Atacand :

So what if s/he is torrenting? Hopefully s/he is using a VPN to mask the payload. S/he is paying for the bandwith and it is theirs to use as they see fit.





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

JohnInSJ to Atacand

Premium Member

to Atacand
said by Atacand :

So what if s/he is torrenting? Hopefully s/he is using a VPN to mask the payload. S/he is paying for the bandwith and it is theirs to use as they see fit.

within the limits of the TOS and the law, of course. Masking the payload doesn't get around the TOS
medbuyer
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN

medbuyer to Atacand

Member

to Atacand
said by Atacand :

So what if s/he is torrenting? Hopefully s/he is using a VPN to mask the payload. S/he is paying for the bandwith and it is theirs to use as they see fit.

you're joking right?...

do you know exactly what happens when a person like you and or others who's got comcast who maximizes / saturates his bandwidth every month like he doesn't care?

is that why you posted anonymously? afraid your cover might get blown?

I like pflog See Profile beating the donkey's ass....

Atacand
@leaseweb.com

Atacand

Anon

Actually, in all sincerity, I don't know what happens when someone saturates the node and uses as much as they want.

What happens? Congestion?
medbuyer
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN

medbuyer

Member


we'll keep beating the donkey's ass till he understands...
said by Atacand :

Actually, in all sincerity, I don't know what happens when someone saturates the node and uses as much as they want.

What happens? Congestion?

I'm gonna leave it up to you to find out...google is your friend...

Atacand
@leaseweb.com

Atacand to medbuyer

Anon

to medbuyer
From what I understand, business class accounts are unlimited -- all you can eat.

Am I wrong?
medbuyer
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN

medbuyer

Member

said by Atacand :

From what I understand, business class accounts are unlimited -- all you can eat.

Am I wrong?

yes, you're misunderstanding what Comcast's TOS reads and tries to tell you..

your reply implied that the OP was still on resi accounts and that using it to UL 950GB is ok...
said by Atacand :

So what if s/he is torrenting? Hopefully s/he is using a VPN to mask the payload. S/he is paying for the bandwith and it is theirs to use as they see fit.

OP is still asking about business accounts, so technically he's still on the resi side.

and even if it was a business account...read below..
said by JohnInSJ:

1TB (or near saturation) uplink use on starter will probably get you the "please upgrade to the next level or terminate" request. There are no PUBLISHED caps, but there are weasel words in the TOS about excessive use at a given service level. You might want to go with Premium, and limit your uplink to about 50-75% total capacity on average.


Atacand
@leaseweb.com

Atacand

Anon

I've combed the entire business-class contract and searched it specifically for keywords 'usage' and 'excessive', and the only mention is pertaining to abusing voices, such as mass dialing for telemarketing.

Please, I'm not trolling, but I'd love to see where it says this.

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

JohnInSJ

Premium Member

»business.comcast.com/smb ··· e-policy

III. Network Management and Limitations on Data Consumption

The Service is for commercial use only in a small, medium, or large business as determined by the applicable Business Services Agreement. Therefore, Comcast reserves the right to suspend or terminate Service accounts where data consumption is not characteristic of a typical commercial user of the Service as determined by the company in its sole discretion, or where it exceeds published data consumption limitations. Common activities that may cause excessive data consumption in violation of this Policy include, but are not limited to, numerous or continuous bulk transfers of files and other high capacity traffic using (i) file transfer protocol ("FTP"), (ii) peer-to-peer applications, and (iii) newsgroups. Your business must also ensure that its use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade any other person's use of the Service, nor represent (as determined by Comcast in its sole discretion) an overly large burden on the network. In addition, your business must ensure that its use of the Service does not limit or interfere with Comcast's ability to deliver and monitor the Service or any part of its network.

If your business uses the Service in violation of the restrictions referenced above, that is a violation of this Policy. In these cases, Comcast may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate your business' Service account or request that it subscribe to a different version of the Service if it wishes to continue to use the Service at higher data consumption levels. Comcast may also provide versions of the Service with different speed and data consumption limitations, among other characteristics, subject to applicable Business Services Agreements. Comcast's determination of the data consumption for Service accounts is final.

Atacand
@leaseweb.com

Atacand

Anon

After reading that, I just closed my torrent client.

(I'm on business class.)

Thanks for the clarification.