Comcast XFINITY → Comcast Bandwidth Exceeded Notice!!!

It would be cheaper to go with a dedicated line as you put it in your story, but at this point in time, I don't have money to throw around nor am I paying any fees right now.

said by sago5:

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Time Warner would charge the 44.95 base fee for 15 gigs and then 10 dollars for each additional 5 gig segment - at 350-15 = 335 gigs, there are 67 of those 5 gig chuncks, that's an additional $670 dollars on your monthly cable bill for transfer of 350 gigs per month. Cheaper to buy a dedicated SDSL connection. Much cheaper. If saving money is the point. If money is no object, wouldn't it just be easier to get some other kind of setup?

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Hmmm, I got one question - where did you get the 1600GB per month number? Now that's just over one and a half terabyte there. Geez.

said by thehaze22:

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Here are some statistics I've found on internet usage:
The average user is on-line about 12 hours per month.
»cyberatlas.internet.com/ ··· ,00.html
90% of all users download 100MB or less per month (I heard this at WISPCon III in Chicago last March)
And to reply to the guy that feels 1600GB per month is fair: Even at $.50 / GB, that's $800.00 worth of goods for $50. Get real!

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"maby comcast should ask its customers to calm down transfering to people not on comcast, the majority of my transfers are with other comcast customers, hell maby people will ask their friends to switch to comcast if that were the case"

Isn't that what the bandwidth notices are doing? Asking people to calm down on transferring to sites not on the Comcast network?

StreamRipper32

»streamripper.sourceforge ··· et/sr32/

said by kapil:

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By the way...what program are you using to capture the streams?

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said by AnonymousDude:

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"maby comcast should ask its customers to calm down transfering to people not on comcast, the majority of my transfers are with other comcast customers, hell maby people will ask their friends to switch to comcast if that were the case"

Isn't that what the bandwidth notices are doing? Asking people to calm down on transferring to sites not on the Comcast network?

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no they asked us to chll on all transfers they didnt not specify off comcast networks , anyway aperently they dont look where your transfer are to and from because most of my tarnsfers are to other comcast users and i got a letter and on anothr note most of you are sayig 50 cents a gig is a fare price well i some months i do more then other but i dont think i've ever went over 100 gigs at 50 cents a gig thats 50$ right that pays for the bandwith right then the other 45% a moth i pay that should cover the matnace and hardware . so whats the problem if i use up to 100 gigs a month arent i paying for it at 95$ a month

actually, exactly this situation CAN occur in the US, they simply call it wreckless driving.. Its what they charged people in montana with when they lifted the speed limits.
And speed limits have to be set by engineers, who use the 85th percentile rule to set non-freeway speed limits..

go read the NMAs website www.motorists.com for other similarities..
As to why comcast doesn't set a fixed number?.. well because then its not 'unlimited' is it?

said by lorenscv:

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Nope. It is actually possible that only a few people were above the average. You're thinking of mean. 50% are below the mean, 50% are above.

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Mean and Average are synonymous. Mean is the sum of all values divided by the number of values. Median is the 50th percentile value - the point at which there is an equal number of values above and below. The mode is the most commonly occurring value.

said by Bob0000:

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However, there's the number they tell you to call in the letter and the number on the letter under the address. You're suggesting the latter one? Isn't that just the main line?

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I was suggesting the one at the top of the letter just under the Cherry Hill, NJ address. The manner in which the closing lines of the text read suggested that the 877 number may be a sales number for CCIS. You could try either one.

For general reference, the following is the maximum monthly download values for a user running at cap 24/7 for a 30 day month:
1800 kbps = 543 GB
3000 kbps = 905 GB
3300 kbps = 996 GB
3500 kbps = 1056 GB

said by F walker:

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OMG. I dropped in on this thread like three days ago and now its a friggin novel. Perhaps all have moved on, but just in case some of the people who are "outraged" that the cable gods are asking them to honor the contract they agreed to when they had their cable service installed are still listening, you did in fact agree to a legal contract, the terms of which were provided to you before you agreed. Comcast, and other ISP's PURPOSELY leave the language and terms as vague as possible. It is smart business to do so. They pay many, many lawyers very good money to be able to do this. With the state of technology in this nation being so unpredictable and ever changing, they CANNOT bind themselves to a specific number for a bandwidth limit. They cannot predict how much traffic they will have to be able to handle, so they leave the language in a form they can manipulate to meet their business needs.

