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Comcast to limit customers' broadband usage

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SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: Hockeyboy on August 31, 2008, 02:27:27 am ---A quick search shows a page where Comcast lays out the whys and whats about their upcoming "throttling" to usage. A typical home user would never come close to that limit, but I agree with several others on principle. How long before they say that 200Gb is now the new limit because only .8% of all users exceed that limit? Then it's 150, then 100, then they charge you fees every time you go over the new limits. It's a way for them to incur extra money in what could be considered fair practices by law but it's really a way for them to monitor your usage and marks the end of "unlimited internet access" for all. Don't think for a minute that the other big ISP players won't be joining Comcast in the near future, especially if they see that there's not a big noise made by Comcast users.

--- End quote ---

I'm thinking it's more like the hard drive conundrum. I remember when 250GB hard drives were considered HUGE and it was difficult to fathom the amount of data it would take to fill up such space. Nowadays, 250GB is considered below average and I can't really conceive of building a modern PC with such a small drive.

Visualize a 250GB limit for the next ten years. When users regularly bump their heads against the 250GB upper limit Comcast will find it in their hearts to increase the upper limit for users.... for a small fee.  >:D I think Malenko's speculation is spot on. Comcast might not charge "overage" fees now, but you can bet they'll be doing it once users become used to a 250GB limit, then start complaining it's not enough.

Malenko:
man I hope I dont get fired for posting this:


Team ---

As you may have already discovered, it has been widely publicized on the news and in the media that Comcast is “to make monthly Internet use cap official.”

Please be sure that you are reading the following update to the amended acceptable use policy at [internal link removed].  We have a very small percentage (sub 1%) of our users who use an inordinate amount of bandwidth and impact the rest of the customer base by affecting their speeds.


Announcement of Amended Acceptable Use Policy

Comcast has announced it will be amending its Acceptable Use Policy in order to better define what would constitute as excessive use of its high-speed Internet service by providing a monthly data usage threshold.

Please click here  to access national talking points regarding this issue.

the internal link points to this document:
Summary of Topic:
 Comcast has announced it will be amending its Acceptable Use Policy in order to better define what would constitute as excessive use of its high-speed Internet service by providing a monthly data usage threshold.
 
Specifics:
 Beginning October 1, Comcast will implement a 250 Gigabytes (GB) monthly data usage threshold per account for its high-speed Internet service.

The threshold will be in place to help identify excessive use of our high-speed Internet service.

The vast majority of Comcast customers will not be impacted by this monthly data usage threshold. Less than 1% of our customers are excessive users.

This is the same system we have in place today. The only difference is that we will now provide a limit by which a customer may be contacted. As part of our pre-existing policy, we will continue to contact the heaviest users of our high-speed Internet service and ask them to moderate or adjust their usage. If a customer uses more than 250 GB in a given month and is one of the top users of our service, he or she may receive a call from Comcast to notify them of excessive use. At that time, we’ll tell them exactly how much data per month they had used.

Excessive use FAQs are posted at: http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use

 
Customer Q&A:
 Use Verbatim

 
 

 

If customer asks... Then respond...
Why is Comcast creating a data usage threshold?
 We’ve been evaluating a monthly data usage threshold for quite some time and we’ve heard from customers that they would like us to provide a specific number for excessive use.
 
What is an excessive use?
 Excessive users consume substantially more data than typical residential users—only less than 1% of customers use excessive amount of data today.

It’s important to keep in mind that that the vast majority of customers don’t fall into the excessive use category. To learn more about excessive use, you can go to our FAQs page at http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use

 
 
Do I have an unlimited amount of data usage?
 No. We maintain an Acceptable Use Policy as part of our high-speed Internet service. The policy describes what constitutes as unacceptable conduct and uses of the service, including requirements regarding data usage. We’ve had our Acceptable Use policy in place for years and the policy itself remains the same. The only thing that is changing is now we’re going to provide a specific number (250 GB) for what would qualify as excessive use.

A preview of the amended Acceptable Use Policy can be found by going to our Network Management Web page at www.comcast.net/networkmanagement

This amended policy will officially go into effect on October 1 st.

 
 
How do I know how much data I am using?
 There are a number of online tools you can use to measure your data consumption. You can find such tools by simply doing a Web search – for example, you can search “bandwidth meter” to locate some options.

If you use multiple computers in your home, you should make sure to measure and combine their monthly data usage to get an accurate read of total data consumption for your entire account.

 
 
When is Comcast’s new 250 GB threshold going to take effect?

 
 The 250 GB monthly threshold will begin October 1.
 
Will the 250 GB threshold have an effect on my Internet speed?
 No, data usage and speed are two separate things.

Speed is how fast you can go to do things like uploading and downloading files such as music, photos and videos. Data usage has more to do with the size of those files and the amount of activity done online. The larger the files and the more activity that’s done, the more data that’s consumed.

You will continue to get the same amount of speed you’ve been getting.
 
 
How will I know if I use more than 250 GB of data in a month?
 Keep in mind that only a very small number of customers actually reach 250 GB in a month today. As part of our pre-existing policy, we will continue to contact the top users of our high-speed Internet service and ask them to curb their usage.

There are also a number of online tools you can use to measure your data consumption. You can find such tools by simply doing a Web search – for example, you can search “bandwidth meter” to locate some options.

If you use multiple computers in your home, you should make sure to measure and combine their monthly data usage to get an accurate read of total data consumption for your entire account.

 
 
Is 250 GB a lot of data usage?
 Yes, 250 GB is a large amount of data. A typical residential high-speed Internet user doesn’t even come close to using that amount of data. To put it in perspective, currently, the median data usage by our high-speed customers is approximately 2 - 3 GB each month. 250 GB falls more into the excessive use category—going well above and beyond typical Internet usage.

