Users in our Cable One forum point out that the cable operator is tinkering with some of their speeds, adding a 12 Mbps downstream, 1.5 Mbps upstream plan to their lineup. In a sign they're falling a bit behind the times, CableOne's previously fastest tier was 10 Mbps downstream 1 Mbps upstream. The company also offers 1.5, 3 5, 8 and 10 Mbps tiers. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that CableOne is tinkering with their already odd caps.

The carrier has always employed a unique capping system that restricts how much bandwidth users can use at certain times of the day. CableOne's new speed and cap list is anything but clear, listing both "extended speeds" and "standard speeds" (usually half of extended speeds), before noting that users are capped during different times of the day.

According to the odd spreadsheet, overall usage is measured from noon to midnight. However, the sheet also defines a "period of standard speed" that operates from 4 PM to midnight. We've got calls in to CableOne, but perhaps users can explain to us what the hell the company's talking about, because in a decade of looking at broadband pricing, we've never seen a more convoluted pricing and cap explanation.

Users are told that should they exceed these daily caps (which for some tiers are as low as 1,400 MB) for more than half the days in their billing cycle, they face possible account termination. Judging from our forum posts, most users have been able to violate this rule without account termination. We assume, based on the cryptic and obnoxious hieroglyph Cable One's trying to pass off as an informative consumer brochure, exceeding your allowance means you're throttled back to half of your advertised speed.

But again, you tell us, as our code and cipher decryption unit is on the fritz.

CableOne is owned by the Washington Post, who last week issued a lengthy editorial against the FCC's attempt to impose network neutrality guidelines. Perhaps the Post can write a piece on getting the cable company they own to make their network limitations easier to understand. Or perhaps an editorial asking why CableOne can't be bothered to upgrade the network so such confusing restrictions aren't necessary.