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Yes, I realize why everything is in vague terms so that words can be manipulated to their liking.

quote:

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BOTTOM LINE HERE FOLKS......(and thanks for getting this far, good job!)
If you have broadband service through Comcast you agreed to play by their terms, (the AUP). In doing so, you should have read those terms. Had you done so, you would have noticed that they had no concrete, set-in-stone limit. This would leave you with 3 main options... (were almost there)...

1. Tell Comcast to blow a donkey and take your business somewhere else.

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Can I tell them to go blow pigs? :P

quote:

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2. Speak to Comcast to determine what the limit is, or how you can be sure you do not violate this term of the agreement, if you are not satisfied after examining this option, see option 1.

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I don't like option one... :/

quote:

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3. Deal with it. There is not much you can do. Start an online petition to have Comcast clarify their terms in the future, but be careful, you push them and well all get stuck with friggin meters on our cable lines and one hell of a small bandwidth limit!! Don't like this option either? See option 1.

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I'd go with option 3, but only with the first sentence. Everything else, not worth it.

You have a weird accusation. I can say that no, I'm not all of the 6 people. I'm one of the 6 people that got the letter. And no, the writing style is not the same. Very obvious. Don't know where you're claiming that the writing style is the same though.

said by truth_or_lies:

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If you look at the writing styles of all of the 6 people in this very long post who claim to have gotten letters, the writing styles are extremely similar. As for the scan of the letter, it could be real, but how do we know? With the right font...

If we call Comcast, they will tell us there are no limits. OK, well, then... someone in lying. What I want to know is who and why? I am wondering about the integrity of the claims of the people who are all of a sudden claiming to have gotten these letters.

The only way to see is to wait - if this is really a campaign, if this is really true, then we will have more people who will scan their letters or something. Maybe the outage of 2003 (the letters are coming from New Jersey according to the scan) means that some letters are stuck in the mail and delayed? Could be possible.

It would be nice to be able to get to the bottom of this. I just kind of doubt that any ISP would come out and claim that people were using too much bandwidth on any reasonable scale - I mean, Comcast has TONS of customers - they are not going to start sending everyone notices if they don't have some sort of limits.

My personal opinion is that all of the posters in this post who claim to have gotten letters are actually one poster using multiple accounts. Check the writing styles and decide for yourself. I counted six people, two of which we haven't heard from since.

This is not good.

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said by JonIrenicas:

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Yeah it's a big deal, one day everyone might be effected. JTRockville keeps trying to minimize the effect by simply asking that Comcast specify the limit. She dedicates a lot of time to bringing these types of issues to the forefront. It's amazing how many posts she makes about comcast and she isn't even a comcast HSI subscriber.

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Thanks JonIrenicas . It's nice to know I'm appreciated.

said by AnonymousDude:

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If you're paying $50/mo and costing Comcast $100/mo, what do YOU think they ought to do?

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Following that logic, "lite" users should be charged less. They're not. There are many examples, broadband consumption and otherwise, where "lite" users subsidize "heavy" users.

Oh gawd, are you some PI that's out to make me look bad, when nothing you say will ever turn a real life situation into scam?

Yes, I know that on the letter, the bottom part of the letter has ink stained into it. It's because of Comcast's craptastic printer. The ink is still fresh from the time they printed and then folded. Duuuurrrr. Makes sense doesn't it? The ink stains that's showing on the bottom is coming from the middle part of the letter. The letter did not get wet. There is no problem with my scanner.

said by truth_or_lies:

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also, if you look closely at the letter, you will notice a mirror image of the middle third of the letter on the bottom third of the letter - per folding conventions - the bottom third folds up into the middle, and the top third folds down on top of the two of them.

Did the letter get wet? Or is than an inkjet? Wouldn't Comcast use laserjets or larger Xerox machines to print their official stuff on their official letterhead?

The other thing that tells me is that the letter was folded soon after it was printed.