 

To reach 250 GB in a month, for example, a customer would have to do any of the following:

Send 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)
Download 62,500 songs (at 4MB/song)
Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)
 
 
Can I buy more bandwidth if I go over 250 GB?

 
 No.
 
How is Comcast notifying customers about the 250 GB data threshold?

 
 We are notifying customers in a number of ways:

A preview of the amended AUP is posted on our Network Management Web page.
We have also posted:
A statement and link to FAQs on our Network Management Web page.
Banner alerts on our .net home page and on our Security Channel Web page notifying customers about the amended AUP.
We will also notify customers with a bill stuffer about the amended AUP and that it will officially go into effect on October 1 st.
 
 
Where can I find Comcast’s current Acceptable Use Policy?  The current Acceptable Use Policy can be found at: http://www6.comcast.net/terms/use/.

A preview of the amended AUP that will go into effect on October 1 st can be found on our Network Management Web page www.comcast.net/networkmanagement

You can also read more about our excessive use policy and some FAQs by visiting our Network Management Web page.
 

ark_ader:

--- Quote from: SavannahLion on September 01, 2008, 01:17:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: Hockeyboy on August 31, 2008, 02:27:27 am ---A quick search shows a page where Comcast lays out the whys and whats about their upcoming "throttling" to usage. A typical home user would never come close to that limit, but I agree with several others on principle. How long before they say that 200Gb is now the new limit because only .8% of all users exceed that limit? Then it's 150, then 100, then they charge you fees every time you go over the new limits. It's a way for them to incur extra money in what could be considered fair practices by law but it's really a way for them to monitor your usage and marks the end of "unlimited internet access" for all. Don't think for a minute that the other big ISP players won't be joining Comcast in the near future, especially if they see that there's not a big noise made by Comcast users.

--- End quote ---

I'm thinking it's more like the hard drive conundrum. I remember when 250GB hard drives were considered HUGE and it was difficult to fathom the amount of data it would take to fill up such space. Nowadays, 250GB is considered below average and I can't really conceive of building a modern PC with such a small drive.

Visualize a 250GB limit for the next ten years. When users regularly bump their heads against the 250GB upper limit Comcast will find it in their hearts to increase the upper limit for users.... for a small fee.  >:D I think Malenko's speculation is spot on. Comcast might not charge "overage" fees now, but you can bet they'll be doing it once users become used to a 250GB limit, then start complaining it's not enough.

--- End quote ---

Thats is the same thing as saying the average Joe will download and watch 2 DVDs a night.   ???

SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: ark_ader on September 01, 2008, 03:54:27 pm ---
--- Quote from: SavannahLion on September 01, 2008, 01:17:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: Hockeyboy on August 31, 2008, 02:27:27 am ---A quick search shows a page where Comcast lays out the whys and whats about their upcoming "throttling" to usage. A typical home user would never come close to that limit, but I agree with several others on principle. How long before they say that 200Gb is now the new limit because only .8% of all users exceed that limit? Then it's 150, then 100, then they charge you fees every time you go over the new limits. It's a way for them to incur extra money in what could be considered fair practices by law but it's really a way for them to monitor your usage and marks the end of "unlimited internet access" for all. Don't think for a minute that the other big ISP players won't be joining Comcast in the near future, especially if they see that there's not a big noise made by Comcast users.

--- End quote ---

I'm thinking it's more like the hard drive conundrum. I remember when 250GB hard drives were considered HUGE and it was difficult to fathom the amount of data it would take to fill up such space. Nowadays, 250GB is considered below average and I can't really conceive of building a modern PC with such a small drive.

Visualize a 250GB limit for the next ten years. When users regularly bump their heads against the 250GB upper limit Comcast will find it in their hearts to increase the upper limit for users.... for a small fee.  >:D I think Malenko's speculation is spot on. Comcast might not charge "overage" fees now, but you can bet they'll be doing it once users become used to a 250GB limit, then start complaining it's not enough.

--- End quote ---

Thats is the same thing as saying the average Joe will download and watch 2 DVDs a night.   ???

--- End quote ---

You're applying a current standard to what could potentially be a future problem. Yes, today that would be around 2 DVD's a night. But what about tomorrow? Is it still going to be two DVD's a night?

To put it perspective, I have a computer with 64K of RAM. Everything I ran on this computer had to be within this 64K of RAM. Today, a proper PC with only 64K of RAM would be laughable. I can't even think of a new PC sold today with only 64K of RAM.

The same is holding true for networking. 300 and 1200 baud modems were once considered more than adequate. Now those same modems are considered mind numbingly slow. Pegging a limit of 250GB now will seem adequate for more than 99% of Comcast users (or so Comcast says), but I can guarantee you that 250GB won't be enough in short order.

Notice that Comcast (as per Malenko) says this is equal to, "Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)." Comcast is pretty specific about "standard definition". Did a quick check and a HD movie weighs in at around 22GB (and Bluray holds up to 50GB so there's room there). 22GB per movie works out to be around 11 movies a month.

ChadTower:

--- Quote from: SavannahLion on September 01, 2008, 08:00:21 pm ---You're applying a current standard to what could potentially be a future problem. Yes, today that would be around 2 DVD's a night. But what about tomorrow? Is it still going to be two DVD's a night?

--- End quote ---


It's only a soft limit, though.  It's not like they can't just say "hey, all of a sudden we have 5% of users at 250G, and usage patterns suggest it is legit usage, time to update that to 400G".  I'm fine with a pretty high ceiling like this if if ensures better service for me.

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