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story category Comcast Invisi-Caps Rediscovered
Digg, Slashdot say hello to 2003...
(old news - 01:23PM Monday Aug 27 2007)
tags: bandwidth · cable · Comcast
With the recent scuff-up over Comcast's alleged efforts to derail BitTorrent seeding, the company's long-standing practice of booting customers for using too much bandwidth has received renewed attention years after we started talking about it back in 2003.

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The operator has a not-so-secret bandwidth consumption limit that varies from market to market. Should you consistently pass this secret limit, you'll receive this letter telling you you should cut down on your usage.

Neither the letter nor Comcast's AUP specify how much usage is too much, in part because it varies depending on local network congestion. User forum complaints suggest it ranges from as low as 35GB to as high as 500GB per month.

This was a much bigger deal back when Comcast still advertised their service as unlimited (see insert), but it's still a popular gripe among forum posters and news reporters every time someone new realizes the limit exists. The company insists this cap only impacts "one-hundredth of one percent" of their users.

Related:
  1. Comcast Expands DOCSIS 3.0 In Bay Area
  2. Comcast: What Recession?
  3. Comcast's Billion Dollar Project Nets Big Bandwidth
  4. Still Waiting On Faster AT&T Speeds, Line Bonding
  5. Comcast DOC 3.0 Hits Harrisburg
  6. Comcast Eyeing 100Mbps?
  7. Comcast 50Mbps To See Price Cut
  8. Cable Cooking Up New Network Management System
Forums » Comcast Invisi-Caps Rediscovered
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MrMoody
Liberal Capitalist

join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC

Yawn.

Yawn.

53059959
Temp banned from BBR more then anyone

join:2002-10-02
PwnZone

Re: Yawn.

why don't they just offer a business class tier which offers truely unlimited transfer?

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Site5.com
·Comcast

Re: Yawn.

said by 53059959 See Profile :

why don't they just offer a business class tier which offers truely unlimited transfer?
I agree. However, even a business class tier for $20 more a month would be a stretch. Even if it did tout unlimited use.

SlickEnW
Premium
join:2003-01-21
Seattle, WA
clubs:
·Comcast

But you're forgetting the point;

These days there are legitimate purposes for an average home user to use a substantial amount of bandwidth (Netflix Downloads? PodCasts? Gaming? VoIP?).

Why should average joe user have to sign up for a business account if he/she isn't using it for business purposes ??

A better question.

Would you trust comcast to make the distinction between "Business Bandwidth" usage and "Residental Bandwidth" usage, who will instantly assume that the home user should only send and recieve e-mail and browse "The Fan" on their homepage?

Not saying your wrong on this one, just opening the box.
ricep5
Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL
·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Formerly ..

said by 53059959 See Profile :

why don't they just offer a business class tier which offers truely unlimited transfer?
Comcast does offer business class. The tiers start at $79 and top off at $169 a month. You should contact your local Comcast sales office and ask to speak with a business sales rep.

However don't expect to see any SLA's over and above what they offer residential. The only 'bonus' is there is no cap and they have better upload speeds.

I had an outage that lasted a day and a half due to power failure at a node. They blamed the utility. The other outage lasted 2 hours was a DHCP problem at a business class only boundary router in Atlanta.

milldoggin

@integraonline.net
I agree, *yawn*
Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
gaming really doesnt eat that much bandwidth in itself, even with Ventrilo/Teamspeak i dont think a gamer sucks much more then a person using VPN and VOIP.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

Fox McCloud
Crazy like a fox.

join:2006-07-23

Are they still....

Advertising their service as unlimited? Also, if their service isn't unlimited, they should advertise it as such, and also state the caps for that local market...
theeinstein
Premium
join:2003-07-31
Fernandina Beach, FL

Re: Are they still....

Agreed... Some one should drag there sorry butt to court! false advertising. That is pathetic!

PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
Riverside, WA
·CableOne

said by Fox McCloud See Profile :

Advertising their service as unlimited? Also, if their service isn't unlimited, they should advertise it as such, and also state the caps for that local market...
True, but also stated over and over again for the last few years, and very unlikely to change.
said by theeinstein See Profile :

Agreed... Some one should drag there sorry butt to court! false advertising. That is pathetic!
Now that they no longer tout it as being "unlimited," it is not false advertising. It's simply deceptive and a lousy way to treat your customers.

Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

I have never in my life

seen anyone complain of being booted for downloading only 35gigs in a month.

300 gigs..that's a different story.

Isn't someone who downloads that much and expects Comcast to give it to them for 43 bucks a month similar to someone who visits an "all you can eat" chinese buffet for lunch..and proceeds to attach a chain to the back of their pickup..and the restaurants buffet table..and proceeds to drag the whole counter home with them?

But then, they come back and say.."but you told me it was all I could eat."

