Comcast sets 250 GB a month cap

[Dremora]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/technology/30comcast.html?em

Comcast has a 250 gig cap beginning October 1, first time "offenders" get a warning, if it happens again, your account is terminated.

Yay, more incentive to use Adblock plus! :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[samjh]

250G?! That sounds huge compared to my 35G quota (10G peak-time and 15G off-peak).

[Dremora]

250G?! That sounds huge compared to my 35G quota (10G peak-time and 15G off-peak).

Thats cause you're in Australia, everything has to be painstakingly taken out of the tubes and beamed to you.

Asgard technology isn't cheap.

[StOoZ]

we dont have any caps here (still...) , but speeds are quite slow compared to what you guys have.
(1.5Mbit up / 128Kbps down.

[quanumphaze]

You Americans have been spoiled with near unlimited data allowance. In Australia it's not uncommon to find data plans that only include 200MB (that's right MEGAbytes) per month, at about 20$/month. My current plan gives me 7GB peak (PM hours) and 14GB off-peak (AM hours) at ~3-4Mb/s for about 50$/month. I remember having only 400MB on dialup, up hill both ways.

This entire situation is Telstra's fault who own 90% of the last mile copper and also have an ISP and phone services (which are for some reason more expensive than others who have to rent/license the use of the last mile copper).

Being kicked off the network is a little extreme. In Australia the speed is reduced to about 64Kb/s when the limit is reached until the next billing month (except Telstra who charge 5$ per gig once over the limit). There is no reason Comcast doesn't do it there.

Though I would love to have the 50Mb/s connection speeds they have in South Korea and Japan. </rant>

[LaRoza]

You Americans have been spoiled with near unlimited data allowance. In Australia it's not uncommon to find data plans that only include 200MB (that's right MEGAbytes) per month, at about 20$/month. My current plan gives me 7GB peak (PM hours) and 14GB off-peak (AM hours) at ~3-4Mb/s for about 50$/month. I remember having only 400MB on dialup, up hill both ways.


It is not the American's fault for having modern ISP networks and (usually) competitive ISP's.

[Canis familiaris]

It is not the American's fault for having modern ISP networks and (usually) competitive ISP's.

I wish ISPs in India also had this "fault"

[LaRoza]

I wish ISPs in India also had this "fault"

I heard about some of your rates there...

I feel sorry for you.

Someone (in India) asked me about some plans and I looked over the available plans and I couldn't believe my eyes. So little bandwidth...

Of course, the prices were very cheap (if I were using American dollars), but only if you were getting American wages.

[Canis familiaris]

Someone (in India) asked me about some plans and I looked over the available plans and I couldn't believe my eyes. So little bandwidth...

And when you will learn the statements by the ISPs regarding then you would not believe your ears.
I have 4GB bandwidth @ 2Mbps and guess what I am considered one of the "lucky few". :rolleyes: (which is not exactly wrong since most people have dial ups and most "broadband" connections are generally 400-500MB @ 256Kbps.)

[ugm6hr]

"Unlimited" broadband in the UK has been a thing of the past for over a year now for personal users.

Some companies have unspecified "fair use" policies, with warnings / permanent disconnection if breached. Some have gone with fixed (e.g. 40GB caps). Others have unlimited off-peak (i.e. 2-6am), but restricted (e.g. 10GB) at other times.

Unfortunately, p2p has made this necessary to ensure affordable connections (broadband is cheaper than dialup here).

[intense.ego]

"Unlimited" broadband in the UK has been a thing of the past for over a year now for personal users.

Some companies have unspecified "fair use" policies, with warnings / permanent disconnection if breached. Some have gone with fixed (e.g. 40GB caps). Others have unlimited off-peak (i.e. 2-6am), but restricted (e.g. 10GB) at other times.

Unfortunately, p2p has made this necessary to ensure affordable connections (broadband is cheaper than dialup here).

If people don't want to be capped, they should research different ISPs. That's what I did. I have be* broadband: 24mbps down, 1.3 mbps up, no throttling, no limit (downloaded upwards of 500gb in a month and no complaints). All for 18 quid a month. Granted, its not available everywhere, but there are also other ISPs that offer similar completely unlimited connections.

[mips]

I would be so happy with 250GB, I currently get 3GB which I use every month and then top up with another 3GB.

[quanumphaze]

I guess I/we all shouldn't complain too loudly since, as many have mentioned already, so many others have it way worse than we do with capped 256Kb/s connections or dial-up

[Polygon]

this only effects people who download massive amounts of torrents and seed them. Still, with 250gb a month, that is A LOT!. you can still download your movies and seed them, its just you might have to slow it down some or stop it to make sure you dont hit the limit

but seriously, no isp in the world can offer unlimited data transfer, This is just comcast's response to being forced to not throttle bittorrent. You can torrent, but if you go over this specified limit your in trouble.

