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hotdogjones
join:2003-09-11
Bowie, MD

hotdogjones

Member

Download Bandwidth restrictions

Does anyone know what the average daily download you can can do before getting a excessive bandwidth notice from comcast ? Is 7-12 gig a day to much. I thought that you could use the full bandwidth all time if you did not have a server ?

Seems like to me they want to force you to get a commerical account.

draven

join:2002-02-20
my bunker

draven

Ack! This again!

It might serve you well to read the following thread:

»Comcast Bandwidth Exceeded Notice!!!

Your question was discussed at great length.
hotdogjones
join:2003-09-11
Bowie, MD

1 recommendation

hotdogjones

Member

I looked thru thread and no definitive answer. Needless to say i immediatly cancelled the service including cable. Going with dsl. If you you are paying for the bandwidth you should be able to use it.

I asked them on the phone what the numbers are and they could not answer the question. It is not like I was downloading like this every month. It it one of those situations where you need it you should be able to use it.

JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium Member
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD

JTRockville

Premium Member

Hi hotdogjones See Profile. Welcome!

While the question was discussed at great length, you're right: no one ever came up with a quantifiable usage limit. With increased rate limit rumored to be coming at the end of the year, and Comcast's plans to provide "broadband" content on their portal, more people must be wondering about usage limits.
99664227 (banned)
Heavily MODerated
join:2002-11-21
USA

99664227 (banned) to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
Well if your sucking up over 100 gigs per month I would say your a hog. If you were my neighbor and my downstream was sucked up because of you. I would hope they would terminate your service. You have to understand cable networks are totally different than DSL.

Good for you for going to DSL enjoy your bandwidth hogging.
aadic
Premium Member
join:2002-12-14
Trenton, NJ

aadic

Premium Member

said by 99664227:
Well if your sucking up over 100 gigs per month I would say your a hog. If you were my neighbor and my downstream was sucked up because of you. I would hope they would terminate your service. You have to understand cable networks are totally different than DSL.

Good for you for going to DSL enjoy your bandwidth hogging.
What he said.

unlock3
join:2003-07-20

unlock3 to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
I also feel that using 300 gigs a month is definitely selfish of you.

What can you possibly be doing that you need to download 300 gigs a month? If you absolutely need to download that much for work ro something then get a T1.

Cable is shared, not all for you and not meant for that kind of usage.

Finalnight8
join:2002-05-10
Omaha, NE

Finalnight8

Member

i am comfortable with someone downloading 100 GB a month (may not seem like a lot but that is maxing your download for 4 days non stop!) and uploading 30 GB (that may not seem like a lot but that is maxing out your upload for 8 days and 4 hours non stop!!!).

Athlon III
join:2000-08-27
Corvallis, OR

Athlon III to JTRockville

Member

to JTRockville
said by JTRockville:
Hi hotdogjones See Profile. Welcome!

While the question was discussed at great length, you're right: no one ever came up with a quantifiable usage limit. With increased rate limit rumored to be coming at the end of the year, and Comcast's plans to provide "broadband" content on their portal, more people must be wondering about usage limits.
I certainly am. In fact I'm a bit worried about it. If they would make their policy clear then I can make a decision about what I'm going to do.

---
Athlon III
BaloksPuppet
join:2003-08-18
Hialeah, FL

BaloksPuppet

Member

said by Athlon III:

I certainly am. In fact I'm a bit worried about it. If they would make their policy clear then I can make a decision about what I'm going to do.

---
Athlon III
That's exactly why they don't make it clear. If they said we're going to limit you to 15 GB (like RoadRunner in some areas), I'd immediately make the decision to switch to DSL. If they say nothing, I won't switch until I have to (which I hope I'll never have to).

somebodeez
MVM
join:2001-09-24
here

somebodeez to 99664227

MVM

to 99664227
said by 99664227:


Good for you for going to DSL enjoy your bandwidth hogging.
No one has yet been able to explain to me how a person can be a "bandwidth hog" while speed caps are in place.
Aren't the speed caps there to prevent such a thing ?
And if speed caps aren't working to prevent this, then why have them?