Seriously, can we get real here? 300 gigs..in a month.

No isp owes that to anyone for these kinds of prices and comcasts tos clearly says that if you affect their network to the detriment of other users..they can cut you off.

And, I'm glad they do that..for the benefit of those of us who don't abuse the network like that.

Many people have other options. Get cable and a backup DSL line. Use both if you think you're going to come close to these limits.

Or, pay for a T1 line. Cough up the few hundred a month and pay for what it is you're asking for.

I seriously think that BBR should put an end to this continual nonsense about this issue. And recognize that for 43.00 a month..no isp has an obligation to give someone that much usage.

300 gigs a month. Many of us won't use that in our entire LIFETIMES.

Much less in one month.

Can we get real?

Thanks.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!

nklb
Premium
join:2000-11-17
Ann Arbor, MI
clubs:

Re: I have never in my life

$43/month? all told, I pay around $63 each month and that's for just the cable internet connection and no tv.

It's a shame there are no competitors in my market. Comcast is very unreliable and expensive here, but it is my only option.
--
for all your Linux questions

Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

Re: I have never in my life

said by nklb See Profile :

$43/month? all told, I pay around $63 each month and that's for just the cable internet connection and no tv.

It's a shame there are no competitors in my market. Comcast is very unreliable and expensive here, but it is my only option.
You have the option of lowering that bill to 43.00. It's your choice that you don't.

And, even if it is 63.00 honestly, do you think that 2.00 a day is too much to ask for a company to provide you with all this connectivity at these kinds of speeds?

2.00 a day barely covers the cost of a soda these days.

This is one of the biggest values in the market today IMO.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!
TheGhost
Premium
join:2003-01-03
Lake Forest, IL
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast

Re: I have never in my life

said by Rick See Profile :

said by nklb See Profile :

$43/month? all told, I pay around $63 each month and that's for just the cable internet connection and no tv.

It's a shame there are no competitors in my market. Comcast is very unreliable and expensive here, but it is my only option.
You have the option of lowering that bill to 43.00. It's your choice that you don't.

And, even if it is 63.00 honestly, do you think that 2.00 a day is too much to ask for a company to provide you with all this connectivity at these kinds of speeds?

2.00 a day barely covers the cost of a soda these days.

This is one of the biggest values in the market today IMO.
Option to "lower" only if you subscribe to cable TV, which costs another $50-$75 a month. BTW, I consistenly ding phone companies for requiring phone service as well.

At Work

@tds.net

Huh? All this connectivity? That's what they're there for... Connectivity... Gone are the days of 1 computer in the house. Now people have multiple computers, Xboxes, iTunes, WoW, PSP, DS, and all the other network devices pulling data off of one home connection. This is the future. "Connectivity" is not a wonderous thing. It is a commodity, and the providers are scared that people think of it this way. It's not magic, nor is it special. Sorry "Comcast" Rick!

LeftOfSanity

join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE

Re: I have never in my life

said by At Work :

Huh? All this connectivity? That's what they're there for... Connectivity... Gone are the days of 1 computer in the house. Now people have multiple computers, Xboxes, iTunes, WoW, PSP, DS, and all the other network devices pulling data off of one home connection. This is the future. "Connectivity" is not a wonderous thing. It is a commodity, and the providers are scared that people think of it this way. It's not magic, nor is it special. Sorry "Comcast" Rick!
Thats like saying, i just hooked up my light system (for my legal Linux Distro's, errr I mean my legal TOMATO plants, and got a 50 in plasma, why did my electric bill go up? I remember 25 yrs ago they said it was unlimited use?

ComcastStinks

@rr.com

I was in the same boat as you paying $61.95 a month for internet only with Comcast. .....But life got better as soon as I got traded to time warner. The price got lowered to $44.95 and the speed increased to 7M/512! Ahhhhh,Life is better without Concast!

N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL

Bad analogy.

The Chinese buffet is described as "all you can eat" and not as "all you can take.

Now, if I get there at 9 AM, and gorge myself all day long, and stay until they close, there really isn't anything they can do.

If after 4 or 5 hours, they come over and give me the boot, I'm gonna be a little pissed....
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power…

Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

Re: I have never in my life

said by N3OGH See Profile :

If after 4 or 5 hours, they come over and give me the boot, I'm gonna be a little pissed....
lol..that's truly hysterical.
Do you often sit at all you can eat buffets for 5 hours?

And, the analogy is a perfect one IMO.
For someone to even come close to downloading 300gigs per month, It's as if they're sitting at that buffet for 10 hours a day.

