Comcast to cap monthly bandwidth starting Oct. 1

[#Michael]

NEW YORK - Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.

On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site.

Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use.

Story continues below ↓advertisement

"We've listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive," the company said in a statement on its Web site.

Customers who go over the limit are contacted by the company and asked to curb their usage.

Full article at: MSNBC.com

Since the 2nd largest isp in the US is now capping bandwidth nation wide, there goes any hope of net neutrality. A dark dark day.

[osirisX]

Welcome to the rest of the world.

[struct]

I wonder how much bandwidth is used if one does nothing but watch joost all day every day for a month?

[TurboTuna]

If you use over 250Gig of bandwidth a month, you deserve to be capped. What are you doing?!

[Xerxes]

Well, we already have this down under sadly :( even my "unlimited" connection is limited, I have a data allowance and it gets throttled after I exceed it. It's basically the same as a capped connection, except the capped one, you are charged extra for excessive usage. However, unless your an excessive downloader, capped connections arn't that bad really.

[Lewism]

With 250 GB, I would be happy. I have 30 GB per month right now.

I can live with 250 GB and no throttling.

[ambiance]

I'll trade my 60GB/mo. for that.

[Snakehn]

If you don't want to pay for appzapper: http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/

edit: I reread your post. That's a bug with Firefox which shows Stuffit as the default app for zip files though it's not. If you click open anyway, it'll just use your default app for zips on your system.

i don't even think i go over 50GB a month LOL

[ViperAFK]

meh 250 is enough for me and I download tons of **** and seed torrents all day, and I can't imagine using close to that much.

[Argi]

Welcome to the rest of the world.

This.

Frankly I'm surprised it's taken so long, but it's a lot better approach than throttling individual applications (such as Bittorrent); and really, no one could argue that 250gb isn't extremely generous.

[neoadorable]

how does this affect Xbox Live? or any other traffic? anything can be considered a download, technically. anyway, this is pretty disgusting.

[zape]

Welcome to the rest of the world.

Not in my country. NO ISP here caps although the speed/price ratio is meh.

[Reacon]

compared to half the other ISPs, this is pretty good. 250GB is twice my HDD...

[DreadBoat89]

I'll trade my 60GB/mo. for that.

+1

[Mr. Gibs]

I don't see this as a problem. If anything it'll make customers choose other services over comcast. Im glad we dont have comcast in the areas where i live.

Oh yes...please explain to me how you come close to using 250 gb in a month...I would love to know.

[ambushed]

Give me 250GB a month and id be a very happy man. Welcome to what is already normal for most of the rest of the western world.

[mattmatik]

Yeah, how does this affect services like Xbox Live or PSN? Or AppleTV?

[afusion]

If you use over 250Gig of bandwidth a month, you deserve to be capped. What are you doing?!

Why is it your business to begin with?

[Tech Star]

Well lets hope Time Warner does not follow in my area (I think they might though :( ).

How do you know how much BW you used in a month? Is there some sort of application that shows you how much you use?

[Xerino]

and that is why I am going back to DSL, I dont forsee AT&T capping their service any time soon

[blackice912 Veteran]

how does this affect Xbox Live? or any other traffic? anything can be considered a download, technically. anyway, this is pretty disgusting.

All they are doing is enforcing the same limit they have been in the past, but now they are telling people what that limit was.

Well lets hope Time Warner does not follow in my area (I think they might though :( ).

How do you know how much BW you used in a month? Is there some sort of application that shows you how much you use?

Time Warner was rumored to go for a lower limit from what I heard. Just a rumor, though.

As for monitoring bandwidth -- gotta go with an app for your PC or a router that supports it...at least until they (hopefully) come out with a way to keep an eye on your bandwidth at the ISP level.

[+Mystic MVC]

how does this affect Xbox Live? or any other traffic? anything can be considered a download, technically. anyway, this is pretty disgusting.

Exactly what I was wondering as well. Blackice, I'm sorry I guess what you said just went over my head, can I get another explanation? :p

[ambushed]

Yeah, how does this affect services like Xbox Live or PSN? Or AppleTV?

What do you reckon? Online gaming uses data. It's a tiny amount and not anything to worry about.

Well lets hope Time Warner does not follow in my area (I think they might though :( ).

How do you know how much BW you used in a month? Is there some sort of application that shows you how much you use?

Logging into your account on your ISPs site will tell you or there will usually be a tiny app that sits in your taskbar to tell you that updates itself.

Edit: Most ISPs provide shitloads of IPTV, gaming servers, iTunes etc thats usage does not contribute towards the cap.

Edited August 29, 2008 by ambushed

[blackice912 Veteran]

Exactly what I was wondering as well. Blackice, I'm sorry I guess what you said just went over my head, can I get another explanation? :p

All I was saying is that Comcast has been enforcing these caps for quite a while now, but refused to share what the actual cap was. All that happened today is they shared that closely guarded secret.

I'm guessing the whole "it starts October 1st" thing is to make non-savvy customers aware about all of this.

[Impact]

Well, this sucks but I don't think I will ever come close to that, so what the heck.