<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">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.<div><br><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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).</div><div>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.)</div><div><br></div><div>This means a cap of 250GB translates to about 70 hours of use at full capacity.</div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>If Comcast's network can't handle the load of it's users actually <i>using</i> the service at the level that Comcast is selling it, they should stop selling it at that level. </div><div><br></div><div>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."</div><div><br></div><div>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. </div><div><br></div><div>But to pretend this isn't a big deal, and something that existing Comcast customers shouldn't be upset about, is ridiculous. </div><div><br></div><div>If Comcast can't provide their customers the service promised, they need to change the promise. Otherwise it's false advertising. </div><div><br></div><div>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." </div><div><br></div><div>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. </div><div>Frankly, this is a class-action lawsuit begging to happen.</div><div><br></div><div>And people wonder why the US is falling behind Europe and Asia when it comes to Internet connectivity.</div><div><br></div><div>Charles </div><div>(Living in a household of 2 people who *each* easily consume 500GB/month in data)</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Sep 27, 2008, at 2:40 PM, Greg Simkins biz wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>This new policy was also the subject of a recent Slashdot article. It <br>makes sense to me. I don't know why people feel they have a <br>constitutional right to unlimited bandwidth (as nice as that would be).<br><br>Greg<br><br><br>+--------------------------------------------------------------------+<br>| Comcast Outlines New Broadband Policy |<br>| from the knowledge-is-power dept. |<br>| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 24, @16:49 (The Internet|<br>| <a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/24/1941221">http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/24/1941221</a> |<br>+--------------------------------------------------------------------+<br><br>Slatterz writes "US cable provider Comcast has presented its [0]long- <br>term<br>solution for managing broadband traffic. The new system is set at <br>putting<br>to bed a minor scandal that erupted around the company when it was found<br>that Comcast [1]deliberately limited traffic for certain applications.<br>The company said that under its new system, traffic will be analyzed<br>every fifteen minutes. Users who are found to be occupying large amounts<br>of bandwidth will be placed at a lower priority for network access <br>behind<br>users with less bandwidth-intensive traffic. The new system will not<br>replace or be related to the company's earlier installment of bandwidth<br>caps, which [2]limited a user's data intake to 250GB per month."<br><br>Discuss this story at:<br> <a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/09/24/1941221">http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/09/24/1941221</a><br><br>Links:<br> 0. <a href="http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/123579,comcast-outlines-new-broadband-policy.aspx">http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/123579,comcast-outlines-new-broadband-policy.aspx</a><br> 1. <a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/20/0255217&tid=230">http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/20/0255217&tid=230</a><br> 2. <a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/08/1410231&tid=95">http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/08/1410231&tid=95</a><br><br><br><br><br>On Sep 27, 2008, at 11:51 PM, Dave Sevick wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">This was passed on to me from a fellow Apple user ....<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">We appreciate your business and strive to provide you with the best<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">online experience possible. One of the ways we do this is through<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP outlines acceptable use of<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">our service as well as steps we take to protect our customers from<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">things that can negatively impact their experience online. This<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">policy has been in place for many years and we update it<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">periodically to keep it current with our customers' use of our<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">service.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">On October 1, 2008, we will post an updated AUP that will go into<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">effect at that time.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">In the updated AUP, we clarify that monthly data (or bandwidth)<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">usage of more than 250 Gigabytes (GB) is the specific threshold that<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">defines excessive use of our service. We have an excessive use<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">policy because a fraction of one percent of our customers use such a<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">disproportionate amount of bandwidth every month that they may<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">degrade the online experience of other customers.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of bandwidth and it's very<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">likely that your monthly data usage doesn't even come close to that<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">amount. In fact, the threshold is approximately 100 times greater<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">than the typical or median residential customer usage, which is 2 to<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">3 GB/month. To put it in perspective, to reach 250 GB of data usage<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">in one month a customer would have to do any one of the following:<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">* Send more than 50 million plain text emails (at 5 KB/email);<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">* Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song); or<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">* Download 125 standard definition movies (at 2 GB/movie).<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">And online gamers should know that even the heaviest multi- or<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">single-player gaming activity would not typically come close to this<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">threshold over the course of a month.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">In addition to modifying the excessive use policy, the updated AUP<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">contains other clarifications of terms concerning reporting<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">violations, newsgroups, and network management. To read some helpful<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">FAQs, please visit <a href="http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use">http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use</a><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Thank you again for choosing Comcast as your high-speed Internet<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">provider.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">````````````````````````````<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Dave Sevick Consulting<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Apple Certified Support Professional 10.5<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Apple User Group Ambassador<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Apple Recycling in Pittsburgh<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Helping people use technology in Pittsburgh<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Western PA, WV, OH, MD ... Since 1988<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">724.779.0099 mobile/office<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="mailto:dave@davesevick.com">dave@davesevick.com</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.davesevick.com">http://www.davesevick.com</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">````````````````````````````<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">_______________________________________________<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">NPMUG mailing list<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="mailto:NPMUG@davesevick.com">NPMUG@davesevick.com</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://davesevick.com/mailman/listinfo/npmug">http://davesevick.com/mailman/listinfo/npmug</a><br></blockquote><br>_______________________________________________<br>NPMUG mailing list<br><a href="mailto:NPMUG@davesevick.com">NPMUG@davesevick.com</a><br>http://davesevick.com/mailman/listinfo/npmug<br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>