Again, we need to get real here and realize that no company owes this much to a customer for these kinds of prices.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!
Asmodeus

join:2004-05-26
Spring Valley, CA

Re: I have never in my life

maybe you need to get real... ever heard of the phrase, "truth in advertising"...? if any isp says they have unlimited (and unasterisked) usage, then it is what it is... the presumption that you don't think someone should have 300gb of downloads or hell, even uploads is none of your concern... if comcast offers it and someone takes advantage of it, then what is the issue...? also, it's none of your business what someone does with their internet account now is it mrs. cravetts...?

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Site5.com
·Comcast

Re: I have never in my life

said by Asmodeus See Profile :

maybe you need to get real... ever heard of the phrase, "truth in advertising"...? if any isp says they have unlimited (and unasterisked) usage, then it is what it is... the presumption that you don't think someone should have 300gb of downloads or hell, even uploads is none of your concern... if comcast offers it and someone takes advantage of it, then what is the issue...? also, it's none of your business what someone does with their internet account now is it mrs. cravetts...?
Comcast has not advertised unlimited internet usage for over 3 years now.
kinglou0

join:2006-06-05
Kent, WA

Re: I have never in my life

said by Nightfall See Profile :

said by Asmodeus See Profile :

maybe you need to get real... ever heard of the phrase, "truth in advertising"...? if any isp says they have unlimited (and unasterisked) usage, then it is what it is... the presumption that you don't think someone should have 300gb of downloads or hell, even uploads is none of your concern... if comcast offers it and someone takes advantage of it, then what is the issue...? also, it's none of your business what someone does with their internet account now is it mrs. cravetts...?
Comcast has not advertised unlimited internet usage for over 3 years now.
Bull crap, the most recent promotion(s) advertising high speed says unlimited. The commercial is the ones featuring the roommates who schedule their internet time because they 're on DSL. During the ad, Comcast mentions it being unlimited service.
If Comcast wants to be weasels, why don't they just start saying unlimited access not service?

LeftOfSanity

join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE

Re: I have never in my life

said by kinglou0 See Profile :

said by Nightfall See Profile :

said by Asmodeus See Profile :

maybe you need to get real... ever heard of the phrase, "truth in advertising"...? if any isp says they have unlimited (and unasterisked) usage, then it is what it is... the presumption that you don't think someone should have 300gb of downloads or hell, even uploads is none of your concern... if comcast offers it and someone takes advantage of it, then what is the issue...? also, it's none of your business what someone does with their internet account now is it mrs. cravetts...?
Comcast has not advertised unlimited internet usage for over 3 years now.
Bull crap, the most recent promotion(s) advertising high speed says unlimited. The commercial is the ones featuring the roommates who schedule their internet time because they 're on DSL. During the ad, Comcast mentions it being unlimited service.
If Comcast wants to be weasels, why don't they just start saying unlimited access not service?
must be your market. Pics please or it didn't happen.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Site5.com
·Comcast

said by kinglou0 See Profile :

said by Nightfall See Profile :

said by Asmodeus See Profile :

maybe you need to get real... ever heard of the phrase, "truth in advertising"...? if any isp says they have unlimited (and unasterisked) usage, then it is what it is... the presumption that you don't think someone should have 300gb of downloads or hell, even uploads is none of your concern... if comcast offers it and someone takes advantage of it, then what is the issue...? also, it's none of your business what someone does with their internet account now is it mrs. cravetts...?
Comcast has not advertised unlimited internet usage for over 3 years now.
Bull crap, the most recent promotion(s) advertising high speed says unlimited. The commercial is the ones featuring the roommates who schedule their internet time because they 're on DSL. During the ad, Comcast mentions it being unlimited service.
If Comcast wants to be weasels, why don't they just start saying unlimited access not service?
Link to proof in writing please.

braynes
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Waterville, ME
·Great Works Internet
·RoadRunner Cable
·Verizon Online DSL

Hey RR how it going?
In most cases I am in agreement with you, What in your Opinion
is CC obligation to the Billing Account under the "TOS".(Please do not tell me to read it I asked for Opinion.
Thanks Bruce

PS just nosy I do not have them.

soldatenhund

@bell.ca

Actually it is a bad analogy. This very thing happened to a friend's football team. They were eating at a chinese buffet on Dundas just south of Erin Mills in Mississauga.

The owners told them to leave, they refused, he called the cops. The cops showed up and asked what the problem was after which he told the manager never to call him for that again and to let them finish eating.

If you advertise a service and then can't provide it, that is called false advertising and is a poorly constructed business model. You don't blame the consumer because YOU didn't believe , think it would be used to its fullest or more importantly plan on honouring your advertisement which oddly enough seems to be acceptable practice. Lie to people them blame them for following through on YOUR promise.

LeftOfSanity

join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE

Re: I have never in my life

said by soldatenhund :

Actually it is a bad analogy. This very thing happened to a friend's football team. They were eating at a chinese buffet on Dundas just south of Erin Mills in Mississauga.

