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  1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10028506-2.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0

    Starting October 1st customers of Comcast's residential data services will have an invisible barrier on their monthly data usage. Under the new guidelines of Comcast's Acceptable Use Policy that cap is now set at 250 GB per month, per account.

    Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast's customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second time offense means their service is immediately terminated and suspended for an entire calendar year.

    Surprisingly the company is not providing any tools to help users monitor their current usage. An FAQ on Comcast's support site simply suggests that customers do a "Web search" for bandwidth metering software that will track this amount for them. Going forward there may be plans to set up alerts over certain thresholds, or bundle some official tool as part of the company's starter software.

    Comcast notes that the median usage for most residential customers falls somewhere between 2-3 GB, a number that is regularly broken within a matter of hours and sometimes minutes by customers taking advantage of streaming HD video and online backup services. The company breaks down basic usage numbers similar to what's seen on the marketing materials on a consumer hard drive:

    * Send 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)
    * Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)
    * Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
    * Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)
    A far greater problem may be the slighting of cloud storage services that offer file transfer and back-up. Services like Carbonite and Mozy let you back up and transfer the entirety of your computer's storage several times per month, which on many standard consumer machines can be in the hundreds of gigabytes.
    tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?
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  2. Member adam's Avatar
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    I'm a Comcast subscriber and at first I was concerned but then I read that the cap is 250GB per month. I don't think I could download half that much if I tried.

    Still, they could always lower the cap...
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  3. Aging Slowly Bodyslide's Avatar
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    Well There goes the World....Well I have 4 PC's on our network at home. Will need to monitor them for Sept and see if we are close. We also have an 360 with Live. I wonder how much that uses while playing a game for a few hours..... I wonder if it's from the First to the last day of the Month. Or will it be a based on your Bill's Due date?
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  4. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    the cap isn't new, but they are now making it public knowledge. it's always been enforced by comcast security as part of the aup. don't ask how i know....
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  5. Mod Neophyte redwudz's Avatar
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    Not really video news. Moving to the Computer Forum.
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  6. Member FulciLives's Avatar
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    Comcast blows. I wish I had a viable alternative where I live but alas I do not.

    They just keep getting worse and worse.

    I see this as very bad news.

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  7. Aging Slowly Bodyslide's Avatar
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    I wonder if the cap is for Download only or does it also include the upload as well? Looks like Up and Down.....

    establish a specific monthly data usage threshold of 250 GB/month per account for all residential customers
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    Originally Posted by FulciLives
    I see this as very bad news.
    It seems generous to me! My own limit (with British Telecom, my ISP), is 50GB - which I also thought was generous as I doubt I need more than a tenth of that, probably less. I also discovered recently that they cut my throughput in half at peak times, ie. in the evenings, and that is much more annoying.
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  9. Always Watching guns1inger's Avatar
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    Over here a 50 - 60 download only cap is pretty good (I get 50 - 25 of that between 4am and 9am). Most providers have much smaller caps (often 10 - 20 GB) that include both up and down. We are a broadband backwater.
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  10. Originally Posted by Bodyslide
    I wonder if the cap is for Download only or does it also include the upload as well? Looks like Up and Down.....

    establish a specific monthly data usage threshold of 250 GB/month per account for all residential customers

    the cap is the combined total of both upload and download.
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  11. I see this as really bad. Especially now that streaming movies is now becoming more and more viable. Now with that cap in place, they just screwed over NetFlix and Blockbuster and other major movie streaming services. Might as well throw out HD movie streaming for sure.

    I could see a cap like NNTP services have had in place for years and years. Just set a cap and if you hit it, your account is locked for the rest of the month.....I can't see canceling an account that hits the cap. ridiculous
    tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?
    Originally Posted by jagabo
    I use the FixEverythingThat'sWrongWithThisVideo() filter. Works perfectly every time.
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  12. One would think the limit would be raised rather than lowered since they announced 100 Mbit/sec download speed is supposed to be coming in 2009!

    If you google the press release should pop up.
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  13. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    comcast is getting worried more people will actually use their cable for more than checking email and the occasional surfing. they have oversold their available total bandwidth by several orders of magnitude. if everyone starts downloading video the system may fall apart. they count on 99% of there customers to never use it. now that they can't filter p2p and slow it down because of the recent federal ruling they need to keep things in tighter check.

    i think they were also worried a group was going to file suit with the fcc over the old hidden, unpublished usage limit rule, like they just lost in the p2p case.
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  14. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Does this make fios a more viable alternative? It is my understanding that fios operates similarly to dsl in that is a direct conncection instead of a shared network like cable. Is that true or am I oversimplifying it?

    AT&T has now launched UVERSE in my area and is a fios network. It would be an alternative to comcast. I'm currently on sub .5mb dsl and have longed for an upgrade path but haven't commited yet due to personal situations. However I would be interested in users actual experiences between fios and cable. Thanks.
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  15. i'd dump comcast cable in a heartbeat if fios was available in my area.
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  16. Aging Slowly Bodyslide's Avatar
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    I also would Dump Comcast if FIOS was available.
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  17. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    So what are the advantages of fios? Does it have direct access like I was thinking or is that a slightly scewed observation and a little more comlpex than that?
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  18. fios is like any other broadband net connect. it goes through routers and switches to the main office. speed and currently no known limits on what you do with it are it's advantages. fiber has a higher upper limit on capacity then the copper in a cable modem setup. better internet, better HDtv, better phone service... and they still have bandwidth left over in the fiber for future improvements.
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  19. I pay 100$ per month for 200 GB, guess how I feel about a 250GB cap !