I could be wrong, but I blew up the image and was staring at it for a long time, and couldn't figure out how the hell you could get a reverse mirror image of the middle third on the bottom third like that - a scanner error?

That is one thing that is not normal about the letter itself. There may be perfectly reasonable explanation for it, but it definitely looks like the ink ran - I don't remember having witnessed this on a laserjet or xerox machine - would Comcast IP services be using inkjets?

Or maybe there was something wrong with the laserjet (bad toner, perhaps)? Or maybe the letter got wet or humid? A organization the caliber of Comcsat shouldn't have their ink run like that, certainly not on any regular kind of basis.

It could have been a lot of things, but I did stare at that mirrored text on the bottom for a while and I couldn't figure it out - any ideas?

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see what i dont understand yes the aup is vague. its says 24/7 connection unlimited. If it dosnt state a limitation in there how can they say you are using to much. I could see if there were no speed caps but we do have speed caps

here is another ideal someone eariler said ool started a program when u went over so much bandwith they cut your speeds back. I'm ausming that their computers automatically did this. Why cant comcast set up a program that during peek hours their computer cut back the speed on extream users. most of use dont want to steal bandwith from other users but we pay good money why let the bandwith go to wast when otehr users arent using it. why should a have to be limited to 1 gig a moth of transfers just because my neghbors only knolage of the internet is to read jokes emailed to them. That would be live verizon saying you are using more then 50% of our customers but 40% of our customers are on dialup

There's a topic from the main page discussion on this:
»Defining broadband?

Comcast would have to clear the CMTS cache regularly, but other than that, it seems like a win-win for everyone.

said by J D McDorce:

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said by sago5:

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Coincidence? or what? Stranger things have happened.

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Speaking of coincidence, is the timing of these letters and the beta testing of higher download caps coincidental?

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Stranger things have happened, mosey over to the Earthlink forum and see all the promises about better, faster news servers with more capacity. And the truth of them shutting down many legacy newsservers and imposing a tiny cap that makes their upgrade worthless to heavy users.

The bottom line is most people are sheep and allow the dogs to nip their heels and fall in line like good sheep do. Therefore their profits grow.

If comcast wants to continue to oversell their network capacity and costs in such an overstated manner, then they deserve whats coming to them, if anyone past their contract term stays with comcast, they too deserve whats coming to them...

The truth of the matter is if you keep hitting the top users and beating them back eventually the average bandwidth usage falls either through attrition or fear. If they keep at it long enough unlimited becomes truley limiting indeed.

Have a spine, stand up to your ISP and walk.
[text was edited by author 2003-08-19 21:34:29]

said by rahlquist:

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if anyone past their contract term stays with comcast

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Comcast does not commonly have contract terms for their residential internet customers. (although I have heard of packages where one can keep the modem if they stay on the package for a year...)

said by truth_or_lies:

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also, if you look closely at the letter, you will notice a mirror image of the middle third of the letter on the bottom third of the letter - per folding conventions - the bottom third folds up into the middle, and the top third folds down on top of the two of them.

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Having been in the printing industry for 8 years I can happily tell you that any printer can produce this type of output. A laser printer with a weak fuser or one coming out of power saving mode can do this by not fully setting the toner to the page. Also folding the page while its hot (like on high end printers with folding attachments) can do this as well. Lastly there is the silly putty effect, which judging by your posts I shouldn't have to go into...

said by stang03283:

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maby comcast should ask its customers to calm down transfering to people not on comcast, the majority of my transfers are with other comcast customers

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To the best of my knowledge, the only way to see how much BW your using a month is to read it off the CMTS. Therefore how would they tell if the traffic went over a 3rd party backbone, or just went back out on comcast's network. Even if I'm wrong on that point, keep in mind that comcast does not provide any backbone..so if you are connecting to a comcast user in a different market, you are still using a 3rd party backbone.

i like jt as most of us do. but i think if anyone wants to become a mvm in this forum. you would do real well by being a comcast basher. lets remember this is a dsl website. jt did deserve it tho but considering quamilan didnt get it makes me think.

May we get back to the subject? All are entitled to their opinions, everybody has one...

Thanks!

You're saying.. 200 gb is only PART of what you download?

Ok, I hate caps, and I think they're really annoying and are too tight sometimes.. But if you're downloading like.. 500gb a month?