[billgoldberg]

250gb would be great for me, only have 60gb now.

[billgoldberg]

this only effects people who download massive amounts of torrents and seed them. Still, with 250gb a month, that is A LOT!. you can still download your movies and seed them, its just you might have to slow it down some or stop it to make sure you dont hit the limit

but seriously, no isp in the world can offer unlimited data transfer, This is just comcast's response to being forced to not throttle bittorrent. You can torrent, but if you go over this specified limit your in trouble.

Other ISP seem to be having no problem offering unlimited data transfers.

From what I have read on a technology website, comcast has had a near monopoly, had become lazy and as a result their network is aged to much for a modern ISP.

[stimpack]

I always got the impression from tech podcasts and the like, that the US got a bad deal in all areas of telecoms. But 250gb cap... makes my 30gb cap look stoopid :o

[nick09]

They said 4 hours of HD Television(if watched via the internet) would use up 250GB of bandwidth. Now we just need 20MB/s or higher.

[Polygon]

Other ISP seem to be having no problem offering unlimited data transfers.

From what I have read on a technology website, comcast has had a near monopoly, had become lazy and as a result their network is aged to much for a modern ISP.

the thing is, even though they 'claim' to have unlimited transfers, they do not have the capacity to handle 'unlimited' transfers. Im sure if you read through their TOS, it will say something in there about terminating your connection/account if you go over a bandwidth limit that seems excessive at the discrection of the ISP. So while there is no set number like comcast has, no isp in the world has unlimited transfers.

and comcast's near monopoly status is most likely the reason they have to do this, they have to cater to so many more people, including hardcore torrenters

[billgoldberg]

It also is beyond me why in the hell they would threaten their own customers?

If you use too much we will "dump" you.

What the hell?

Every other ISP with caps just puts their users on "smallband".

I wouldn't take that crap.

[Newuser1111]

the thing is, even though they 'claim' to have unlimited transfers, they do not have the capacity to handle 'unlimited' transfers. Im sure if you read through their TOS, it will say something in there about terminating your connection/account if you go over a bandwidth limit that seems excessive at the discrection of the ISP. So while there is no set number like comcast has, no isp in the world has unlimited transfers.

and comcast's near monopoly status is most likely the reason they have to do this, they have to cater to so many more people, including hardcore torrentersWhat's the limit on my internet?
http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/

[JillSwift]

I asked Comcast, via e-mail to their support center, why they chose to cap transfers instead of not overselling their bandwidth by as much as they are.

No answer back yet, and it's been a week.

Seems silly to me. They knew about P2P's effects when they bumped up bandwidth from 3Mbps to 5Mbps for everyone in my service area (and quite a few others), then went from there to 7Mbps even as the news reported they were considering throttling some of their customers. And again, as the FCC was chewing them out for throttling, they bumped my upstream form 512Kbps to 1.5Mbps. Seriously, Comcast dudes, what are you up to?

I don't do much P2P, but I've taken to throttling it here in order to guarantee they never turn the hairy eyeball to me. It sounds a lot like marketing wants to be able to offer the largest bandwidth for the price, but the techies making it all work need to keep it all under control in the busier data centers. This will likely result in some draconian measures in the future, and won't particularly make Comcast look good in the public eye when they start cutting off folks from the services they paid for.

[wolfen69]

but seriously, no isp in the world can offer unlimited data transfer

what do you mean? mine is unlimited. for $29 a month.

[Canis familiaris]

what do you mean? mine is unlimited. for $29 a month.

Which speed?

[Kingsley]

I wouldn't be surprised if Comcast later decides to decrease the cap to 100 GB or less.

Anybody know of a tool on Linux that easily allows me to keep track of my total weekly/monthly download size?

[Canis familiaris]

I wouldn't be surprised if Comcast later decides to decrease the cap to 100 GB or less.

Anybody know of a tool on Linux that easily allows me to keep track of my total weekly/monthly download size?
Screenlets do it well. I have used it.

I also have heard great testimonials about Conky, not tried it though.

[wolfen69]

Which speed?

in layman's terms i get 265kb down and 53 up.

[joshdudeha]

what do you mean? mine is unlimited. for $29 a month.

But, if you look at your ISP's TOS, it will almost certainly include a "Subject to our fair use policy".

Luckily, our broadband has no limit on it, just the fair use policy.
And the speed isn't too bad, 4Mb/s download.
But, I couldn't live on a cap.
Ugh. :|

[damis648]

what do you mean? mine is unlimited. for $29 a month.

Read the agreement you signed. I have come to believe all companies include some statement in there about a quota. Here is the one from at&t mobile:

The parties agree that AT&T has the right to impose additional charges if you use more than 5 gigabytes in a month. (I use comcast BTW, and see this as no real issue. NO WAY am I going to use 250GB a month!)