The owners told them to leave, they refused, he called the cops. The cops showed up and asked what the problem was after which he told the manager never to call him for that again and to let them finish eating.

If you advertise a service and then can't provide it, that is called false advertising and is a poorly constructed business model. You don't blame the consumer because YOU didn't believe , think it would be used to its fullest or more importantly plan on honouring your advertisement which oddly enough seems to be acceptable practice. Lie to people them blame them for following through on YOUR promise.
Link to local paper article or I call BS

LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
·Comcast

said by N3OGH See Profile :

Bad analogy.

The Chinese buffet is described as "all you can eat" and not as "all you can take.

Now, if I get there at 9 AM, and gorge myself all day long, and stay until they close, there really isn't anything they can do.

If after 4 or 5 hours, they come over and give me the boot, I'm gonna be a little pissed....
And that is exactly what most of those places do. Even "all you can eat" has limits.
--
--
Internet News
My BLOG
My Web Page
Digitalis

join:2006-01-19
Princeton, NJ

Re: I have never in my life

My father once went to an "all-you-can-eat" restaurant with a rather corpulent friend. When the friend went back for fourths, the cook served him and said, "And THAT is all you can eat."

Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA

said by N3OGH See Profile :

Bad analogy.

The Chinese buffet is described as "all you can eat" and not as "all you can take.

Now, if I get there at 9 AM, and gorge myself all day long, and stay until they close, there really isn't anything they can do.

If after 4 or 5 hours, they come over and give me the boot, I'm gonna be a little pissed....
You don't really exist, right? I'm starting to lose all hope for society.
--
Anonymous posts are ignored. If you wish to be heard, speak for yourself.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?

N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: I have never in my life

Yes, I really do exist. I also venture a guess I've done more for society in the past 10 years than you have, but I don't know you, so I won't sling arrows your way.

Like I'm actually sitting in a restaurant someplace eating for 5 hours. I believe this is the point of the discussion where I slap my forehead and say DUH.

I stand by my statement that his analogy was a bad one. He compares chaining a pickup truck to a buffet and dragging it off, to abusing your broadband internet connection.

One is a blatant, overt theft (The chain and truck thing). The other is a matter of semantics and judgement that changes from system to system.

Look, I'm not bashing Comcast. I'm not a heavy user of my internet connection, and if I download 2 songs from iTunes a month, that was a heavy month for me.

But, everyone knows it's illegal to drag a buffet away with a chain and a truck. Everyone KNOWS it's theft. Comcast doesn't tell you what the cap is, so until you violate it, you don't know.

Now if Comcast set a limit, told you not to cross it, and you repeatedly did, well then shame on you. You were forewarned and you did as you shouldn't.

Comcast has every right to regulate the use of their private network and to be sure a select few individuals aren't ruining the experience for everyone else.

But, you can't punish people for breaking rules you don't lay down. The cops can't write you a speeding ticket where the limit isn't clearly posted (in PA at least). If it's not in the contract, they can't hold you to it.'

Clearly spell it out, and put it in the contract. Then come down like a sack of rocks on the ones that don't do as they are told.

It's as easy as that...
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power…

AnotherGuy

@york.com

Re: I have never in my life

How is the consumer expected to keep their usage non-abusive if they don't have a definition of abuse? For the people who would define abuse as "That which causes degradation for other users", how exactly do you accomplish non-abusive use? I can tell you how I attempt to do this. I run QoS to throttle my connection back to the point where I only occasionally add 1 millisecond of latency between my cable modem and anything else. I Ping my gateway, ping Yahoo, and I am not adding latency for myself. This way, I should see the impact of my usage before any one else would.

Responsible traffic shaping at the ISP would be difficult to even notice, and would end my need to throttle my connection, which I only do to be sure I am not dragging the neighborhood down. I am a responsible netizen.

The definition of abuse needs to be stated by the ISP. If it is stated as something similar to "Don't negatively impact other users", and I am doing everything that can be done on this end of the wire to be sure I am not abusive per their definition, I should have nothing to worry about, right?

I did about 80GB of transfer this month, and I put in real effort to make sure that my usage doesn't impact anyone negatively, using everything I can use on my end of the wire. Someone tell me, am I abusing my connection? If so, explain to me how I would go about knowing if I was abusing it, beyond what I am already doing.

And why should I bother when my ISP won't help?

djrobx

join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·PHONE POWER
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable

I think very few people really have an issue with Comcast clamping on 300GB/month usage. The problem is the limit isn't specified anywhere, so what really constitutes abuse? 10GB? 100GB? 1000GB?

That said, I'm not really a fan of the hard caps that people seem to be clamoring for. When they do get set, they're usually ridiculously low (see Cox for example and their 40GB limit).

That's why I much prefer automated FAP/traffic shaping systems to control bandwidth consumption if it's necessary. Then users can't walk out with the whole buffet, yet the end user doesn't need to worry about getting natsy phone calls.

