Payment

Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Sun, 2008-10-05 20:44

They should just be glad to have customers, even if "forcefully". Putting a cap is like saying that you can only watch so many hours of t.v. a month. I would only have a problem with when I fresh install, since I have at least 25GB of games to download from Steam.

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Comcast's new "Acceptable

Submitted by billysundays on Fri, 2008-10-03 14:02

Comcast's new "Acceptable Use Policy" states "--the typical or median residential customer (bandwidth) usage, which is 2 to 3 GB/month." I would've never questioned that statement if I hadn't downloaded a bandwidth monitor and found that every hour that I'm not actively online, browsing or gaming or what have you, with my firewall and antivirus shut down, Windows Automatic Update turned off , an average of 5MB in combined upload and download bandwidth gets used every hour. That turns out to be just about 3GB of bandwidth usage a month (its more with the antivirus and firewall on). I always monitor my Task Manager, refer to Black Viper's website to remove unneccessary services. on my typical XP Pro machine, with no applications running, an average of 5MB in bandwidth usage every hour, 3GB average a month, when your PC is on all the time doing nothing. I'm sure this comes as a surprise to no one here who uses a firewall as it'll report that there's always a constant stream of legitiment background online activity.

So apparently, Comcast thinks that most of its customers have not joined the flurry of online activity that has blossomed in the past ten years, not including filesharing. We just check our email and diligently shutdown our PC at night and whenever we look away from our monitors for more than a few seconds.

Comcast is relying on its customer's ignorance of bandwidth usage to present 250GB as an oustandingly high number, "100 times greater" than all your Googling, social networking, YouTube, um, ing(?), combined. You could never reach that limit, unless of course your a filthy file sharer, but you're not a filthy file sharer are you? And as for high bandwidth usage of netflix streaming services and the like, i believe the new AUP also states "We're a cable company, we don't appreciate competition, stick to our on demand service and shut the f#ck up assholes". You don't have to check up on that, I'm obviuosly a very well informed individual.

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Wow....

Submitted by knexkid on Fri, 2008-10-03 13:55

It sickens me when I read these things.  I live in the boonies, AKA Wisconsin North Woods and I am stuck with Wildblue Satellite Internet.  I have to live with 12 GIGS a month and pay two or three times what you are paying for cable/DSL, plus it really is not that fast (well it is compared to dial up...).

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By the way, Comcast's new

Submitted by billysundays on Fri, 2008-10-03 14:00

By the way, I'm using MING Bandwidth Monitor. Do the same a find out for yourself.

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I have a problem with the

Submitted by Pyrophorics on Fri, 2008-10-03 11:22

I have a problem with the limit until they disclose how much we are using on
a regular basis. Ideally, a website we can look at to see exactly how much we
have used and are using on average per day to possibly curb or limit our usage.

Just telling us not to use more than 250GB or the boogie man is going to
call you doesn't to jack till you are already in a situation where you have
used too much.

Personally, I have 4 computers. One runs my gaming servers (which isn’t on
all the time), one is my main rig/HTPC, one is my fiancés gaming rig and the
last is my roommates. First, I have no idea how much bandwidth my roommate uses
and feel its intruding to ask. Second, I don’t know on average how much
bandwidth my server or fiancé consume. 

The ONLY thing I do know is how large the files I download are, with the
exception of the size of the actual websites I am visiting.

Then, add to that a wireless router. While I have taken every realistic step
I can to prevent someone stealing my bandwidth, it's still possible. 

 

So unless Comcast discloses that information on a daily basis they cannot
possible enforce this. Also, you notice how they haven't said they are going to
charge you any overage fees. That would legally bind them to disclose your
usage on a regular basis. They aren’t prepared to do that, they are simply just
telling us about a cap they already had.

It’s my guess that more than likely we would have been contacted in the past
if we went over 250GB so we should all be safe. Now that it’s all out in the
open though about a real cap, I want to know my usage if they are going to penalize
me for overage. 

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250MB/mo = about

Submitted by horzo on Fri, 2008-10-03 11:13

250MB/mo = about 8GB/day. Not a problem for me, but I can see multi-user households exceeding that.

I find it strange that Comcast is one of the many companies aggressivly pushing the migration from physical media to electronic delivery of content, yet they want to cap bandwidth? How does that make sense?

In my area, Comcast is charging a minimum of $45/mo. for broadband service. This is 3x what basic AT&T DSL costs. They really don't have much right to claim they can't afford to invest in expanding network capacity and "need" to cap bandwidth.

 

 

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I used to know how much

Submitted by chronium on Fri, 2008-10-03 11:01

I used to know how much bandwidth I used but then for some reason, probably to save money, they joined with msn and removed the bandwidth usage page and, if I remember correctly, was told they never had a bandwidth usage page by customer service. Typical Bell sympatico.

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Ya, Im pretty angry since I'm with comcasts without alternatives

Submitted by samduhman on Fri, 2008-10-03 10:18

 

When I signed up 5 years ago it said "unlimited" If there was something in the fine print about a possible cap then it was a bait and switch becuase "no one" reads those terms and agreements.

My son and I both game online. My daugther streams music and videos. We use Netflix to stream movies live. I download PC and PS3 demos pretty regularly. So whether we get near 250 I reallly have no idea. I guess what the pisser is there is no way for me to check how much I use or what my current level is.

My wife and I have already decided if we do hit the limit we are canceling all services with comcast. They have been nickeling and diming us for years and that would be the last straw. That plus a friend 10 miles down the road pays half of what we pay for the same services becuase there is fios as competition in their neighborhood.

COMCAST SUCKS

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