Comcast Begins Limited Launch of Data Usage Meter
Comcast Begins Limited Launch of Data Usage Meter
Posted 12/01/2009 at 2:24pm
| by Bart Salisbury
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Comcast, when it imposed a cap of 250 GB download limit per calendar month, promised a usage meter to track data consumption. Looks like that promise is finally being fulfilled, at least for subscribers in Portland, Oregon.
According to a note from Comcast: “The meter displays usage on a per Gigabyte (GB) basis, over a calendar month, which may be different from the customer's monthly billing period cycle. The meter updates roughly every 3 hours and is designed to display usage conservatively and in favor of customers, such that it rounds DOWN usage to the nearest GB rather than rounding up.” (Given the disparity between calendar month and billing cycle, and rounding down rather than up, how useful will this meter be for avoiding overage charges?)
Comcast notes that “99%” of their subscribers won’t have to be concerned. Their median subscriber only consumes between two and four gigabytes of data per month. The meter, it appears, is for that 1% that might be exceeding the limit.
But, might it be possible, that in providing the meter, Comcast has thrown down a gauntlet? Some of those “median subscribers” might take it as a challenge to see just how close to 250 GB they can come. Another example of best laid plans?
Image Credit: goenetix/Flickr
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gumbypoky
December 03, 2009 at 3:18am
Consumers buy a product (SERVICE). Then, the provider spends millions thinking of how to deprive the consumer of what they paid for. Comcast, your strategy sucks big time. Why not show us some honesty and integrity?
I'm looking forward to crashing your "Chapter XI party"!
Raspop
December 01, 2009 at 10:42pm
I'm in Portland and am not quite sure how to feel about this news.
Qwest was constantly dropping the ball on a 7mbps line, and with no fiber connection in my neighborhood, Comcast gained a reluctant customer.
The sales lady for Comcast wouldn't talk about the cap when I signed up and ever since I switched, I've wondered just how much bandwidth I use a month. Guess this will answer that. I doubt I've come close to the 250gbs, but I hate the cap out of principle.
Danthrax66
December 01, 2009 at 6:50pm
So if I game a lot, say 6 hours a day during the week and slightly more on the weekend and have ventrilo running, and at night when I'm asleep and during the day when I'm at school I run folding at home how much data will that use up?
mesiah
December 02, 2009 at 2:16am
The data usage for online games is trivial. I believe the last estimation I saw said that if you ran WoW 24 hours a day for a month you would use less than 400mb. Vent data usage would depend on just how talkative people are. As for folding, I really don't know how much data is actually being passed but I doubt its a substantial amount, although I could be wrong about that so dont take my word on it :P
QUINTIX256
December 01, 2009 at 6:26pm
This is sorta unrelated but does anyone remember that immersion killing scene in Evangelion where Ritsuko Akagi says "zero point zero zero zero zero...percent"? It was painful, especially in Japanese. What's wrong with saying 1 in 25 million?
Likewise, I am irritated by these arbitrary percentages like 99% or 99.9% or 99.98%. It is obvious that these numbers are basiclly pulled out of a PR guy's butt. They should represent values the way real statistictians do by saying "only 1 in about 137 users will be affected", not this 99% crap.
Vano
December 01, 2009 at 6:09pm
I just don't get it, if only 1% of customers are using alot, what is the problem for the company?
bathtbgin
December 01, 2009 at 3:01pm
Comcast doesnt have overage charges, they warn you once and then boot you from the network for a year. Another irritating issue with this policy is that you have a limit that at 12Mbps a subscriber can theoretically hit after only a few days of constant downloading. If they dont want you using more than 250GB per month why give you the ability, why not either cap transfer rates so that you cant hit the limit.
Ashton2091
December 01, 2009 at 3:23pm
i hear you bathtbgin. that makes plenty of sense to me. too bad comcast will prob never get it.
bathtbgin
December 01, 2009 at 6:14pm
You also have to wonder just how long the cap is going to stay at 250GB. Digital distribution is only going to get more popular with the "average" users, and every day that goes by the 250GB cap is going to seem smaller and smaller. Unless Comcast increases the cap on a regular basis they are going to seriously hamper innovation.
MacGeek
December 01, 2009 at 2:43pm
2-4 GB per month? You've gotta be kidding me.
In my four-person household, we average 8-12 GB per DAY (but we don't have a cable TV subscription).
bathtbgin
December 01, 2009 at 6:01pm
Whenever someone complains about the 250GB cap there is always someone who just cant imagine how a person could use that much bandwidth. I dont have the fastest plan out they offer but my normal download speed is 1.5MB/s (megabytes), with DL speeds like that its very easy to use more bandwidth than you originally thought possible. Windows updates, Steam downloads, HD netflix streams, Hulu, legal software downloads, iTunes purchases (video and audio) will all eat up a considerable amount of that 250GB cap, add to it any uploads over the past month and its very possible for a single person to hit the cap using perfectly legitimate methods. If more than one person is using the same connection that 250GB quickly becomes very restrictive.
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