Budo7
Budo7
Premium
join:2005-03-22
Edgewater, MD
·Verizon FIOS

Re: I have never in my life

Some months I go over 300 gigs, and others maybe 3 gigs. It depends on what I am doing. I do some stuff for a game company, and when we are hot and heavy into testing, I may download a new build each night, at 2-5 gigs a night. As with most things, they come in 3 so when I am testing it is usually 3 games at onces. So I can go over 450 a month. I have lol however I have never been cut off, nor have I gotten a letter.
I may have 1 month in 3 that I download that much, but it happens. So I have no complaints with Comacast.

major marco
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Stepford, CA
clubs:

said by Rick See Profile :

300 gigs a month. Many of us won't use that in our entire LIFETIMES.

Much less in one month.

Can we get real?

Thanks.
I'm glad that you chose to appoint yourself as universal speaker for everyone under every circumstance, Rick. Just because you personally do not ever foresee yourself using 300 gigs does not mean that nobody else ever will. It largely depends on personal circumstances and/or employment.

Secondly, if Comcrap doesn't want complaints then they should stop advertising the service as an all-you-can-eat buffet, and, instead inject some truth in advertising:

Comcast: Secret bandwidth caps based entirely on subjective and arbitrary conditions.

The day ISPs like Comcrap start that advertising campaign and including it in the AUP in specific terms is the day you can appoint yourself universal speaker for broadband.
--
The Toll


Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:

Re: I have never in my life

said by major marco See Profile :

I'm glad that you chose to appoint yourself as universal speaker for everyone under every circumstance, Rick.
I must have missed the part where I appointed myself that.
What I said was many of us don't download 300 gigs in our lifetimes...much less in one month.

I must have also missed the part where comcast advertises their service as an all you can eat buffet.

You seem hell bent on twisting not only my words..but Comcasts TOS as well.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic!

TheOneFiber

@verizon.net

Re: I have never in my life

As stated by so many people, the amount of bandwidth usage is highly dependant on what your form of employment, and conditions at home are. I work from home....and as such I have 3 computers and 2 servers on 1 network running through a 6th computer to monitor use among other things. Depending on what I'm doing, I might use 16gb in a day, or 16 mb of bandwith. I personally think Comcasts service is craptastic due to the fact that it's overpriced; $70 for what I got, plain ol' internet access, and a top speed of actually 3mb/s, not the advertised 7, which was the reason I switched to fiber.

SkellBasher
Yes Sorto, I'll take my Prozac

join:2000-10-22
North Tonawanda, NY

If Comcast (or any provider for that matter) cannot support the bandwidth allocations that they sell, they need to revisit what exactly it is they are selling.

Telling people they have an 8Mb pipe is ludicrous if they cannot use it.

You pontificate that 300GB/month is excessive. Let's do some math.

An 8Mb pipe transfers roughly 1MB of data each second. So, to reach 300GB, it will take 307,200 seconds at full transfer rate, about 3.5 days.

Taking a month of 30 days, that's 720 hours, 43,200 minutes, or 2,592,000 seconds.

That says that if you fully used that 8Mb pipe for 11.85% of the time available to you, you'd pull 300GB of data.

Can Comcast users then only pay 11.85% of their bill? I doubt it.

Residential ISPs historically oversell bandwidth on the assumption that not everyone is using it at a given time. Dial-up ISPs have ranged from 16-1 to 8-1 , depending on the company and when you looked. I don't know what our number was in the Adelphia days, but I'm pretty sure it was less than 8-1.

Comcast had two choices. They could have lowered their maximum per connection speed down from 8Mb to a level more consistent with the engineered capabilities of their network. This would have precluded the need for these arbitrary transfer limits. The other choice was advertise this wonderful 8Mb service, and give people shit about it if they happened to be in the minority of customers who tried to use what they are paying for.

They chose the latter.

I won't dispute that $50 for a home residential pipe is a good deal. When breaking it out on a per Mb basis, I pay significantly more on any of my OC's or DS3s. I also don't question Comcast's right to put controls in place to prevent users from becoming a detriment to other subscribers. (Although I strongly disagree with their flat out blocking of Bittorrent on the false assumption that all BT traffic is illegal P2P.)

However, Comcast is irresponsible by advertising and signing up people for a service that has restrictions which are not disclosed until after someone is a customer, and by not clearly defining those restrictions at any point.

This is no different than a dealer putting restrictions on a vehicle after the contracts have been signed, or speed limit signs with question marks on your local highways.

Their non-specific , non-disclosed transfer limits will never stand up in court if they are ever challenged, since a consumer cannot be held responsible for terms of usage that aren't defined. (IE, you can't break a law if the law isn't spelled out.)