[TBOL3]

I don't mind the cap too much. Sure, I think it's bad to put a cap on unlimited, but I don't use anywhere near this much.

What bothers me is that they probably won't raise that cap. And if they don't, that 250 gigs will be obsolete, very fast.

[phaed]

Using the existing coaxial cable infrastructure to pipe internet data to home users has been a useful hack, but we are bumping up against the limits of that technology. We need real, digital data connections -- Gb optical lines -- connected directly to home customers. We should be using wall-mounted ethernet ports rather than cable modems.

That's the "last mile" problem and it may require people investing thousands of dollars to buy those last miles themselves and retrofit their homes to overcome it. A limited number of customers (about 200) in Canada (I forgot where) are experimenting with this model.

As for a 250 GB cap, that's almost 10 GB per day. If you can't live with that (right now), you need to re-evaluate your Internet use.

[LaRoza]

And when you will learn the statements by the ISPs regarding then you would not believe your ears.
I have 4GB bandwidth @ 2Mbps and guess what I am considered one of the "lucky few". :rolleyes: (which is not exactly wrong since most people have dial ups and most "broadband" connections are generally 400-500MB @ 256Kbps.)
Hmm. If I go to India, I may just string a ethernet cable behind me so I can use my service here...


If people don't want to be capped, they should research different ISPs.
Many people don't have a choice.

[Swarms]

I just read up on my company's policy, I have unlimited datarate with a 10/10 mbit line. (20 both ways if I want). And if they are going to change the prices they have to warn me a month in advance, and I have to right to cancel the connection.

Paying 45 USD a month btw.

[ekow]

I have SBC DSL, it's slower than Cox, which is what most people have in my area. However, Cox apparentyl monitors bandwidth very strictly, and i've even heard of them threatening to terminate accounts, similar to what the OP mentioned. Does anyone else use SBC DSL, and know their policies? Maybe i'll go read into it, but i've never had problems with them before.

[Polygon]

I just read up on my company's policy, I have unlimited datarate with a 10/10 mbit line. (20 both ways if I want). And if they are going to change the prices they have to warn me a month in advance, and I have to right to cancel the connection.

Paying 45 USD a month btw.

im sure thats within reason though. if you start downloading in excess of like 1000+ gb a month, then im sure they will start emailing you telling you to tone it down.

[Swarms]

im sure thats within reason though. if you start downloading in excess of like 1000+ gb a month, then im sure they will start emailing you telling you to tone it down.

No, if there are any regulations of some kind, they have to give information about it and make me accept these new conditions.

Consumerrights is something we would die for here in Denmark. :P

[Canis familiaris]

Hmm. If I go to India, I may just string a ethernet cable behind me so I can use my service here...

Can I also have that cable?
If possible bring a cable from Finland/Sweden/Norway/Denmark :D

[swoll1980]

250 GB is plenty, unless your just some kind of super pirate or somthing.

[doorknob60]

Sounds fair except that you could get your service terminated??? Why? My ISP gives 100 GB/month and the most I've used is 13 so nothing to worry about, but they charge $1.50 per GB above the limit which is fair. I don't see why Comcast couldn't do that...but 250 GB/month is plenty, acording to my ISP, 99% of people use less than 100 GB/month, and 250 is even more than that.

[jimi_hendrix]

this makes me mad...comcast just bought my local cabal company out

[zmjjmz]

250 GB is plenty, unless your just some kind of super pirate or somthing.

Or a super uber gamer.

[jimi_hendrix]

It also is beyond me why in the hell they would threaten their own customers?

If you use too much we will "dump" you.

What the hell?

Every other ISP with caps just puts their users on "smallband".

I wouldn't take that crap.

too bad for me...im monopolized

[jimi_hendrix]

Hmm. If I go to India, I may just string a ethernet cable behind me so I can use my service here...


i realize your joking but my inner nerd wants to comment that if you had a cable that wrong wouldn't the speed degrade until it is terrible?

[LaRoza]

i realize your joking but my inner nerd wants to comment that if you had a cable that wrong wouldn't the speed degrade until it is terrible?

Not unless the speed of light changes.

(Technically, yes, it would need repeaters because of the resistance of the wire)

[swoll1980]

i realize your joking but my inner nerd wants to comment that if you had a cable that wrong wouldn't the speed degrade until it is terrible?

She(laroza)would be better off utilizing satellite technology.

[LaRoza]

She(laroza)would have to utilize satellite technology as well.

No, ethernet wires are flexible.

[mips]

Not unless the speed of light changes.

(Technically, yes, it would need repeaters because of the resistance of the wire)

Trust me, even with repeaters your chances are slim. No one in his right mind would consider a copper cable over that distance.