Holy crap, dude..

My ass. I can't stand this. Everyone always yells LAWSUIT and CLASS ACTION!

If even a tenth of all the "threatened" lawsuits were carried out, it'd take 60 years to get on the People's Court or something.

There is NO case for a lawsuit here. Damn, we're litigious here aren't we?

And FYI people, to "smell a lawsuit", you need a lawyer to take your case. How much damage is this guy out? Zero. Not even an ambulance chaser would take it.

Good luck with the lawsuit BS. I hate caps as much as anyone like I said, but this guy was clearly abusing, and there's no legal standing.

And shut up about the word "unlimited". They didn't say "unlimited megabytes".. They DO NOT time you, you can be online for an unlimited amount of time, and the only 'limit' bandwidth-wise is that you're not unreasonable.

I'll have you know that most SLAs when you have your own T1 don't even let you max out the connection 24/7/365.

I still don't get this guy, 5 streams 24/7. Every day he downloaded 5 days worth of music. Say he only slept 6 hours a day and didn't have a job, and could listen to music 18 hours a day. That's 6 and a half days of listening to catch up for every day downloading. That's lunatic grade right there.

As for the topic, after 32 pages and 630 posts can anything be discussed that hasn't already been discussed?
[text was edited by moderator]

Get a T1 line, and pay for your download speeds. Comcast is presuming your runn'in a SOHO line @ your residence, and wants you to pay accordingly. Nothing wrong w/that.

It seems to me you want something for less(residencial vs business account) and now you're bitching about download caps.

Nothing wrong w/what your doing, however, Comcast is going to shut you down w/your current account. If you want to stream 5 stations @/once, then consider other options.

Think about it....

Why do you need a specific number that you can max out per month?

Think about this: Your area is having a drought-limited water available.....Get it????

Sheeeeze!!!

The first time you sent them what you owed them in a given month, constitudes a contract.

Have a nice day....

said by tcp1:

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My ass. I can't stand this. Everyone always yells LAWSUIT and CLASS ACTION!

If even a tenth of all the "threatened" lawsuits were carried out, it'd take 60 years to get on the People's Court or something.

There is NO case for a lawsuit here. Damn, we're litigious here aren't we?

And FYI people, to "smell a lawsuit", you need a lawyer to take your case. How much damage is this guy out? Zero. Not even an ambulance chaser would take it.

Good luck with the lawsuit BS. I hate caps as much as anyone like I said, but this guy was clearly abusing, and there's no legal standing.

And shut up about the word "unlimited". They didn't say "unlimited megabytes".. They DO NOT time you, you can be online for an unlimited amount of time, and the only 'limit' bandwidth-wise is that you're not unreasonable.

I'll have you know that most SLAs when you have your own T1 don't even let you max out the connection 24/7/365.

I still don't get this guy, 5 streams 24/7. Every day he downloaded 5 days worth of music. Say he only slept 6 hours a day and didn't have a job, and could listen to music 18 hours a day. That's 6 and a half days of listening to catch up for every day downloading. That's lunatic grade right there.

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i argee this is not something that should become a lawsuite, if you can switch to dsl try that if not bitch at comcast till they come up with a better sulition i like the ideal of throyttling during peek times. I my self try to cut my bandwith usage down during peek times because i use alout of bandwith . It would be more easier if comcast set a throddle then more people that use alout of bandwith could cut doen during peek times. But limiting our bandwith is not a a good option. They do say unlimited usage if you call them and ask them they will say you can transfer as much as ur modem will let you. In their aup there is loop holes where they say that you cant use your internet to the point that it affectes someone els's connection. So legally in a cort of law they have every right to send out this letter. but i'm not saying the legal thing is always the right thing to do. They try to bs us into thinking we get more then they offer. All they are doing but this play on words is pissing off their customers. They really need to open their ears to suggestions. From reading this web site the past few days there is some extreamly intellegent people here who have alout of good suggestions. Why dont comcast open up a msg bord on their site abd listen to our suggestions and either use them or without insulting us tell us why they would not work. Happy customers are ones that are willing to shell out more $$$$$$$$$$$

Comcast does have a msg board...»forums.comcast.net