Your assertion that 300GB a month is more than one would use 'in a lifetime' is absurd. The internet is content; spend a couple of hours with a college kid spending time on Facebook and Youtube, and see how much data gets moved. It adds up faster than you think.

See 6 replies to this post
xrobertcmx
Premium
join:2001-06-18
Sterling, VA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·EarthLink

I don't think the complaint is that they kick people off for massive usage. In my case at least, the complaint is that they won't say what the limit is. I have Comcast, until FIOS is installed, and yes, I download stuff. Not a lot, but enough that I worry about it.
--
Retaking our country one election at a time.
AquaBlaze
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA

said by Rick See Profile :

300 gigs a month. Many of us won't use that in our entire LIFETIMES.
Many porn collections would beg to differ.
chris123

join:2002-07-23
Highland, IN
·AT&T Midwest

said by Rick See Profile :

seen anyone complain of being booted for downloading only 35gigs in a month.

300 gigs..that's a different story.

Isn't someone who downloads that much and expects Comcast to give it to them for 43 bucks a month similar to someone who visits an "all you can eat" chinese buffet for lunch..and proceeds to attach a chain to the back of their pickup..and the restaurants buffet table..and proceeds to drag the whole counter home with them?

But then, they come back and say.."but you told me it was all I could eat."
Nope.. More like All you can eat for 10.99 then when you go up for the second plate they say, we didn't think you'd eat that much, sorry you have to leave.

Its not about how much bandwidth these guys are using, its all about some hidden limit. Its deceptive to sell a service without an upfront specified limit which is in fact limited.

I suggest you guys switch to sbc er att. I use a boatload of bandwidth and have yet to hear a single peep from them.

T1 service in comparison to broadband stinks. Yes you get more upload speed generally but you only get a fraction of the download speed. With sbc dsl now I'm getting 6/608 or four times the download and a third of the upload. Plus even in the cheapest areas of the US we spend 400.00 per month for a t1.
--
see my SBC Review @ »Review of AT&T Midwest by chris123
notwrth10

join:2007-03-03
1001EB

I stopped at the title folks, besides he needs to work on that bit torrent throttling his employer decided to implement.

I am going to guess it was a big payday for Rick See Profile when they implemented that?

Said at team meeting:

big boss: "So rick, we just throttle this bit-torrent thing and our bandwidth problems go away?"

rick: Yes sir

big boss: thank you rick, you have always served us well. Here have this bonus on us!

rick: pleasure doing business with you!
Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

well they should specify what excessive use is then, running torrents pinned out constantly(legal or illegal ones) is clearly more transfer then someone running 3 wow accounts, ventrilo and 128kbit netradio stream 18hrs a day.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

lt_wentoncha
Red6

join:2002-05-12
000000
Well, to end this "continual nonsense" Comcast should just publish their caps limits.

See 7 replies to this post

yulek

join:2000-12-25
Alameda, CA
clubs:

said by Rick See Profile :

300 gigs a month. Many of us won't use that in our entire LIFETIMES.

Much less in one month.

Can we get real?
check out amazon's s3 service and jungledisk and others who use it. i back up to jungledisk. i have 50GB of data that i backed up to jungledisk (photos and music (legit, thank you) mostly). a full backup to jungledisk would be 400Gbs. oops.

nklb
Premium
join:2000-11-17
Ann Arbor, MI
clubs:

Doesn't matter what percentage of their userbase is affected

It won't matter to you what the percentage of the userbase affected is if YOU are the one who loses connection because of this.
--
for all your Linux questions

See 6 replies to this post

Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN

the limit.

You find out the limit when you exceed it and have the option of lowering your usage. don't worry about it until you get the letter. simple huh?
--
kustomerservice.net

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest

Re: the limit.

said by Chuckles See Profile :

You find out the limit when you exceed it and have the option of lowering your usage. don't worry about it until you get the letter. simple huh?
From the forums, people get the letter, cut their usage dramatically, and still get terminated.
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!)

kingbobo

join:2003-01-21
Atlanta, GA

Limits?

Let's see...You can have this 12mb/sec Ferrari but you can only drive it in this little bity parking lot. Where's the AUTOBAHN?????

AstroBoy

@comcast.net

Re: Limits?

said by kingbobo See Profile :

Let's see...You can have this 12mb/sec Ferrari but you can only drive it in this little bity parking lot. Where's the AUTOBAHN?????
Really bogus example.

More like using a Ferrari 12% of the time at full speed and parking it the other 88% while you eat Chinese food, sleep, work, watch TV, ...

Now the abuser drives the Ferrari at max speed well beyond 12% of the time.

Even a race car driver does not drive at max speed more that 12% of the time, for 1 month, I bet.

Many things in life have a duty cycle, most are not rated for a 100% duty cycle at max power.