I don't understand.
hotdogjones
join:2003-09-11
Bowie, MD

hotdogjones to BaloksPuppet

Member

to BaloksPuppet
I talked to ip abuse folks they said they just started sending out notices, recently. My buddy does 4 gig a day since May 2003 and has not received any notices. So I guess we can say 4 gig/day is safe.

One of the sites out there lists the top downloaders, and believe or not there are folks who are averaging 20 gig a day. Some of the cable providers don't have restrictions yet. To be in the top 99 downloaders from the one provider you had to be doing 5+ gig a day.

It is amazing what these providers will do in terms of hardware, disk space, and oc3 connections to the internet backbone. I guess they keep the hardware industry going.

teddystacker
join:2001-12-08
Philadelphia, PA

teddystacker to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
I had a letter this week , I spent 4 hours on the phone total - no one (even the guys at the ip abuse unit) would say what the limits are.

I am a Brit living in the US and use loads and loads of B/w doing loads aof stuff that is not against the law at all but still get caned for it.I aint into Porn music or "warez" downloading - that stuff is just not my scene , watching the BBC news and doing multimedia stuff with my family is..

I suspect that comcast is trying to "get rid" of its top 1% uses - by not giving limits they can still boot you after a initial warning as whatever you cut down they can still "say" that you are over the limit.Its a no win situation for someone like me that uses the net to see his family etc etc..

I have given up fighting with them now , just wait and see what happens..
BaloksPuppet
join:2003-08-18
Hialeah, FL

BaloksPuppet to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
My average is about 2.5 GB a day. I have gone over 5 GB in one day, but that's extremely rare for me (I think I've done it twice in the past year). But to my knowledge, ISPs so for have instituted monthly d/l caps, not daily caps. But let's extrapolate.

I think Cox has a 30 GB a month d/l cap. So that's a 1 GB a day average. At current speeds, it would take me less than 90 minutes to download 1 GB. If download speeds double by the end of the year, it would take me less than 45 minutes to download 1 GB. So, if a cap like Cox's would be implemented, Comcast would want me to pay for a full month of service but to only use it, on average, for less than 45 minutes a day. I just can't see myself staying with a provider that would expect that from me.
vic102482
Premium Member
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD

1 recommendation

vic102482 to 99664227

Premium Member

to 99664227
said by 99664227:
Well if your sucking up over 100 gigs per month I would say your a hog. If you were my neighbor and my downstream was sucked up because of you. I would hope they would terminate your service. You have to understand cable networks are totally different than DSL.

Good for you for going to DSL enjoy your bandwidth hogging.
Doth thou dare to soakup thy connection, I banish thee to dialup!!:(:(

All hail lord tradewiz;)

oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium Member
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA

oliphant5 to hotdogjones

Premium Member

to hotdogjones
said by hotdogjones:
I looked thru thread and no definitive answer. Needless to say i immediatly cancelled the service including cable. Going with dsl. If you you are paying for the bandwidth you should be able to use it.

I asked them on the phone what the numbers are and they could not answer the question. It is not like I was downloading like this every month. It it one of those situations where you need it you should be able to use it.
There was no definitive answer because Comcast doesn't have a definitive threshold. It all will come down to how you're activity would affect the network. Since you cancelled, all is moot anyway.
oliphant5

oliphant5 to unlock3

Premium Member

to unlock3
said by unlock3:
I also feel that using 300 gigs a month is definitely selfish of you.

What can you possibly be doing that you need to download 300 gigs a month? If you absolutely need to download that much for work ro something then get a T1.

Cable is shared, not all for you and not meant for that kind of usage.
How much a user downloads is utterly irrelevant...it's how their actions affect the network. If two people are the only ones on a node, who the F cares if they run their capped connections wide open, meanwhile an overloaded node can see problems when people use it "normally".

