Comcast starts capping downloads

[Kevhouse]

That's right, it's now comcast's turn to join the bandwagon. I honestly think this in unnecessary and is total BS.

http://www.comcast.net/terms/network/amendment/

My dad has Comcast and he uses a VPN to dial into his work. Would a VPN or Proxy affect these caps at all? We use tons of bandwidth...and it's not like we're downloading gigs and gigs of pirated material either, which Comcast thinks we're doing.

Also, I think this was a bit uncalled for :

If a customer who has been contacted by Comcast’s CSA team is contacted again for excessive use within six months of the first contact that customer’s service will be subject to termination for one year. We know from experience that most customers curb their usage after our first call. If a customer’s account is terminated, after the one year period expires the customer may resume service by subscribing to a service plan appropriate to his or her needs.

[Taintsaw]

In all reality, no matter what business your father does over his VPN its not going to be even remotely close to that bandwith limit.

250 GB/Month is more then reasonable for even an avid downloader.

Your still talking 8 GB a day. Which would require just about 24/7 downloading/uploading

And if you are transferring more then that with your VPn business account, then sign up for a business account service not a residential service.

I don't see how anyone except for extremist could abuse that limit.

[seinman]

Oh boo hoo. I have Cox, and my cap is 60 GB a month. I download WAY more than that though, so i'm pretty sure they don't actually enforce it unless there's a problem.

[NeverHeardOfEm]

I'm a little confused.

Are we talking illegal music/movie downloads?

Cause I have Comcast and......

[Kevhouse]

The whole reason they're doing this is cracking down on the illegal downloads. Or, rather, it makes them feel better about it, since it really doesn't solve much. Just gives them an excuse now to advertise and say that their speeds are way faster, when really they're the same they've always been. Pirates are not clogging up the internet....get over it.

I don't have that much of an issue with the 250 GB cap, but rather the way it's going into effect. Little warning, very strict terms. I don't like the way this company is headed.

[Dalren]

250 gigs seems fair to me.

[Colt_Steele]

It's 250 gigs now. Next year they can claim they are still losing money on bandwidth and tighten it to 150. Then 100, and so on, until they are filling your screen with pop ups and garbage just to access their service. I don't have a problem with the 250 cap, but the precedent it sets(along with their ever-increasing service fees)leaves me to wonder if broadband will still be worth it in a few years.

[Kevhouse]

More reason why FiOS is the future, my friends. If only Verizon could get this wired across the country... I think NY has it now, doesn't it? Still not in my area.

[Dalren]

It's 250 gigs now. Next year they can claim they are still losing money on bandwidth and tighten it to 150. Then 100, and so on, until they are filling your screen with pop ups and garbage just to access their service. I don't have a problem with the 250 cap, but the precedent it sets(along with their ever-increasing service fees)leaves me to wonder if broadband will still be worth it in a few years.
If you're an online gamer, yes it will be worth it.

Unless FiOS becomes available everywhere.

[sa_nick]

You guys would hate Australia. ALL ISP's cap you, you pay for internet by per month downloads.

I'm on 40GB a month which is one of the higher end deals. It costs me $70 a month. To get anywhere around 250GB per month your looking at about $180 per month ($150-ish USD?)

On average, most ppl are probably on 1GB/month. That's of course including all the old people who only ever check their e-mail and dont know what a torrent is.

Some of the big phone companies offer plans that are 200MB per month. My dad's friend went on one, his kids downloaded 9GB in their first month and their ISP tried to charge them $1300 for it.

EDIT: AND THIS IS WHY DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION WILL NEVER TAKE OFF OUTSIDE THE U.S.

[afterstasis]

You guys would hate Australia. ALL ISP's cap you, you pay for internet by per month downloads.

I'm on 40GB a month which is one of the higher end deals. It costs me $70 a month. To get anywhere around 250GB per month your looking at about $180 per month ($150-ish USD?)

On average, most ppl are probably on 1GB/month. That's of course including all the old people who only ever check their e-mail and dont know what a torrent is.

Some of the big phone companies offer plans that are 200MB per month. My dad's friend went on one, his kids downloaded 9GB in their first month and their ISP tried to charge them $1300 for it.

EDIT: AND THIS IS WHY DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION WILL NEVER TAKE OFF OUTSIDE THE U.S.

that's absolutely nuts!
maybe i shouldn't follow my dream of running away to scotland when i turn 30...

[Colt_Steele]

maybe i shouldn't follow my dream of running away to scotland when i turn 30...
Just watch out for invading Kurgans. They're mean mofos.

[afterstasis]

Just watch out for invading Kurgans. They're mean mofos.

fine... i'll go to atlanta.

[benson111]

You guys would hate Australia. ALL ISP's cap you, you pay for internet by per month downloads.

I'm on 40GB a month which is one of the higher end deals. It costs me $70 a month. To get anywhere around 250GB per month your looking at about $180 per month ($150-ish USD?)

