Comcast to cap data monthly maximum at 250gb

[Manedwolf]

First time, you get a warning. Second time, you lose service for a year. They do not want you streaming TV shows and downloading movies from NetFlix or iTunes and bypassing their $$$ DIGITAL PSEUDO-HD. And yes, if you watch a few HD shows a week, leave music streaming, and use a lot of VoIP phone service that isn't Comcast's, you can go over that easily. If you play on Xbox Live, regularly download game demos or patches, it makes it even worse.

Why should they care? It's not like you have an alternative in most areas.

Starting October 1 customers of Comcast's residential data services will have an invisible barrier on their monthly data usage. Under the new guidelines of Comcast's Acceptable Use Policy announced Thursday, that cap will be set at 250 gigabytes per month, per account.

Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast's customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second-time offense means the service is immediately suspended for an entire calendar year.

Surprisingly the company is not providing any tools to help users monitor their current usage. An FAQ on Comcast's support site simply suggests that customers do a "Web search" for bandwidth metering software that will track this amount for them. Going forward there may be plans to set up alerts over certain thresholds, or bundle some official tool as part of the company's starter software.

Comcast notes that the median usage for most residential customers falls somewhere between 2GB and 3GB, a number that is regularly broken within a matter of hours and sometimes minutes by customers taking advantage of streaming HD video and online backup services.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10028506-2.html?tag=mncol;txt

Thursday's news about the upcoming 250 GB monthly cap for Comcast data subscribers left some questions unanswered. I shot a few of my own, as well as some from readers over to Comcast to get them answered. These are mostly items that did not appear in both the post about the amendment, or the otherwise comprehensive FAQ page. Comcast representative Bill G. got back to me with these answers:

Q: Will people who go over for the second time be able to challenge the account suspension, or is the two strikes and you're out policy the standard?
Bill G: Once the customer goes over the second time then that's it.

Will there be a usage meter available on Comcast subscriber's online account information?
Bill G.: Comcast is developing a meter to track your bandwidth but for the time being you can google bandwidth meters and any of those will work.

Will you be offering larger bandwidth packages for home businesses or "excessive users?"
Bill G.: No packages at this time is being offered for larger bandwidth.

How does this factor in with users of your Digital Voice service? On average how much bandwidth does that service take up?
Bill G.: Digital voice has no affect on this, the 250 gig cap is allotted for just downloads.

We've also had some questions about the bandwidth averages cited on this page. 2-3 GB median monthly bandwidth seems incredibly low, as does the figure for how large an e-mail is (0.05KB/e-mail). Most messages in my inbox hover between 10-50k. Was it a typo for 0.05MB?
Bill G.: To give an example 250 gigabytes per month is enough to handle 50 high-definition movies, 250 standard-definition movies or more then 6,000 songs every month.

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10028992-12.html

Suggested new slogan. "We're Comcast. F__ you, and pay your bill."

[Ben]

Well, I can only hope other cable companies don't follow them down that road. Movie watching aside (which I like to do) that would kill my telecommuting since I work with big files.

[Scout26]

Soooooo Comcast is following HK's marketing plan ??

[Manedwolf]

Well, I can only hope other cable companies don't follow them down that road. Movie watching aside (which I like to do) that would kill my telecommuting since I work with big files.

I wonder how many people working at home will be knocked out when they try to use an online backup service.

There is no FiOS here. Comcast's craptacular service is the only high-speed there is for home office.

[drewtam]

I dropped Comcast several weeks ago for billing for items I didn't buy/want; plus their non-existent customer service to resolve the problems. In the meantime I switched to a local aDSL company. I find my speeds are comparable and Netflicks movie watching unhindered. Give DSL a try, I've been pleased with the results. And no more comcast! Yay!

[MicroBalrog]

I don't understand; if they suspend your account, how can they keep earning money from you?

[PTK]

I'll be calling Comcast early next week to confirm this in my area. If true, I'll be dropping off the grid for a while until I find a new service - capped internet is NOT something I'm willing to pay for.

[K Frame]

"Surprisingly the company is not providing any tools to help users monitor their current usage."

No, this is Comcast. There's absolutely NO surprise there.

Verizon FIOS, folks.

Put Comcast out of business.

[Gewehr98]

Verizon FIOS, folks.

Wonderful stuff, if you can get it.  Verizon ain't exactly offering it everywhere, though.

[Manedwolf]

Verizon FIOS, folks.

Wonderful stuff, if you can get it.  Verizon ain't exactly offering it everywhere, though.

Not here anytime. There is no Verizon anymore here.

Verizon sold NH's landline service to FairPoint, who not only has no plans to do FiOS, but started their reign by losing phone service to hundreds of thousands of customers for 11 hours...and also returning to paper billing, because they don't have a website ready for that and don't expect to anytime soon.

