Last week we noted how the guy who first discovered Comcast's P2P throttling right here in our forums, Robb Topolski, was warning people to stay far away from a settlement with the company that could wind up paying broadband users between $1 and $16. According to Topolski, people who paid $50 a month for throttled service will only see about 50 cents per month for each month that it blocked traffic -- and that kind of penalty really doesn't punish Comcast. Unsurprisingly, a lawyer involved in the Comcast settlement doesn't agree with Topolski. Eric Somers contacted Broadband Reports to make three points.

"First, it's true that some people are put off by the fact that each individual person only gets $16," admits Somers (technically, they get "up to" $16). "That may not be a lot of money, but the reality is this: the more people sign up, the more Comcast has to pay - up to $16 million dollars. The fewer people sign up, the less Comcast has to pay."

"Second, the recent FCC Court decision determined that Comcast did not violate any FCC rules or law," he says. "That means that Comcast has a better chance of winning at trial and getting off scot-free (and) if people want to make Comcast pay, the way to do so is to sign up for this settlement and get a share of the $16 million." Technically, the court ruled on the FCC's authority, not necessarily the Comcast action itself.

"Third, some might believe that if enough people opt-out of the settlement, then there might be another future lawsuit that would punish Comcast more severely," Somers posits. "Is that possible? Sure. Is it likely? No. The fact of the matter is that right now, signing up for this settlement is the best way to punish Comcast for its behavior."

While it's in-no-way surprising that the lawyers (who will of course get the lion's share of this settlement money) want people to sign up -- they do make a good point that something is better than nothing. This battle is largely over, and a follow up case focusing on this specific issue is very unlikely. That said, even the maximum penalty of $16 million for 30 months' worth of throttling amounts to about 0.0007 (0.07%) of 30 months of Internet revenue -- which really isn't much of a penalty for Comcast. Your call, Comcast users.