On average, most ppl are probably on 1GB/month. That's of course including all the old people who only ever check their e-mail and dont know what a torrent is.

Some of the big phone companies offer plans that are 200MB per month. My dad's friend went on one, his kids downloaded 9GB in their first month and their ISP tried to charge them $1300 for it.

EDIT: AND THIS IS WHY DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION WILL NEVER TAKE OFF OUTSIDE THE U.S.


That is true DD is starting the movement, but laws outside the US are starting to filter in.

I have insight here in Louisville and we don't have a cap YET.
Are services are 10.0 and 20.0 respectively. And we are guaranteed a 250 for 10.0 and 500+ for 20. not bad but average.

[platynumx]

We used to have insightt until comcast took over.Service went downhill when insight left ...

[benson111]

We used to have insightt until comcast took over.Service went downhill when insight left ...

Yea insight is a great company, service wise.
I hope comecast dosent get there greedy little fingers in around here. :mad:

[seinman]

I think the 250 GB limit is fine for 99.9% of people, what pisses me off about this is that there's no way to increase that. If you go over it, they warn you once, then turn you off. Why don't they charge you more? If you're doing something that requires more than 250 GB a month, why not an extra $30 or whatever to go up to a 500 GB cap? Then they could put the money towards upgrading their network to handle all that traffic... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah right, why would they upgrade their network when they can just kick people off instead? Dick****s.

[naeandpete]

This is complete BS. I was thinking about getting Comcast and this particular issue was one of the things I was worried about. I don't download a ton of content but I am on the internet a lot for school as well as gaming and don't know how much bandwidth I use for that. I could very well use over 250GB/month and not even know it.

Thanks for the link though. It was very timely and helpful.

[Kevhouse]

On top of that, they still try and throttle my downloads...

The part that really ticks me off is when I'm downloading a 5GB linux distro via torrent. I have uTorrent, AIM, and Firefox open. All of a sudden, I'm throttled, and my connection goes out on AIM and Firefox. Essentially, comcast is full of idiots, and they blocked the wrong port....my torrenting was still able to go, but I couldn't get on AIM or browse the internet.

[m00p]

Yet another reason I hate comcast.

It's like their doing it on purpose.

[Taintsaw]

I would address to of those posts..

1st


This is complete BS. I was thinking about getting Comcast and this particular issue was one of the things I was worried about. I don't download a ton of content but I am on the internet a lot for school as well as gaming and don't know how much bandwidth I use for that. I could very well use over 250GB/month and not even know it.

Thanks for the link though. It was very timely and helpful.

You are insane to think you even remotely get close to 250GB doing "School & Gaming" if you are doing research and playing games it would take a year to reach 250 GB/xfer

Second!!



On top of that, they still try and throttle my downloads...

The part that really ticks me off is when I'm downloading a 5GB linux distro via torrent. I have uTorrent, AIM, and Firefox open. All of a sudden, I'm throttled, and my connection goes out on AIM and Firefox. Essentially, comcast is full of idiots, and they blocked the wrong port....my torrenting was still able to go, but I couldn't get on AIM or browse the internet.

That is not how the throttling works, that has ALOT to do with the max connections especially if you use anything like Vuze/Auzerus or some of the other programs.

They don't turn off your "Surfing" in order to allow you to download. I have the SAME exact issue with Vuze personally. I can download fast but can't surf then once I turn it on.

[flop404]

I'm astonished... For once, there's something that better in EU, and we can soften our jealousy for not getting RB2 with something...

Here in France, the typical offer for a 20 Mbps triple-play offer (with no bandwith limit) is 30 euros, approximatively 50$

(I really feel sorry for AUZ though)

[macdaddy3598]

It's not just Comcast guys... it's all IPs who are moving to this.

Comcast's appeal was a movement to counter the FCC's Net Neutrality principles. According to the FCC law (from the 90s), every consumer should have the same rights for upload and download. However, this regulation actually hurts consumers.

The folks that pay $25/month for internet should have less accessibility than those who pay premium business-level rates of upwards to $2000/mo... This is the point that Comcast, among other providers, is driving home.

The bigger picture is that the internet, as a whole, is becoming more and more situated... Whether you're with Comcast, Verizon FiOS, Cox, etc, you're going to start seeing these provisions.

As magical as the internet may seem, more bandwidth requires more hardware. Hardware costs money. Paying people to install and maintain the hardware costs money. If you're not paying a premium but using premium speeds, you're essentially driving in the carpool lane alone. IPs cannot continue to afford this as the young internet grows.

Suffice to say, there's nothing to complain about because it will become the norm for all companies as the rulings continue to be overturned. A cap of 250GB a month is more than generous. It's the equivalent of downloading 12,800 Rock Band songs a month... or around 300 game demos.

[timmay9]

There are parts of Virginia that have FiOs installed now.

[Wolfbeckett]

Sigh just another reason why America, the "greatest country in the world", is lagging behind basically all of Europe and a significant portion of Asia when it comes to broadband capabilities.