Comcast to cap monthly bandwidth starting Oct. 1

[CrashG]

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

The only thing is that they recently dropped the alt.bin hierarchies from their Newsgroup service. So if you want/use newsgroups you have to get it from someone else like Giganews, Supernews, etc.

[Boeing 787]

How are we suppose to use the web like streaming radio, video and all the normal things today if the providers won't upgrade their lousy networks?

Do they think that crappy copper is going to last forever?

BTW: 250GB isn't that much when you have multiple computers attached and more then one user.

[curme]

Cable & Wireless

Horizon Premium

256 kbit/s

Subscription

Usage volume up to 12GB/mth (total of upload+download) $160/mth

Additional Volume

Upto a max of 8GB/mth $50/GB

I'm at 12.68 gigs right now (I had to download Ubuntu and all of the updates), that's an extra 50 bucks to my bill! I only have two more days to try to keep it under13 gigs, or that's another 50 bucks. But hey, it's better than the dial-up I was using last year.

[LiqHead]

Ignorant replies (for the most part). Don't like it... don't pay for it. If u do, quit d/l all the illegal crap & quit bitchin'.

[ew2x4]

While this is a large cap, where will it go in the future? More and more entertainment is heading towards the internet. Netflix streams movies up to 2 GB for a standard def movie. Later this year, they get put on Xbox Live Marketplace. Getting auto updates from the olympics added up to over 80 GB for most people. Listening to Pandora during an 8 hour workday adds up to 2 GB a day. While it's not threatening now, how will they accomodate the growth of internet culture?

[#Michael]

While this is a large cap, where will it go in the future? More and more entertainment is heading towards the internet. Netflix streams movies up to 2 GB for a standard def movie. Later this year, they get put on Xbox Live Marketplace. Getting auto updates from the olympics added up to over 80 GB for most people. Listening to Pandora during an 8 hour workday adds up to 2 GB a day. While it's not threatening now, how will they accomodate the growth of internet culture?

This is exactly what I am talking about. Putting caps on internet usage stifles the growth of the internet.

[Denis W. Veteran]

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

+1000 :hmmm:

Number two annoyance is finally realizing that when there's a freeloading neighbour near your house on the same ISP (Rogers), be prepared to have slow speeds at certain times of the day. :angry:

[Southern Patriot]

I wonder how this will affect me? My cable connection is through Comcast, but my ISP is Earthlink.

[LiqHead]

I wonder how this will affect me? My cable connection is through Comcast, but my ISP is Earthlink.

Makes no sense.

[blackice912 Veteran]

I wonder how this will affect me? My cable connection is through Comcast, but my ISP is Earthlink.

Likely the same as it will affect anybody else, since your bill (I assume) comes from Comcast.

Makes no sense.

Earthlink re-sells Comcast internet service and provides an Earthlink e-mail address.

[LiqHead]

Likely the same as it will affect anybody else, since your bill (I assume) comes from Comcast.

Earthlink re-sells Comcast internet service and provides an Earthlink e-mail address.

Well if u pay u get what u deserve. Sorry.

[CentralDogma]

This really sucks. And I think a lot of you are missing the point, it's not the fact that they have a relatively large limit, it's that they have a limit at all. This sets precedent in the way ISPs operate in the US. And knowing Comcast, they'll slowly whittle away at that limit until it is significant, and then, conveniently, offer their new "Extreme Data User Package" that will probably be twice as much money.

Comcast is a horrible company that is slowly obtaining monopoly status. I hope that FiOS spreads to more areas and buries them.

[blackice912 Veteran]

I hope that FiOS spreads to more areas and buries them.

I think that if anything, FIOS will keep them in check.

[WigglesTheFish]

Umm, I have 20GB a month... I wouldn't mind 250GB at all, I am not even sure what I'd even need to download that would consume so much bandwidth...

[Flae_qui]

how do you find out how much bandwith your using?

[blackice912 Veteran]

how do you find out how much bandwith your using?

Until there is some sort of "official" meter or something, you'll likely have to download a meter, such as this one: http://www.desksoft.com/BWMeter.htm

[CrashG]

Until there is some sort of "official" meter or something, you'll likely have to download a meter, such as this one: http://www.desksoft.com/BWMeter.htm

NetVue is another one, it looks a little nicer than BWMeter. If that matters. :)

[Fuzzymath]

I play games, run Ventrilo for said games (nearly 24/7), abuse the crap out of Pandora, use Vonage for my home phone service, and hit the news groups rather heavily on weekends; and I still have problems maxing out 250GB.

If a company wants to limit heavy users, they have a right to do so. People stating that it'll 'limit' the internet really need to take a step back at what internet has become as of late. There is so much high bandwidth 'stuff' out there that is total **** (youtube, myspace, etc). Forcing people to think 'Is this really WORTH IT' might not be a bad idea. Quality over quantity, etc. Development within reason can be achived, and over time things will adjust. The sky -is not- falling.

Meh, I'll stop now before I become to redundant.

Edit: Also +1 for NetMeter. Light weight, easy to configure, exportable log files, and day/week/monthly usage projections.

[tomasarson]

Ignorant replies (for the most part). Don't like it... don't pay for it. If u do, quit d/l all the illegal crap & quit bitchin'.

haha. ignorant?

you fit the bill my friend.

so anyone who dl's close to 250GB a month must be doing illegal stuff.....

god knows i've never heard of xbox live demos (easily a gig a piece), itunes, netflix, online radio, etc.

i agree that 250GB is plenty for most but saying anyone who is bitching is doing something illegal is as ignorant as it gets.

i can't wait until sites like youtube and netflix go full hd.

you're just retarded.

[The_Observer]

250gigs a month would be great! wonder what the cost of that is?

[bunker]

250Gb is enough right now but it won't be in a few years when every video clip is gonna be HD.

[Matt]

i think netlimiter monitors bandwidth usage on a pc level. there are layer 3 switches that can provide that information as well but sometimes they get pretty expensive. basically, if you are interested, just search for MRTG tools/services to help monitor your bandwidth consumption.

i know one of my servers use about 28,000 GB a month (roughly a little over 50 Mbit/sec).

[giantpotato]

First they start with the 250GB cap and next thing you know they'll be throttling connections to 100MB/s [/sarcasm] Seriously, I don't see how this could be considered unfair. If anything it'll slow down extreme bandwidth hogs and give normal users a little more bandwidth.

[7Dash8]

Ignorant replies (for the most part). Don't like it... don't pay for it. If u do, quit d/l all the illegal crap & quit bitchin'.

But didn't you know, this is all about freedom and fighting corporate greed, not about illegally downloading a heap of free stuff off the net. :rolleyes: First they cap our bandwidth, next thing you know they'll be stopping us from speeding on the freeways and making us fill in tax forms declaring our income!! ZOMG 1984 it's all coming true!!!1!1!!!

[Budious]

Do my gigabytes roll over like my cell minutes or do they just plan to **** all over me the first time I go over? I might download 400GB during a particular month then use 25 or 30GB on average the rest of the year. Guess I'll test out this new policy myself and see how eager they are to dump a long time account holder in favor of a cap.