Comcast Customers READ---

[the_ancient]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9837

We’ve listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive. Today, we’re announcing that beginning on October 1, 2008, we will amend our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) available at http://www.comcast.net/terms/use/ and establish a specific monthly data usage threshold of 250 GB/month per account for all residential customers.

250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of data, much more than a typical residential customer uses on a monthly basis. Currently, the median monthly data usage by our residential customers is approximately 2 - 3 GB. To put 250 GB of monthly usage in perspective, a customer would have to do any one of the following:

* 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)

This is the same system we have in place today. The only difference is that we will now provide a limit by which a customer may be contacted. As part of our pre-existing policy, we will continue to contact the top users of our high-speed Internet service and ask them to curb their usage. If a customer uses more than 250 GB and is one of the top users of our service, he or she may be contacted by Comcast to notify them of excessive use.

I love there list of usage stats.....

I guess Comcast Internet Service is only for the Stupid people that FF is making v 3.0 for.....

Dont use any advance features of the web, like NetFlix Steaming Movies, even some of the Major Cable Channels, like TBS, offer Full EP's for viewing online.... Better not watch too many of them....

Youtube,. ohhhh no your now a "abuser" of comcasts network

[Vin DSL]

I guess Comcast Internet Service is only for the Stupid people that FF is making v 3.0 for...

I didn't know Comcast Internet Service was *free*...

Cool!

[the_ancient]

I didn't know Comcast Internet Service was *free*...

Cool!

HUH?

the FF comment was in reference to Mozilla moving way from being a Tech Browser and gearing the browser to stupid common net users... (ex. the ssl issues and others)

[Vin DSL]

Why would they do that?

[Pawel Kowalski]

That's over 8GB a day which is about 333MB an hour. Don't get me wrong, if I had another choice I might switch, but this is the fastest connection in my area. But this kind of limit really isn't that unreasonable. What's unreasonable is shaping traffic before it gets to you, and if this means that will stop I'll be happy.

[JPC-Bryan]

I have a business account with comcast, and I love it. When it works. And don't get me started on their (lack of) billing and support departments....!!!!!

[Pawel Kowalski]

Their business accounts, at least here in Albuquerque, are a joke. The internet works great. But if you ever need any type of support your are SOL. What kind of multibillion dollar corporation support only operates 7am - 4pm? And even then you will be lucky not to get an answering machine since there is a good chance the one person that works there will be on another call (I might be exagerating the one person claim, but I swear every time I call its the same person).

[the_ancient]

Their business accounts, at least here in Albuquerque, are a joke. The internet works great. But if you ever need any type of support your are SOL. What kind of multibillion dollar corporation support only operates 7am - 4pm? And even then you will be lucky not to get an answering machine since there is a good chance the one person that works there will be on another call (I might be exagerating the one person claim, but I swear every time I call its the same person).

Comcast has never had "support"

Cable Companies in General have operated under the fact that they were local monopolies in their geogrphic region, as such they had no reason to offer "good customer service", like any other utility, you either paid them or went with out the service... there were no options.

However times, they are a changing, but with companies as big as comcast, old habits die hard. Comcast will have to suffer massive losses before any real changes take place, they have averted these by offering massive discounts but that will only hold people back for soo long...

Uverse, and FiOS will force Comcast to play ball or be left behind.

[thecoalman]

250 GB's is very reasonable since video is the primary hog lets put it into persepctive:

Using this Calculator (check my number plz :P) It tells me 250 bits is 30KB. The first numbers for youtube are based on that, all others are guesstimates:

Youtube uses about 250kbps, you can watch youtube 24/7 for about 90 days or 2160 hours.

I don't use any of these download services so correct me if I'm wrong but "HD" streams from places like Netflix are about 2000kbps or 24/7 for approx. 11 days or 264 hours.

A DVD is about 6000kbps, 3.75 days 24/7 or 90 hours OR about 60 1 1/2 hour movies... LOL

Real HD from a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD comes in at about 25,000kbps++ so you could download about a days worth of video... can't watch it real time of course.

Realistically the only people that are going to be affected by this limit are people that are abusing the service with p2p on 24/7 or people using a residential connection to move massive amounts of data for business. Your average home user should be well in the clear even if they are watching a lot of video even "HD" streams from providers like netflix.

[Pawel Kowalski]

Comcast has never had "support"

I don't know, for residential I didn't have bad luck with their support other than having to wait up to a week for their techs to show up if they needed to. Other than that it's been a decent experiance.

The problem is their business accounts. I had to get a static IP for a client. You would think that would be a really simple process. It took 2 f-ing weeks of them not picking up the phone nor returning my calls. Not only that after they added the static IP they completely reset all the gateway settings on their "router" without any kind of warning and without my permission leaving my customer without an internet connection for a couple hours until I could come by and fix it.

