Comcast, the largest provider of cable-based broadband service in the U.S., will limit residential customers to 250GB of bandwidth a month beginning Oct. 1, the company announced late Thursday. Comcast will contact customers who go above the 250GB limit and ask them to curtail their use, Comcast said. If a customer goes over the monthly limit again during the following six months, Comcast will suspend service for a year.Currently, Comcast contacts high-bandwidth customers and will suspend their accounts if they don't curb their use, but it has not set a firm bandwidth limit until now. Most customers contacted about their bandwidth usage agree to limit their activity, according to Charlie Douglas, Comcast's director of communications.
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Surely they can't make you pay for the service during this time? Woudn't most people just move elsewhere?
Surely they can't make you pay for the service during this time? Woudn't most people just move elsewhere?
Basically they're saying they'll shut off your Internet. You can still get Digital Cable, regular cable or phone service if you have those, but they won't provide you Internet. They would rather not have you as a customer than deal with excessive bandwidth usage. Sadly, if my ISP kicked me for a year, I don't think I'd come running back when my sentence was up. 250GB is a good bit and if your using that much, your downloading WAY to much....switch to a business account and your problem is solved.
Surely they can't make you pay for the service during this time? Woudn't most people just move elsewhere?
Basically they're saying they'll shut off your Internet. You can still get Digital Cable, regular cable or phone service if you have those, but they won't provide you Internet. They would rather not have you as a customer than deal with excessive bandwidth usage. Sadly, if my ISP kicked me for a year, I don't think I'd come running back when my sentence was up. 250GB is a good bit and if your using that much, your downloading WAY to much....switch to a business account and your problem is solved.
Why would I want to have to pay more for a business account?
Thanks a lot Comcast for f****** over your customers!
I hope Comcast at least gives you a bandwidth meter so you know when you're reaching the limit... >.<
Edit: And if Charter follows suit, I may be looking for a new ISP when my contract is up, unless they have a higher limit like Comcast. Then I'll think about staying (maybe).
Next they'll start bringing the limit down... Yay.
I hate what's happening with technology, and this is only the beginning.
Next they'll start bringing the limit down... Yay.
I hate what's happening with technology, and this is only the beginning.
Yeah you are right!
Right now, that's say $50 per month for 250 gb, or $1 per every 5 gb. They will move you to use more and more data download applications (since that's the future) and lower the caps year after year.
Stop it NOW or everyone will follow and we'll be paying per megabyte, one way or another, in years to come.
This is DIRECTLY intended to counter things like WiMax, sharing your connection with friends, family, town, etc.
Internet access was becoming free, fast, and ubiquitous, and they don't want that to happen. No way, no how.
How exactly does the industry want to advance web-based usage of applications, Operating Systems and various other services that people are touting to transform from offline to online based solutions?
Nothing is going to happen if companies like Comcast hold progress back in the name of not improving their infrastructure. Suspend service for a year? How about we don't use your service at all? Anti-consumer at best.
Today it's $1 per 5 gb. Tomorrow it'll be $5 per 1 gb.
Do they math. They CERTAINLY are.
which means you would need a constant speed of 808kbps over a 30 day month, for every second (2592000 secs)
which in theory is a 8mb connection
so it is possible.... but unlikely with server congestion
My guess is that next year it will be half that. Comcast should copy cell phone providers in this regard. Charge the customer a ridiculous amount per KB over their monthly limit.
808Kbits/Sec doesn't equal a 8MBytes/Sec connection.
It is in theory a 808Kbit connection. I have a 6,000Kbit connection (Silver Tier with ComCast). So in theory it would be VERY easy to hit this limit if you had xfers using full bandwidth 24/7.
If I streamed full speed 24/7 then I would use 1.9TB. Way past the 250GB limit. But running a full 6Mb 24/7 is a good trick.
I just installed a plugin on my router to keep a monthly total of my usage. I am curious what I use. I would guess only 20GB if that.
whoever makes these decisions at comcast is a complete idiot.
That was after they stopped offering the unlimited usage package I was on (the new maximum being 60GB/month). Then, burried deep on their site is a page that says, hey, for an extra $25/month, on top of what you're already paying for your 60GB, you can get unlimited usage! Yay!
Only, their service rep admitted that their artificial/undocumented limit also applied to that package. Despite that page's "download all day long!" claim.
Deceptive enough for ya?
That was after they stopped offering the unlimited usage package I was on (the new maximum being 60GB/month). Then, burried deep on their site is a page that says, hey, for an extra $25/month, on top of what you're already paying for your 60GB, you can get unlimited usage! Yay!
Only, their service rep admitted that their artificial/undocumented limit also applied to that package. Despite that page's "download all day long!" claim.
Deceptive enough for ya?
That's just bull****!
Anyway, if you are not happy with the limit, they broke the contract they currently had so you are free to cancel 30 days after the notice without penalties.
250GB for a normal consumer is more than enough, I'm stuck with 20GB/month because there's no other high speed companies in my area, and that's for 40$ per month.
Where is that? That's like in Africa or something, right?
Where is that? That's like in Africa or something, right?
Try Belgium
Where is that? That's like in Africa or something, right?
Um try texas..... Time Warner just started a 5GB Cap down there for "new" customers
The companies that designed these games have gone to great lengths to make them as bandwidth-efficient as possible. If something like World of Warcraft, with around 10 million accounts, used any more than trace amounts of bandwidth, then Blizzard would need to operate its own ISP.
I think you probably could justify a 250gig cap a few years ago, but not today with streaming video (Netfli
For more information:
http://www.petitiononline.com/no2cmcst/petition.html
http://stopthecap.com/
I think you probably could justify a 250gig cap a few years ago, but not today with streaming video (Netfli
For more information:
http://www.petitiononline.com/no2cmcst/petition.html
http://stopthecap.com/
Exactly! These guys want to be your total entertainment provider, but they also want to limit you? I got news for you, If I listen to streaming music and watch streaming movies/television shows (especially HD stuff) I'm sure I could use 250, considering I also do a LOT of work from home, including constant monitoring of and remote control of a number of corporate server and SAN systems.
I agree with the ones who say "vote with your wallet," just make damn sure they ALL know why you are leaving them when you do. I mean phone calls, emails and hand-written notes on your paid bills. These ivory tower decision-makers don't have a clue why customer retention is failing unless you tell them ... loudly and clearly. I also inform them that I will be sure to educate ALL my friends and associates about it ... and I have a long memory.
How much bandwidth do you think people will need in the near future with everything but electricity being piped into homes and offices? Throw a couple of PCs, a connected gaming console, VOIP, set-top movie delivery box and feed for a couple of full HD TVs and you are talking some serious data transfer. That is just for a two-person household!
If you want to rape the internet and use all of the bandwidth you possibly can, start buying your bandwidth from the core providers like a lot of ISPs do and see how quickly you run back to Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Cox, etc when you can't afford at least a few thousand a month. People are such crybabies.
You should be FURIOUS about ANY cap. We all should.
The amount is not the issue since they WILL drop this over time. There is no reason to introduce a cap, which is defacto data metering, unless you intend to ratchet it down in markets with no competition (95% of the US) or up in markets where, say, FIOS exists.
You are playing right into their hands.
We have to fight now for this type of limit not to exist. It's 250Gb today, it will be 50 in 5 years and 10 in 10y.
Exactly. I think people are missing the big picture. It could be 200 gig in 2 years, 100 gig in 5 and so on. When does it stop?
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