As we mentioned last December, Comcast has settled a class action over the whole throttling kerfuffle you might recall began right here in the forums at Broadband Reports back in 2007. Our users discovered that Comcast was throttling all upstream subscriber P2P traffic by forging user TCP reset packets, though Comcast repeatedly denied the practice to consumers, regulators and the press. Ultimately the news resulted in an FCC investigation and a meaningless FCC sanction, though Comcast eventually wound up shifting to a throttling solution that only targets high consumption users on heavily congested nodes.

The suit itself was settled for $16 million, and users who signed up for their settlement money are now being sent information on their share of the settlement in a notice included in user bills (page 1, page 2). According to the notice, the user share of the settlement money is "not to exceed $16." We're guessing the class action attorneys involved in the case did a little better for themselves.

Cliche lawyer whining aside (and there will be plenty of that), for most users this was never about the money, it was about carriers being transparent with users about what type of connection they're buying. While Comcast has settled the case without admitting any fault, they're still fighting with the FCC in court, arguing that the agency lacks the authority to dictate how Comcast manages its network.

The outcome of that case drastically impacts the authority the FCC has over broadband ISPs. Consumer-focused policy folks like Art Brodsky and Harold Feld this week have been highlighting the carriers' one/two punch effort to strip the FCC of all authority moving forward. Should the FCC find itself on the losing end of that scenario, carriers in the future could simply ignore your complaints over heavy-handed throttling practices. So enjoy that sixteen bucks.