[Caps] Looking over my recent usage, im using more
So I decided to take a glance at my recent usage. I knew in advance that this month's (or rather the previous month's) data usage would be huge but I honestly wasn't expecting it to be this big. I almost hit close to 1 terabyte.
I was using alot because I had to redownload alot of games, downloaded lots of music, bought some movies on iTunes, was watching Netflix, Big Brother stream, Facetimed/Skype, and I play lots of World of Warcraft.
What I also noticed was that my usage has gone up each consecutive month. Of course I don't expect this month to go anywhere as high as the previous month but I am scared that once the caps come, I will be being charged alot.
I understand cell phone carriers and the reason for their cap. From what I understand, mobile networks weren't really made to sustain such heavy traffic on a 3G/4G LTE network. (I could be wrong about this but lets just assume i'm not for a second) However cable on the other hand, does anyone actually think using too much DOES have a negative impact on others?
I've been with Comcast ever since they were intitially called @Home back in like 1999 or something. I have never ONCE been contacted about my usage. Even this month where I used the most I ever have, noone called me up and I didn't get a letter in the mail. I have also never experienced slowdowns or any connection issues related to others on my block. (Usually when I have noticed something, it's because theres been an outage or issue with my wiring etc)
How is it that we can have a cable pipe coming into our homes with 24/7 TV but when it comes to the internet, from a purely technical standpoint, that isn't feasible for a company as big as Comcast and supposedly has a negative impact on its network.
Maybe i'm just naive and i'll be honest, i'm not in IT and I don't work for a network operations center or anything like that however I consider myself pretty knowledgable though when it comes to computers, I practically have grown up on them and i'm 29 years old now.
Or maybe, just maybe, this is all about corporate greed and getting the most dollars out of consumers.
Let me just end this by making it clear that I actually LOVE Comcast. This is not an anti Comcast rant by any means. It's actually not a rant at all. I'm just sort of trying to understand the real reason behind why we need caps (and when I say we, I mean cable customers)
I don't want to have to limit my usage. I want to stream to my hearts content, leave Netflix running all day if I want to, download 500 gigs of music/videos etc. We are living in the cloud now and everything is moving to a streaming system.
Instead of being limited, we should be able to embrace this technology and use it how we want, as much as we want without having to pay a dime more.
Agree. And this will happen once there is more competition. This is why Google is doing fiber. -- I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock.
if you're looking for the "real" reason, you most likely will never get an official response that makes sense.... it used to be congestion, but since that's been debunked, who knows.... conspiratorially, i'd say it has something to do with online video streaming's popularity in conjunction with the vested interest Comcast has in running a cable TV network. From a technical perspective, internet infrastructure is a fixed intial cost followed by infreqeunt change-outs in hardware (as in, once every 10 years or so for a typical CMTS, so i'm told), even if there is congestion, so..... it's anyone's guess.
A few months ago, I actually asked a tech support person about this very thing. His response was that Comcast was "a cable company first, an internet company last." Verbatim.
As regards to what to do about it, you should look into their Business class service. If you don't mind a bit of a speed drop, you most likely can pay the same as you are now, and all business class accounts have no cap As well, it seems like reliability is quite improved over the residential-class, plus you get 24/7 phone support, which is sometimes nice at 5:05PM on a Friday.
First, the cable system can definitely handle it, especially if its download based like you're doing. All systems have a limited number of "channels" but there's plenty of swap out space in the downstream. They could easily nix some of that junk that nobody watches. Next, traditionally they are a cable co, they will cling to it kicking and screaming. Ultimately, since there is no "open access" universal fiber network to American consumers, and thusly no REAL competition, they can do whatever they want, and they know it. I feel for ya, just broke 350 for the first time last month.
Tell me what do you see in that show Big Brother. i know a few people that love that show, i hate, it, i dont understand it. its filming walking around in house, cooking in the kitchen. reading a book on the couch etc. its like im a security guard watching people in the monitor room.
Lets see, If everyone used 971 gigs a month. Would even 8 downstream channels be enough to not have congestion at prime time? Granted its plenty now. But given the nature of the internet would it be enough in 6 months or a year from now? Personally im all for the caps. Let the people that use more pay more is the way i look at it.
Don't think 300 is the intended median. perhaps below 100 would see a small discount, 200 would be average, 300 max, 400max plus $20 and so on. The OP's chart shows exactly why Caps will always be there at some level, It's would be far too easy for the average user to double, triple or more their usage in a matter of months, far to fast for new capacity to be added or for flat rates to change to meet the new costs.
Lets see, If everyone used 971 gigs a month. Would even 8 downstream channels be enough to not have congestion at prime time? Granted its plenty now. But given the nature of the internet would it be enough in 6 months or a year from now? Personally im all for the caps. Let the people that use more pay more is the way i look at it.
Using a subpar infrastructure shouldn't mean limiting the capabilities. Upgrade the backend if you can't handle it. -- I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock.
You think people who use less than 100 shouldn't see a discount? Why?
