Comcast XFINITY → Re: My experience with Comcast bandwidth suspension

I am in the same boat and I have been with them since 1998, but I have lost my connection for the whole year. My download/streaming habbits have not changed since 1998, so I'm kind of inline with the previous poster saying they are targeting those that don't have access to other forms of high speed internet.

I don't have access to DSL cause I'm 900feet too far away, nor am I going to pay $1,000 to setup a satellite connection. Righ now I'm on Juno Speedband, cause it's the only option I have currently. From what I've been reading Verizon will be expanding in the coming months and possibly rolling out fiber lines which will hopefully be available to me.

I called the number I was given to call and asked them why I got this cancellation letter. They started by saying that these letters are due to me downloading music and movies. I asked them to provide me with proof of music/movies downloaded (I have seen letters in the posted past, so I know comcast sends them out if caught with illegal material). The 1st person that answered the phone couldn't provide me with any proof, because there is none. He just told me I use their service too much. I asked if anyone in the neighborhood has complained about service in the neighborhood due to my usage. The guy says he doesn't know of any complaints, nor could he tell me, so I'm pretty sure no one is complaining.

I then asked for a supervisor, and was told that there is nothing she can do, but that I would have to wait a year before getting cable back (Only to be disconnected again). I went on explaining to the supervisor what it is I do online. She went on about how there was nothing she can do to turn my service back on. After talking to this later for 15 minutes in circles, where she is claiming that there is a cap, but then comes back saying that there is no cap, I just got irate over the whole situation.

My computer is basically my entertainment center. For the past 5 years I have listened to streaming music 24/7 (helps me sleep at night, and it's not like I can turn the cmputer), played games like Quake, HalfLife, WarCraft 3, Diablo, and many others online countless hours into the night. I head over to apple.com/quicktime and am always looking at the newest trailers that come out (all of them, cause never know what I might like). And I'm paying for porn sites, which usually have a 100meg+movie every week, sometimes more than that. Plus if you have just found a new site you may be wanting the old videos. Not to mention the coutless Windows Updates that come out everyweek due to a new bug being found, Antivirus Subscription updateds, countless game patches that are required to play online, especially when some of them can be over 100megs themselves. I can't forget the webcam I use for videochatting on MSN Messenger.

That is why I got broadband 5 years ago. I'm not some grandma that just likes to hop on and check her email every day. I actually want to use the service.

I told the supervisor all this and she told me that would do it and that I'm cancelled for a year. I did nothing but do what they advertise on TV which is Listen to music, Watch streaming video, and play games.

Well if you actually look at their annual report for when they purchased AT&T BroadBand, their userbase more than doubled in size. Add all those people to the nodes, and increase population from people that will want to leave DSL for their new 3mbit download speeds, then you got saturation and overload of the line.

And to the above post it can't have anything to do with uploading, because I haven't uploaded anything in 2 years. I used to upload videos, ect. to family and friends because they were away at college. This was in addition to my downloading habbits mentioned above.

Since I'm still at home with my parents for the time being they have decided upon themselves to get a lawyer to take on the $20 billion monopoly. I guess I'll have to wait and see what comes of that.

said by cumcast5:

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Since I'm still at home with my parents for the time being they have decided upon themselves to get a lawyer to take on the $20 billion monopoly. I guess I'll have to wait and see what comes of that.

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Keep us posted. Definitely want to see what happens with that.

said by cumcast5:

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…my parents for the time being they have decided upon themselves to get a lawyer …

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Your chances of winning on this I think are very slim. There is legal precedent for them treating you this way.Take for example health care. Blue Cross/Blue Shield has policies where they claim they will reimburse you for 80% of the “just and reasonable” fees you occur. But when you ask them, for example, what is the "just and reasonable" fee for example, a doctors visit – GUESS WHAT – THEY WON’T TELL YOU. So if you go to a doctors office and the doctors visit costs $100, and BC/BS reimburses you only $50, you can then back-calculate that the $50 was 80% of the true cost, which would be about $60. So you go gee, if I find a doctor whose office visits are only $60, BC/BS should reimburse me $50. So the next time you go to a doctor you find one that charges you $60. You then expect $50 reimbursement from BC/BS and you end up with only $30 instead. Get the pattern, they keep changing the “just and reasonable cost” so that they in the final analysis only have to pay out 50% of the charge you incurred, instead of the 80% they told you they would. If BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD HAS BEEN DOING THIS FOR 50 YEARS, AND IT’S CONSIDERED LEGAL, WELL, THEN COMCAST CAN DO THE SAME THING TO YOU.

Furthermore, and even worse is, when you signed up, guess what, you signed the Terms of Use Agreement, which mentions the AUP (acceptable use policy). The judge is going to say you signed the contract, in essence agreeing to the terms, even if they are un-reasonable, and he will say if you thought they were so unreasonable, you shouldn’t have signed the contract. So you are bound to it, case closed. You can’t sign a contract that says "I will agree to vague terms" and then decide gee, I think I’ll won't obey what I just signed.

If the terms of the contract somehow removed fundamental constitutional liberties (like signing away your freedom of speech), that would be another bag of worms, and you would then possibly have a leg to stand. But there is no constitutional right to Internet cable access.

There is legal precedent for disclosure of bandwidth limits, as andrewb78 pointed out in an earlier topic:

DirecPC FAP

said by JTRockville:

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There is legal precedent for disclosure of bandwidth limits, as andrewb78 pointed out in an earlier topic:

DirecPC FAP

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I would need to see the particulars beyond just a forum posters word. But I would guess they are arguing in court that the contract they signed somehow allows them to get that info - I am a bit skeptical, however.

said by ToasterMan78:

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I would need to see the particulars beyond just a forum posters word. But I would guess they are arguing in court that the contract they signed somehow allows them to get that info - I am a bit skeptical, however.

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Follow the link, you'll find much more than just a poster's word.

said by JTRockville:

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"I would need to see the particulars beyond just a forum posters word [that there is a legal precedent for challenging the non-publishing of download limits]"....Follow the link... you'll find much more than just a poster's word.

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Good info. I suspect that these companies can get around this issue by publishing artificially low limits (which will make everybody in technical non-compliance) and then proceed to simply pick those same high bandwidth people as they see fit and nuke them. Then the people that get in trouble can't complain that they weren't told the limits.

Therefore, this whole issue may backfire on people demanding publishing of limits.

" Well if you actually look at their annual report for when they purchased AT&T BroadBand, their userbase more than doubled in size. Add all those people to the nodes, and increase population from " - posted by cumcast

Sprint PCS has a similiar story. They were ranked no #1
worst customer service this year.

It's all about market share, and the bragging rights
of your customer base(on a management level).

Had Comcast they suck.
Verizon DSL rocks and their newserver
is one of the best out there.
Unfortunately is not available to a
lot of people due to distance...
and fibre optic lines will disqualify
you from service... need copper lines
all the way.