Point is, there is no such thing as a web hog, only inadequate service.

draven

join:2002-02-20
my bunker

draven to hotdogjones

to hotdogjones
You simply have to look at this from a business standpoint:

  • 99% of your customers are not placing a burden on your business and sustain revenue
  • 1% of your customers are placing a burden on your business and do not significantly impact revenue
It's not hard to decide who gets canned.

We're all paying the same money. You're paying under $100/mo for what amounts to T1/Frac-T3 (Standard/Pro)downstream speeds; you're getting a bargain. I would easily estimate that 98% of the 1% of abusers are engaged in illegal activity anyways. teddystacker See Profile, many people use videoconferencing software worldwide without so much as a sniff from Comcast's abuse department. You must be using software that demands a bigger stream or something; or else your 'multimedia' endeavors are outside the general usage of residential accounts.

I agree that Comcast probably should make bandwidth caps known. However, we've established general transfer amounts of those who have and have not been contacted. Both are extremely high amounts that would require almost continuous usage of the network, which would most certainly affect other users. It's simply impossible to justify.
[text was edited by author 2003-09-11 19:55:14]

teddystacker
join:2001-12-08
Philadelphia, PA

1 recommendation

teddystacker to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
@Blech

Have you ANY IDEA at all what Comcast would consider a monthly limit that is not "over the limit" a ball park figure will do..

I guess you would consider me sending 3or 4 dvds a month of home movies (no not illegal stuff we are talking family stuff here) to my 11 year old daughter back in the UK "not normal"

some of us find it hard living oversears from our famil and have ways to deal with it - I am sure you would feel exactly the same in my position?

I just dont understand at all how Comcast expect us to be "under the limit" when we have no idea what the limit is???? - a impossible task I am sure you wil agree.Believe it or not I actually want to folow their limits (I am just the kind of person that does not want todo anything wraong - not the "norm" I realise),but cannot if I dont know what they are..?

I really do wonder how many people that got a letter Teleconfrence - listen to football commerties send home dvds etc etc etc - not many I think...

JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium Member
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD

JTRockville to draven

Premium Member

to draven
said by draven:
You're paying under $100/mo for what amounts to T1/Frac-T3 (Standard/Pro)downstream speeds; you're getting a bargain.
That's funny, draven See Profile.

Are you familiar with terms like upstream, dedicated, static, servers, unlimited, or guaranteed?
hotdogjones
join:2003-09-11
Bowie, MD

1 recommendation

hotdogjones

Member

The bottom line is that money talks. If enough people cancel (switch to dsl) comcast will have to publish what the limits are. Seems like alot of people are getting into trouble with the video streaming stuff. Use to be when you saw comcast at the mall they were showing off the streaming video stuff.

If you are just a web surfer and a small downloader comcast is fine. This cable modem technology has been around for years (since 1985). Most of the network is fiber, so I don't buy the fact that the heavy downloaders impact the network that much. They only recently allowed folks to set up vpn's after enough people complained/cancelled service. Then there was the athome conversion fiasco, they lots alot of customers to dsl. As people find out about newsgroups. You will see lots of complaints about why just 1 gig.

When I turned in my cable modem at the service center, I saw alot of people canceling service, not just cable modems but also digital TV service. The cancellations have gotton so bad that they have set up return centers to handle the massive equipment returns.

With my dialup connection, I have been connected for as long as 5 days and never got a complaint from the phone company or from the dialup isp.

I know people who have web servers, mail servers but have not been caught yet. There traffic volume is pretty low.
rody_40
join:2002-04-14
Quakertown, PA

rody_40 to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
i believe it was three days connected to my dial up isp when i received a phone call from them saying my unlimited dial up account didnt allow unlimited connection.

draven

join:2002-02-20
my bunker

draven to teddystacker

to teddystacker
said by teddystacker:
some of us find it hard living oversears from our famil and have ways to deal with it - I am sure you would feel exactly the same in my position?
I understand and sympathize with your situation teddystacker See Profile. All I'm saying is that your situation is a bit unusual in that you're sending DVD's across a residential connection. These things are definitely not normal tasks performed over a residential home connection..... YET... I believe soon enough Comcast will have to simply accept the fact that people will be streaming digital video and such.