When I need an IP added with qwest I call them up and 5 minutes later after a modem reset I am set up. But like I said, for the speed and price that comcast provides I am willing to live with crappy support.

[the_ancient]

250 GB's is very reasonable since video is the primary hog lets put it into persepctive:

Using this Calculator (check my number plz :P) It tells me 250 bits is 30KB. The first numbers for youtube are based on that, all others are guesstimates:

Youtube uses about 250kbps, you can watch youtube 24/7 for about 90 days or 2160 hours.

I don't use any of these download services so correct me if I'm wrong but "HD" streams from places like Netflix are about 2000kbps or 24/7 for approx. 11 days or 264 hours.

A DVD is about 6000kbps, 3.75 days 24/7 or 90 hours OR about 60 1 1/2 hour movies... LOL

Real HD from a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD comes in at about 25,000kbps++ so you could download about a days worth of video... can't watch it real time of course.

Realistically the only people that are going to be affected by this limit are people that are abusing the service with p2p on 24/7 or people using a residential connection to move massive amounts of data for business. Your average home user should be well in the clear even if they are watching a lot of video even "HD" streams from providers like netflix.

The problem with all if these calculation, is you assume your using only 1 Service and only 1 person

What about a common family of 4 that uses at any give time

Sirius Online Steaming Radio, You Tube, Xbox Live, Sling Box, Netflix Steaming Video, iTunes, Email, Web Browsing, Vonage VoIP, etc

I can see a person going over their limit and never starting any p2p software at all, and it will only get worse as time goes on. More and more Web sites are becoming muti-media sites, Take for example that TBS offers most of their shows, in full, for download free online, South Park and other have Media Clips for viewing online.

250GB is probally fine for a 65 yo grandma emailing here grandkids but for a Family of 4:
Little Billy is playing Xbox Live for 4 hrs a day and talks on the Vonage account,
Little Sue is On Youtube and Myspace all after noon and talking on a Magic Jack Account,
Dad is on a Business Trip but using the Sling Box to watch some TV
Mom, misses dad so she orders up some Netflix movies.
and BAM your a comcast abuser

[the_ancient]

I don't know, for residential I didn't have bad luck with their support other than having to wait up to a week for their techs to show up if they needed to. Other than that it's been a decent experiance.

AS long as I never have to call them, I am happy

The problem is their business accounts. I had to get a static IP for a client. You would think that would be a really simple process. It took 2 f-ing weeks of them not picking up the phone nor returning my calls. Not only that after they added the static IP they completely reset all the gateway settings on their "router" without any kind of warning and without my permission leaving my customer without an internet connection for a couple hours until I could come by and fix it.

Never Use ComCrap Owned Equipment, I tell them to take their Leases and Shove it. I own all of my Equipment upto and including my home made DVR (htPC) , modems, and routers

When I need an IP added with qwest I call them up and 5 minutes later after a modem reset I am set up. But like I said, for the speed and price that comcast provides I am willing to live with crappy support.

The only reason I stayed was ATT UVerse was $90/mo for Basic TV and Net comcast is $66.....

Like I said above, the rock bottom prices will keep them afloat for awhile, but being a whore always has its draw backs

[Pawel Kowalski]

We're all whores in the end anyway, so might as well enjoy it .

[thecoalman]

Sirius Online Steaming Radio, You Tube, Xbox Live, Sling Box, Netflix Steaming Video, iTunes, Email, Web Browsing, Vonage VoIP, etc

Realistically the only one of them that is really going to add up is Netflix. You can have 3 people watching youtube 24/7 for the entire month and you're going to be around the limit. Your average family is not going to use 250GB.... As the bitrates for the video increase that limit will certainly pose a problem in the near future for some people. The cable offerings of the past of "unlimited" use are just like Jag offering starter hosting accounts with "unlimted" features. They can do that because they know 95% of the people utilizing those accounts will never use it. Between the p2p crowd and all these new video services they needed to do something. Like I said at this point I think it's fair. I don't like it but its fair. It's far higher than anything I'll use AND it's much better than the alternative of them arbitrarily shutting off services you are using.

My only concern is that they aren't allowed to offer their own services without a cap and/or be able to hobble the speed of other sites. If a tiered capped alternative is the only alternative so be it.

FYI its my understanding they have already been enforcing this to some degree for some time now they just never put it in writing.

[Gwaihir]

it will only get worse as time goes on.

Sure, but isn't this limit likely to be changed over time? Most providers over here have quantified "fair use" several years ago and roughly doubled the limit every year since.

IMHO this is much better than "fair use"; that's just too vague. This way you know exactly what is considered fair.