Comments on: Comcast will cap users Internet use each month

By: Dion

Dion — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:41:36 +0000

How did I miss this news? I don’t like the sounds of this. Our househole uses Vonage, MagicJack, Rhapsody plays almost 24/7, the kds watch Cartoon Network, Movies and TV episode via Netflix, Streaming news and online gaming. Is their a data meter?

By: Don

Don — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:11:04 +0000

Rich, You need to check out FreeUTOPIA.

By: Rich Okelberry

Rich Okelberry — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:37:42 +0000

The Cable Monopoly… I think this brings up another problem that is occurring around the country, the monopolization of broadband. While cable companies have long argued that their TV service has competition through satellite providers, there is no comparable argument to make for a Broadband Cable Internet Connection in most areas. Because the Cable Company is usually working under a charter that provides them sole access to customers in an area, we have effectively allowed a monopoly to occur. This monopoly is often well guarded, a fact that is illustrated by a similar issue that came up in Lincoln NE. The power company wanted to help move Lincoln NE into the new century by providing a fiber optic infrastructure to every home the way that Omaha had done years before. By having fiber optics owned as a utility the end customer could then choose from a wide range of private “hookup” service like cable, phone, internet from a wide range of providers. Of course it never got off the ground because the cable company argued it went against their charter and heavily lobbied local officials. While charted services serve the purpose of getting infrastructure up and running, I believe the time for charted services has long passed and it’s now time to open both cable television and internet access up to the free market.

By: Tyson

Tyson — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:20:43 +0000

I meant to say: offer a $15 discount per 10 GB of unused bandwidth… (Wooo Comcast Paid me for my lack of internet usage!)

By: Tyson

Tyson — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:18:07 +0000

Also, if they charge the heavy users more, shouldn’t they offer $15 per 10 GB of unused bandwidth?

By: Tyson

Tyson — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:10:00 +0000

I upload quite a bit of video and effects work and Design through my residential line, and that easily could blow out my 250 GB quota. I probably will have to simply cut down my usage of the service.

One question to ask is as tech gets more system and bandwidth intensive, what then? We have moved way beyond all text websites and into full interactive experiences/applications provided on the web. Placing caps will only slow progress. (I get almost 1500 GB of downloads for my personal website for only $7 a month, granted I don’t have to pay for line service, that is a far cry from the $50+ monthly bill I get from con-cast.)

250 GB may seem like alot now, but so did 10 MB at one time.

By: Rich Okelberry

Rich Okelberry — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:13:41 +0000

Argg… I ment to write “The $15 for each additional 10Gb sounds a bit high to me.” –

Sorry

By: Rich Okelberry

Rich Okelberry — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:47:04 +0000

The $15 for each additional 250Gb sounds a bit high to me. That comes out to an additional $375 for doubling your GB usage. I would think it would be more fair to simply double what you pay for internet then give you another 250Gb quota.

By: Bluto

Bluto — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:47:04 +0000

How much bandwidth am I using with my Vonage phone system I wonder…

By: Grumpy

Grumpy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:57:08 +0000

I know some people who will suck down as much data as they possibly can. But in reality, this cap affects probably 0.1-0.5 percent of actual Comcast users.

I, like many others, am outraged at the principle of this. Users pay for a product advertised by Comcast as “unlimited”, then introduce these caps without lowering their (already outrageous) bills.

It’s ridiculous.

That being said, you would have to try VERY hard to break a 250 gig cap.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Wow thanks for putting this on the blog Ty. I agree Comcast is shady and should be destroyed when fiber optic service is available. Let us know on your October bill if you bust! Since “the radio ranch” I would guess is set up as commercial doing mostly uploading, I doubt there is a cap, residential download is the only usage going to be capped. I forgot about serious internet gamers though I’m sure they have a reason to be freaking out…and other uses I’m not aware of probably take massive download capacity I’m sure. But since this is residential download…where do you put 250GB a month? I’m pretty sure my mac only has an 80GB hard drive…

By: Tyler Riggs

Tyler Riggs — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:32:58 +0000

David, I see your point, but I haven’t been inconvenienced by the cap because prior to now, there has been no cap. I am concerned that I am already exceeding the cap and will now either get charged $15 for each 10 GB I go over, or I will have to cut back on my Internet use.

By: David

David — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:18:53 +0000

I wonder how many of the outraged people are like Tyler – they have not actually been inconvenienced by the cap, but they are frustrated by the principle of having their access limited. (No, I am not against people being outraged on principle, I just wonder about the breakdown.)

I’d love to learn if Tyler is successful in his attempt to break the 250Gb limit.

By: Tyler Riggs

Tyler Riggs — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:54:54 +0000

As a Comcast customer, this absolutely infuriates me. I will be attempting to see if I can break the 250 GB barrier, and I believe that I can.

Internet users today are doing much more than sending e-mail or downloading songs. The majority of my Internet use comes from streaming audio/video, uploading and downloading server files and gaming. That is all just from my Internet usage, and doesn’t account for the other computers in my household (there are six total) that use the Internet.

A couple of weeks ago, I was downloading all of the old Podcast files from the KVNUFORTHEPEOPLE.com server to an external hard drive for backup. That was more than 100 GB of files downloaded. That puts a mighty big dent in my “cap” for the month, doesn’t it?

When people signed up for Comcast Internet, they likely did so after being told it’s “unlimited” use. Unlimited use of Internet services is basically implied anymore, after the days of “10 free hours” disks from AOL died out about 10 years ago.

The most frustrating thing is, living here in Cache Valley, there is no real alternative for high speed internet. Qwest is your next best option, but their speeds aren’t comparable (unless they eventually extend their fiber optic service to Cache Valley, then they’ll destroy Comcast). There is also the Digis wireless solution, but I am unfamiliar with their service and it is not available in all areas of the valley (I believe it requires line of sight).

Ultimately, this is bad for the consumer and it’s frustrating to see Comcast, a company which already has been involved in shady tactics (such as blocking certain sites) take another step in the direction of ultra-control over their users lives.