Richard B
Fur It Up

join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR

Straw Man

This is a typical Star Man attack on Comcast because you are mis representing or redefining the trem unlimited. It is clear unlimited means unlimited access but not unlimited bandwidth. You are not to use you computer as a server period!

See 7 replies to this post

pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA
clubs:
·Comcast

Invsi-caps...

All this crap is pure BS..
Comcast (and many other ISP's) are just way too cheap to spend the massive profits they get on inferstructure upgrades..
They want to keep the status quo and continue to make record income and not truly support the customers that provide said income. Sooner or later (I'm hoping for sooner..) it will all fall apart and come back to bite Comcast and it's upper management.

HINT: Comcast, why not upgrade your backend to support the growing users on your network? stop taking your inability to service new users out on existing users by limiting usage, traffic shaping/blocking, etc. UPGRADE your NETWORK instead!
--
Webmaster - Steve
- - - - - - - - - - - -
»ppnhosting.com
»www.1-gb.net
»pokemonpalace.net
st7860

join:2004-05-13
San Francisco, CA

Re: Invsi-caps...

shaw cable in Western Canada for years had casual limits like comcast but starting 2 years ago they had fixed limits.

$35/mo 5down/0.5up service has a 50g limit
$50/mo 10down/1.0 up service has a 100g limit
$99/mo 25down/1.0 up service has a 150g limit

toadlife
Premium
join:2004-05-03
Coalinga, CA
·AT&T Yahoo

Fuzzy math?

...some five years after we started talking about it back in 2003.
2003 + 5 = 2007?


--
Hate your enemies. Save your friends. Find your place. Speak the truth.
Enlightener

join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX

Re: Fuzzy math?

I saw that too. It's only been 3 years. If you want to stretch it, you could say `nearly 4 years.`

I guess they have to make themselves seem smarter by stretching the math.

Diaboyos

join:2007-08-21
·Comcast
·RoadRunner Cable


1 edit

I received a notice...

Comcrap took over for Time Warner RR in my area approximately 6 months ago now. The very first month I had them I received a notice that I had been using excessive bandwidth and to reduce my usage. I used a total of roughly 45GB that month.

So I replied back if they would kindly specify what the limit is I would be happy to make sure I don't go over it again. They didn't bother to respond to me so I didn't bother to reduce my usage. In fact, I got a sweet little program called BitMeter2 that monitors usage and the following month I used a total of 95GB but this time I received no letter. What gives I thought?

It is not hard to use this amount of bandwidth in this age of streaming data. I've never gone over 100GB a month but I have gone over 45GB since that first month but only received a notice for the 45GB. Makes no sense.

I'm paying $75/month for 15.5Mb/1.5Mb speeds, what they call Tier-3 service here. The download speed is, indeed, very nice. But the upload speed is only maybe 1/10th of what I pay for because they now block everything I try to upload to. I use the BitTorrent network to distribute my work (photographer) but that's impossible now.

I'm now looking into AT&T DSL which doesn't (according to people here) throttle or inhibit the BT network in any way. The speeds are less than half what I have now (as is the price almost), yet since Comcrap caps, throttles, or completely denies connections the difference in speed is negotiable.

Oh and I almost forgot. They are still marketing here as "Unlimited Usage" even though they have apparently stopped this practice in other places as they should. Unlimited means unlimited. Unlimited doesn't mean up to a point.

livininarizona
Premium
join:2001-08-05
Merced, CA
clubs:

Look at this!!!

In theory unlimited = infinite, but since infinity cannot be defined, infinity therefore does not exist which would mean that unlimited essentially does not exist, they are offering something that does not exist!!!!!!!!!
--
CPU: 2.6C Pentium 4 at 2.8ghz---Memory:512mb of PC3200 DDR---FSB: 880mhz effective---Video: Radeon 9600 pro

binarycode

join:2003-04-30
USA
·Comcast

Re: Look at this!!!

Infinity cannot be defined?

»dictionary.reference.com/browse/infinity

Whoops!

This reminds me of a traffic ticket I once received. Some vandals removed a stop sign at a 3 way intersection in a small village. When I approached it appeared I had the right away as the other two had stop signs. I was promptly ticketed for running a stop sign that wasn't there. I appealed in traffic court and lost. The state's argument was that the stop sign had been put there and whether or not it was there when I drove through the intersection is irrelevant since it was supposed to be there.

SlickEnW
Premium
join:2003-01-21
Seattle, WA
clubs:
·Comcast

In theory you are correct

however,

Data is (in theory) an unlimited item because data itself is not composed of matter; it can be destroyed and recreated at will (i'm probably wrong though),

therefore comcast has succeeded in rendering the Law of Conservation of Matter useless and has made a mockery out of our grade school textbooks...

this grinds my gears.

binarycode

join:2003-04-30
USA

1 edit

Re: Look at this!!!

