[NPMUG] Comcast controls bandwidth starting October 1, 2008
Charles Firth
charles at firthconsulting.com
Sat Sep 27 13:24:48 MDT 2008
It's not a constitutional right (don't be silly), but it is what was
promised by their advertising and the agreed contract between Comcast
and their customers. It's bad enough they (like all ISPs) offer speeds
"up tp" XMbps. But unlimited use was/is standard.
In other words, I can't sell you a "complete vacation package deal
that covers flight, hotel, rental car, and food" and then tell you the
cost of the rental car and hotel isn't included. And worse, that
you're not permitted to rent the car or you'll risk losing the flight.
When was the last time you saw any ISP commercial say there was a cap
on how much you can use it? We haven't seen such a thing since the old
AOL "750 free hours" nonsense.
To be clear -this isn't about "bandwidth" at all - bandwidth is how
"fat" your pipe is - how much data you can pull/push at a time -
usually something like "8Mbps down, 2Mbps up" or similar. We've all
got bandwidth caps, due to both technical limitations and corporate/
financial ones. Unlimited bandwidth isn't possible thanks to physics.
Instead, this is about total use - if you purchase a cable modem
contract that allows 8Mbps download and you use it at full capacity
for 1 hour - that's 28800Mb, or 3600MB (there are 8 bits in one byte).
So, approx 3.6GB downloaded in one hour. Or one DVD disk-image. Those
of us who download ISOs know this is about right. (And before you
accuse me of being a "pirate", understand that ISO downloading is
normal behavior for anyone who works closely with Microsoft's TechNet
site. this is not unreasonable use.)
This means a cap of 250GB translates to about 70 hours of use at full
capacity.
Funnily enough, I don't see Comcast's adverts saying you can have
'blazing fast' internet but only for 70 hours a month. I thought we
ditched "metered internet" in the 80s.
If Comcast's network can't handle the load of it's users actually
using the service at the level that Comcast is selling it, they should
stop selling it at that level.
It's like over-selling tickets to a Pirate game, then telling season
pass holders they can't come in because they've seen too many games
already, and they need to let other people in. "Sorry you purchased a
ticket, but we sold more tickets then the stadium can handle.. and you
got to see the last game, so your total use of the stadium is
preventing other, more casual, Pirate fans from enjoying the game. So
you can't come in. No refunds."
Comcast has the right to cap total use, or even cap bandwidth (that
is, drop their connection speeds down to 3Mbps or whatever). In fact,
Comcast has the right to do whatever they want, even turn off the
"pipe" and get out of the ISP business all together.
But to pretend this isn't a big deal, and something that existing
Comcast customers shouldn't be upset about, is ridiculous.
If Comcast can't provide their customers the service promised, they
need to change the promise. Otherwise it's false advertising.
And to enter into an agreement with a customer, and then change the
"terms and conditions" to such an extent is irresponsible and border-
line criminal. You can't change the terms and conditions to say "Well,
I was paying you $50/month for unlimited internet access at a top
speed of 8Mbps, and I've decided to change that to $20/month for
unlimited access at 8Mbps. By opening this letter you've agreed to the
new terms of our contract."
Trade (you know, capitalism) is about "I'll give you X if you give me
Y" - you can't agree to this, and then change the deal. Comcast is
changing the deal, and hoping their customers will accept the "new
terms and conditions" without a fight. Just because Comcast is a big
corporation and not another human doesn't mean they have an inherent
right to adjust the deal.
Frankly, this is a class-action lawsuit begging to happen.
And people wonder why the US is falling behind Europe and Asia when it
comes to Internet connectivity.
Charles
(Living in a household of 2 people who *each* easily consume 500GB/
month in data)
On Sep 27, 2008, at 2:40 PM, Greg Simkins biz wrote:
> This new policy was also the subject of a recent Slashdot article. It
> makes sense to me. I don't know why people feel they have a
> constitutional right to unlimited bandwidth (as nice as that would
> be).
>
> Greg
>
>
> +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Comcast Outlines New Broadband Policy |
> | from the knowledge-is-power dept. |
> | posted by timothy on Wednesday September 24, @16:49 (The Internet|
> | http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/24/1941221 |
> +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> Slatterz writes "US cable provider Comcast has presented its [0]long-
> term
> solution for managing broadband traffic. The new system is set at
> putting
> to bed a minor scandal that erupted around the company when it was
> found
> that Comcast [1]deliberately limited traffic for certain applications.
> The company said that under its new system, traffic will be analyzed
> every fifteen minutes. Users who are found to be occupying large
> amounts
> of bandwidth will be placed at a lower priority for network access
> behind
> users with less bandwidth-intensive traffic. The new system will not
> replace or be related to the company's earlier installment of
> bandwidth
> caps, which [2]limited a user's data intake to 250GB per month."
>
> Discuss this story at:
> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/09/24/1941221
>
> Links:
> 0. http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/123579,comcast-outlines-new-broadband-policy.aspx
> 1. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/20/0255217&tid=230
> 2. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/08/1410231&tid=95
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 27, 2008, at 11:51 PM, Dave Sevick wrote:
>
>> This was passed on to me from a fellow Apple user ....
>>
>>
>>> Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,
>>>
>>> We appreciate your business and strive to provide you with the best
>>> online experience possible. One of the ways we do this is through
>>> our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP outlines acceptable use of
>>> our service as well as steps we take to protect our customers from
>>> things that can negatively impact their experience online. This
>>> policy has been in place for many years and we update it
>>> periodically to keep it current with our customers' use of our
>>> service.
>>>
>>> On October 1, 2008, we will post an updated AUP that will go into
>>> effect at that time.
>>>
>>> In the updated AUP, we clarify that monthly data (or bandwidth)
>>> usage of more than 250 Gigabytes (GB) is the specific threshold that
>>> defines excessive use of our service. We have an excessive use
>>> policy because a fraction of one percent of our customers use such a
>>> disproportionate amount of bandwidth every month that they may
>>> degrade the online experience of other customers.
>>>
>>> 250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of bandwidth and it's very
>>> likely that your monthly data usage doesn't even come close to that
>>> amount. In fact, the threshold is approximately 100 times greater
>>> than the typical or median residential customer usage, which is 2 to
>>> 3 GB/month. To put it in perspective, to reach 250 GB of data usage
>>> in one month a customer would have to do any one of the following:
>>>
>>> * Send more than 50 million plain text emails (at 5 KB/email);
>>> * Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song); or
>>> * Download 125 standard definition movies (at 2 GB/movie).
>>>
>>> And online gamers should know that even the heaviest multi- or
>>> single-player gaming activity would not typically come close to this
>>> threshold over the course of a month.
>>>
>>> In addition to modifying the excessive use policy, the updated AUP
>>> contains other clarifications of terms concerning reporting
>>> violations, newsgroups, and network management. To read some helpful
>>> FAQs, please visit http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use
>>> .
>>>
>>> Thank you again for choosing Comcast as your high-speed Internet
>>> provider.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> ````````````````````````````
>> Dave Sevick Consulting
>> Apple Certified Support Professional 10.5
>> Apple User Group Ambassador
>> Apple Recycling in Pittsburgh
>> Helping people use technology in Pittsburgh
>> Western PA, WV, OH, MD ... Since 1988
>>
>> 724.779.0099 mobile/office
>> dave at davesevick.com
>> http://www.davesevick.com
>> ````````````````````````````
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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