    300GB would cost me $300
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  20. Originally Posted by victoriabears
    I pay 100$ per month for 200 GB, guess how I feel about a 250GB cap !

    300GB would cost me $300
    but does your isp call you with their "security" squad and berate you for exceeding the cap? no? comcast does and then if it happens again within a year they just cut your cable off completely for a year.
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  21. Oh Yes you bet your sweet *** they do.

    If I didn't control it I'd be paying business rates.
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  22. Member Dr_Layne's Avatar
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    I am a comcast subscriber. I've been one for 10 years. When I signed up it was "unlimited" internet. A cap is not unlimited. Will I ever exceed 250GB in a month? Who knows? Have no idea how much I use a month now. I am a netflix member, and stream movies legally via their service.
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  23. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    I smell class action suit against Comcast.
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  24. Member thecoalman's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by stiltman
    they just screwed over NetFlix and Blockbuster and other major movie streaming services. Might as well throw out HD movie streaming for sure.
    Not really unless you're watching a lot of video, those "HD" streams are below even DVD. Around 2mbps? That's a couple hundred hours+ of video with a 250GB limit. I think the limit is fair, this is only going to effect people that truly abusing the service leaving their p2p on 24/7 and others moving enormous amount of data for business purposes. Even your well above average user is not going to approach the limit.

    This is probably the first step in providing a tiered service offering plans for high end users that want services like HD streaming. If you want to play you're going to have to pay. There's no reason why someone using a couple of gigs per month should be subsidizing someone else's high usage.
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  25. when you sign up with comcast there is no mention of any limit or cap on your bandwidth usage. i have my contract and can verify that. it is only on their website, an obscure page you will find the "aup". no one signs anything spelling out the "aup" in writing, but comcast enforces it like it is part of the signed contract, and changes it at their whim.

    i'm not sure that is fair or should be legal. we, "comcast users", signed up for an unlimited connection to the internet, not a pay by the GB service. changing the rules after the money has been paid and contracts signed is not normal business procedure. it's something a dictator or un-regulated monopoly does. i'm not happy but there is no competitor - dsl or fios in my area so i'm stuck with them.
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    Originally Posted by stiltman
    Especially now that streaming movies is now becoming more and more viable.
    Those streaming movies would have to be in damn high quality - and you would have to watch a hell of a lot of them - before a 250gig limit became an issue IMHO.
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  27. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    The word "unlimited" has never meant unlimited, when it comes to many business opportunities. Same can be said for "all you can eat" and other such terms.

    Companies expect customers to use it within reason. Those who try to abuse the system are the ones that whine and ruin it for the other 99% of people that are fine.

    They should quit using those kind of come-on words, it's stupid. Big companies did it to compete with small companies. Small companies truly could not offer it either, but got away with it because the big companies had more customers, and thus had more whiners.
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  28. Mod Neophyte redwudz's Avatar
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    The subdivision I presently live in signed a ten year contract with a cable company for exclusive TV rights a few years before I moved here. Unfortunately this doesn't include cable internet access. Internet is transmitted from a tower to my home. 700K down and 1000K up. The cable company and the internet company are partners, but separate. The cable fees are included as part of the subdivision fees, so whether you use it or not, you are charged for it. The cable is SD only. It's similar to hotel/motel feeds.

    DSL is available, but $20 more a month for the same slow speed. Cox is here locally with very high speed fiber optic, but no way to tie into that because of the ten year contract. No other options except satellite, which is too expensive for high speed.

    Streaming video is marginal at best as the speed drops to 300K at times.

    It just pisses me off that we have cable lines capable of high speed internet, but can't use them for that.

    And the residents mostly don't care, so not likely to change any time soon. The internet supplier at present doesn't limit bandwidth, but doesn't really have to with the low connection speeds. I suspect his present system will be overloaded fairly soon. At least I am trying to overload it.
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  29. here in the state i live in we have a pretty good consumer protection division of the attorney general's office. all-you-can-eat means literally all you want or the business can't use those terms. things like gift cards can't expire or have charges taken out if you don't use them, basic things most people expect are actually enforced.

    i don't how using what you have paid for can be considered abuse, if you are abiding by the terms of the contract you signed.

    not that i plan to download more than a dvd-9 a day anyway

    look at it this way. how would you guys feel if your mortgage bank could raise your 30 year fixed interest rate whenever they wanted more profit? which is what it comes down to with comcast, get rid of people who actually use the service and keep the email/sufer only folks and the bottom line soars.

    which may give them a short term boost but what i don't understand is how they can make up for the loss of the cable tv and phone revenue. i know if they cut off my cable modem i would also cancel my other services with them, and go to satellite/copper land line.
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  30. Mod Neophyte redwudz's Avatar
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    Unfortunately, few internet providers 'guarantee' a bandwidth or speed, no matter what they seem to advertise. Most of them are driven by competition to provide more bandwidth. But with little or no competition, not a lot you can do.

    I believe there are a few federal guidelines, maybe laws, that are coming into use or may be created in the future to increase the access to high speed internet. The telephone companies were caught by surprise when the internet came on the scene and overloaded their systems. But they managed to cope and the system improved because of it. And they are pretty much monopolies in much of the country.

    I am planning to be getting together with some of my fellow residents to look into our ten year contract, with a attorney available for consultation, and see if something can be done.
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