Data is energy.
bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8

Re: Look at this!!!

said by binarycode See Profile :

Data is energy.
I could dust off one the theoretical physics books I have and try to explain the paradox in that statement, but I don't think but maybe a few other people would understand it and I'm beat from work...
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool.
venussuz

join:2005-01-13
Media, PA

Another "abuser" of Comcast bandwidth

It's not only Peer to Peer and Bit Torrent users who are plagued by this problem. After my third month with Comcast I got a call that my use was excessive. I inquired how much I had used (he couldn't or wouldn't tell me) and what I could do to make sure I was within limits. There were no helpful suggestions, but I was able to figure that being on an online gaming site 12 or more hours a day, although not playing that whole time, and my daughter watching several videos a week from Netflix was the problem. Apparently the gaming site was transferring an unusually large number of packets and combined with 3 or 4 videos (~5 gig each) a week, I went over their unlisted limit. So I went back to DSL - though it's slower, I get no complaints about the amount of use.

DaBears57

join:2006-03-07
Wheaton, IL

??

How is this news?? Everyone who visits BBR would know this.

BryanOnFiber

join:2007-06-22
Brandon, FL

Reply

Get Fios

Jake123

@verizon.net

Comcast is just being cheap

Now I know they have more infrastructure than a backbone provider (considering they have to drag a connection to your home), but even 300gigs at wholesale prices at a data center is no more than $9/month.

Like many have already posted Comcast just needs to own up and not call it "unlimited". I don't think too many people would have a problem buying their connection as a combination of speed and data transfered. e.g.

8Mbit Pipe/300gigs included
4mbit pipe/300gigs
8mbit pipe/100gigs

etc...

Cell phone providers do it all the time and no one seems to care. Its the flat out lying that a service is unlimited when it is DEFINITELY LIMITED, that they need to address...

Loker
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Fargo, ND
clubs:

Whats that Karl?

You say Comcast killed your mother?

fruhead

join:2002-01-29
Montclair, NJ

Re: Whats that Karl?

said by Loker See Profile :

You say Comcast killed your mother?
Dropped a piano on her head.

macrospect
All The Little Stuff
Premium
join:2005-08-25
Doylestown, PA

Is it so hard to...

Support that .01% of their heavy users? Do they really cause that much network congestion?
The Way Out

join:2003-01-20

Re: Is it so hard to...

It's expensive supporting 0.01% of users using 50% of available resources.

binarycode

join:2003-04-30
USA
·Comcast

Re: Is it so hard to...

LOL!

That's comical. 99.99% of Comcast's users utilize less than 50% of the network's available resources combined, and the other 0.01% use 50%? If that's even close to being the case I'd say Comcast is SOL for having outsold it's bandwidth.
robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL

Re: Is it so hard to...

Unlimited means to them is "always on"
but until they re phrase it, the customer is NOT responsible.
for their monthly use age.

-Rob

garbageanalogies

@comcast.net

Re: Is it so hard to...

I don't think I've ever had the displeasure of reading so many terrible analogies in a single thread...until now.

Homebrew1994
Betzwood Basement Brewery

join:2001-11-15
King Of Prussia, PA

Such old news

If you click through all the links to the actual article, it refers to incident in 2004 to 2006 (maybe January 2007).
ppjones84

join:2007-05-20
Cambridge, MA

Joost...

I believe that using Joost consumes quite a lot of bandwidth over the course of one month. I remember complaints early on in the Joost forum about users being contacted by their ISPs because of too much usage.

KAD Imaging
Just Shoot It
Premium
join:2002-09-21
Hialeah, FL
·AT&T Southeast

Re: Joost...

So I wonder what they will do once people start actually using Netflix's online movie service (and Blockbuster's that you know is coming) as well as the NFL online users and everyone else.

I'm to lazy to calculate the data rate of a 1Mbps stream from the NFL or even how big the Netflix online movies are (600MB? 1GB? more?) But I can safely estimate that downloading and watching 1 movie/night would slam you against the inviso-cap pretty quick. So glad I left Commiecast.

Yep, I'll just site back and enjoy my 6000 DSL connection that sits on limewire & BT 24/7.

(Crapcast if your reading this...KISS MY $#!@#$!~@% A$$!! )
--
Like Cars? Visit:
SportCompactMiami.com
forums.sportcompactmiami.com
blog.sportcompactmiami.com

DirtCheap

@comcast.net

Bandwidth and reliability

I would be happy if Comcast could just maintain reliable service ... maybe 99.9% "UP" time? Everytime I have something important to do on my system, Comcast goes down! And usually when they come back up I have lower download speed than typical dial-up, for about 24 hours. I'm in Fort Myers, FL.
Forums » Comcast Invisi-Caps Rediscoveredpage: 1 · 2


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