1. because it prevents usage of superior internet services. 2. because these suckers subsidize my usage. -- I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock.
yep, Im one of them suckers. Ive been less than a hundred for years. Yet my rates keep going up because you people want all this capacity. I say leave capacity as is and make you guys that want more pay more. Im fine not paying less. Im fine if everything stays as is. The way i see once caps are introduced comcast is going to be hard pressed to raise low user like me rates. I dont feel im paying to much, i feel you guys are not paying enough.
While i think what i pay for internet is fair now. Thats it, im at the end of the line. Another rate increase and im done with comcast hsi. Im tired of it going up to pay for these upgrades when i dont need these upgrades. while i may be a minority of comcast customer that frequents dslr. Think its pretty fair to assume im the majority of actual comcast customers as a whole. In other words na na na you bandwidth hogs are getting what you dam well deserve. We low users are the majority. Comcast needs to stop dumping all this money into the network to fullfill the minorities wishes.
Everyone on here always wants to preach how internet should be a utility. Well guess what, utilities dont charge low users the same as high users. Water, gas, Electric, High users pay more than low users. I for one am glad i no longer will have to pay for higher users usage. Remember, i make up the majority of comcast customers. As 1 of a majority of comcast. Thank you comcast for instituting usage caps. A cap that as a majority customer im fine with.
yep, Im one of them suckers. Ive been less than a hundred for years. Yet my rates keep going up because you people want all this capacity. I say leave capacity as is and make you guys that want more pay more. Im fine not paying less. Im fine if everything stays as is. The way i see once caps are introduced comcast is going to be hard pressed to raise low user like me rates. I dont feel im paying to much, i feel you guys are not paying enough.
While i think what i pay for internet is fair now. Thats it, im at the end of the line. Another rate increase and im done with comcast hsi. Im tired of it going up to pay for these upgrades when i dont need these upgrades. while i may be a minority of comcast customer that frequents dslr. Think its pretty fair to assume im the majority of actual comcast customers as a whole. In other words na na na you bandwidth hogs are getting what you dam well deserve. We low users are the majority. Comcast needs to stop dumping all this money into the network to fullfill the minorities wishes.
Everyone on here always wants to preach how internet should be a utility. Well guess what, utilities dont charge low users the same as high users. Water, gas, Electric, High users pay more than low users. I for one am glad i no longer will have to pay for higher users usage. Remember, i make up the majority of comcast customers. As 1 of a majority of comcast. Thank you comcast for instituting usage caps. A cap that as a majority customer im fine with.
yes we should stop the evolution of technology because you dont know how to utilize your resources. -- I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock.
And what is the numbers that actually reach the cap. 2 percent. It doesnt have to stop technology. People that want technology can pay for it. So 98 percent of people dont know how to utilize resources. I think its the 2 percent that need to work on utilizing the resource. As with all utilities just watch how all of a sudden people will be fine living on the cap. Those that wont will pay more and thats fine as thats the way it should be.
Re: [Caps] Looking over my recent usage, im using more
I wouldn't even worry about it for now. Caps are crap, and just a way to get more revenue out of people. They have taken away caps, and their networks haven't crumbled, so their arguments of needing them are invalid.
As regards to what to do about it, you should look into their Business class service. If you don't mind a bit of a speed drop, you most likely can pay the same as you are now, and all business class accounts have no cap As well, it seems like reliability is quite improved over the residential-class, plus you get 24/7 phone support, which is sometimes nice at 5:05PM on a Friday.
The only reason I would suggest anyone to use Business Class is if they reintroduced caps on Residential. Business isn't any more reliable as the Residential since it uses the same infrastructure. My two years of experience with Business support wasn't that great either; two years ago they seemed relatively competent, but today I feel like I'm talking with Residential Support.
I had one incident where the rep didn't bother looking at the node and what was going on with the other modems. The earliest appointment was four days out. When the tech arrived, he informed me that this problem was going on with everyone connected to the node and had the tech on the phone bothered to look, they could have gotten the right person out sooner. He couldn't fix the problem because that was a different crew/department. So more down time.
Getting Business Class, lets not fluff the cost. For the full price (not promo price) of Residential, you get half the speed. In the least, you can lock in a price for the term of the contract, but when it auto-renews, the price can go up. Anyone getting Business Class, I recommend trying to get them to just rent you a basic modem and not a modem-gateway. They may not give you an option and that's fine. Once service is running on their PoS SMC gateway, put your own modem and separate router in its place and do the walled garden setup. Drop that PoS SMC off at their office and get a receipt; hold onto that thing like it's gold.
Once service is running on their PoS SMC gateway, put your own modem and separate router in its place and do the walled garden setup. Drop that PoS SMC off at their office and get a receipt; hold onto that thing like it's gold.
One caveat. You MUST use their supplied gateway device if you have static IP's assigned from them.
The only reason I would suggest anyone to use Business Class is if they reintroduced caps on Residential.
not sure what you mean, "reintroduced"... I live in nashville, comcast started charging for over-cap residential usage over a year ago and hasn't looked back....
Drop that PoS SMC off at their office and get a receipt; hold onto that thing like it's gold.
wish I could. i have a static, and so am forced to use it. the salesman i dealt with when I signed up told me that they were planning on dropping that requirement soon, but that was probably BS.
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As well, it seems like reliability is quite improved over the residential-class, plus you get 24/7 phone support, which is sometimes nice at 5:05PM on a Friday.