However, a few DVD's a month should not be enough to get the abuse department on your back. Perhaps since you say you send 2-3 DVD's a month, we can reasonably assume that Comcast tracks bandwidth usage over any given 72 hour period. Since you're sending potentially 4-8 gigs worth of data over a short period of time, this would definitely trigger a warning. I know this is the way bandwidth used to be traced with dial-up accounts.

Subhuman
The
join:2001-12-09
Lakewood, WA

Subhuman to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
Yah Blech,keep making sad@$$ excuses for Comcrap.
When one looks at Japans DSL in comparo you can really see what kind of fkt-up market we live in here.The Japanese get 26 Mbit/s unlimited downloads for a whopping for aprrox. $25/mo.Then some have the nerve to try and make excuse for Comcrap's overpriced snail connection they try to pass off as broadband and limit download amounts on top of it!
Let's not even touch the customer support and tech. issues,because those are practically non-existant.

draven

join:2002-02-20
my bunker

draven to JTRockville

to JTRockville
said by JTRockville:
Are you familiar with terms like upstream, dedicated, static, servers, unlimited, or guaranteed?
I'm simply making a point about downstream only....... 1.5Mbps downstream = T1 downstream speed....... 3.5Mbps downstream = Frac-T3 downstream speed.

I'm glad you pointed out those terms. If you want all that, and not be harrassed by Comcast, you should consider purchasing a full T-1 or frac-T3. When you consider that a full T1 costs $500+ dollars/month and Frac-T3's are $3000+...... I think most people here can tone down the bandwidth consumption on their cheap cable broadband accounts
draven

draven to Subhuman

to Subhuman
said by Subhuman:
When one looks at Japans DSL in comparo you can really see what kind of fkt-up market we live in here.
Japan has always and always will be light years ahead of us in terms of technological development. What else is new?

Subhuman
The
join:2001-12-09
Lakewood, WA

Subhuman

Member

said by draven:
said by Subhuman:
When one looks at Japans DSL in comparo you can really see what kind of fkt-up market we live in here.
Japan has always and always will be light years ahead of us in terms of technological development. What else is new?

That attitude and way of thinking is why the USA is the laggard they are to begin with.Strive on buddy.With your mindset we'll be the techno leaders one day I'm sure.

JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium Member
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD

JTRockville to draven

Premium Member

to draven
Full T1 = $450 for me. The price is reflective of more than just unlimited consumption.

It's really an apples to oranges comparison, mostly because I smile when I talk about my service provider.

draven

join:2002-02-20
my bunker

draven to Subhuman

to Subhuman
said by Subhuman:
That attitude and way of thinking is why the USA is the laggard they are to begin with.Strive on buddy.With your mindset we'll be the techno leaders one day I'm sure.
I'm not echoing way of thinking, I'm echoing fact unfortunately. Personally, I strive to be the techno leader every single day at my job. Don't take your frustrations with Comcast out on me. I'm simply the opposite point of view in a topic that has been beaten to death.

Oh, and teddystacker See Profile to answer your question, no I have no idea what Comcast's bandwidth restrictions are. But now that I think about it even more, I'm beginning to believe that they monitor only short periods of time like I said. Not monthly consumption. So you're probably good if you stick to utilizing heavy bandwidth in 'spurts.'

Assault
join:2001-12-14
Garland, TX

2 recommendations

Assault to hotdogjones

Member

to hotdogjones
I wouldn't cancel and go to DSL. What I would do is get my service disconnected by Comcast for bandwidth abuse, keep track of my download totals with DUMeter www.dumeter.com. Then come here and post the amount of bandwidth I got disconnected for.