I expect them to return to four-digit numbers following a town name, next.

I have a choice of Comcast, or Comcast. Or pointing a cantenna out the window at an office park on a distant hill, which isn't exactly ethical or secure.

[Marnoot]

Comcast is the only viable option for me, unfortunately. Qwest is the local bell company, and they've only got the DSL infrastructure up to 1.5 Mbps in my neighborhood. They've announced plans for FTTN (fiber to the node, would speed up DSL), but I'm not holding my breath to see it in my area any time soon. Some areas of Utah are getting fiber to the home under the UTOPIA project, but my city has not opted in.

[thebaldguy]

I used Qwest DSL from 1999-2004 as it was the only hi speed internet service. It wasn't very good. My speeds were nowhere the promised numbers. The internet connection would quit for no reason. Their customer service was worthless. In 2004, cable internet became available, and I got Time Warner which was faster and more reliable for about the same price. 

Then we got "migrated" to Comcast. Speed dropped, costs when up, and service is pretty bad. When I called about the speed decrease, I was told there was nothing they could do, and I would have to live with it. I knew about the caps coming. It's still eat all you want, but don't eat too much bandwith or Comcast will charge you more. Supposedly this cap will only affect a small percentage of their customers, but I have a feeling it's going to be a lot more.

Our city of Minneapolis is installing a wi-fi internet system, but it's not going too well. The entire city was supposed to be done a year ago, but two major neighborhoods (one is mine) are still not done, with no indication when it will be complete. It's supposed to be a 1.5 MB connection, but most people are not getting anywhere near that and the signal can be poor. At least it's cheaper than Comcast.

Here's a good site for hi speed internet; lots of info, news, and tools for your internet.

www.dslreports.com

[roo_ster]

I don't understand; if they suspend your account, how can they keep earning money from you?

They don't want customers that actually use their service much.

Very similar to gyms & memberships: they want the members who sign up, work out for a week, then never go again.

If folks actually use the bandwidth that is advertised, Comcast might have to provide service...as advertised.

MW's last line prety much summed it up.

[MicroBalrog]

They don't want customers that actually use their service much.

250 GB is not all that much per month.

[Sergeant Bob]

Bill G.: To give an example 250 gigabytes per month is enough to handle 50 high-definition movies, 250 standard-definition movies or more then 6,000 songs every month.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, this statement sounds like absolute B.S. to me.

50 HD movies is only 250gb's? I know to get a standard def movie on a basic DVD rom (4.7gb) you have to shrink it down. That would sort of negate his claim that you could get 250 SD movies (wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to put 5 movies on one DVDrom?). Most of my MP3's are about 5mb's so I'm not seeing how he's getting 6000 songs out of 250gb's.

Must be that new math.

[Vodka7]

Alright, as a serious net user, 250gigs is actually a decent amount.  Remember that Time Warner and others are test marketing caps of 50 or less.

I've only received the "Comcast Call" once, and that was a month when I went over 500gigs.  On a normal month, including two roommates, our total data transferred (up and down) averages out to about 80g a month, with 60 being the median.  And these aren't guesses, these are exact figures from my router.

As much as I hate caps, I appreciate their new found transparency.

Bill G.: To give an example 250 gigabytes per month is enough to handle 50 high-definition movies, 250 standard-definition movies or more then 6,000 songs every month.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, this statement sounds like absolute B.S. to me.

50 HD movies is only 250gb's? I know to get a standard def movie on a basic DVD rom (4.7gb) you have to shrink it down. That would sort of negate his claim that you could get 250 SD movies (wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to put 5 movies on one DVDrom?). Most of my MP3's are about 5mb's so I'm not seeing how he's getting 6000 songs out of 250gb's.

Must be that new math.

6kx5m = 30000megs or 30 gigs.  30 is less than 250.
An HD movie encoded to x264 is, depending on length, either 4.37 gigs or 8.4.  Usually 4.37.  4.37x50 = 218.5 gigs, which is also less than 250.
Math is right.

[LAK]

So what happens to those using Comcast on rented property on a network of a hundred or more users?

[never_retreat]

So what happens to those using Comcast on rented property on a network of a hundred or more users?

You get screwed by the comcast gods.
Fwi I'm stuck with there craptastic service also. Although I can get dsl now but I going to bet it will still be slower than comcast. Actually I don't have many complaints with their internet but the cable sucks.
I don't want cspan or the shopping networks I want the military channel.

[Vodka7]

So what happens to those using Comcast on rented property on a network of a hundred or more users?

Something like that should have business class cable, which doesn't have these caps.

[Sergeant Bob]

In my more lucid moments I'm actually pretty good at math...

[PTK]

So what happens to those using Comcast on rented property on a network of a hundred or more users?

Something like that should have business class cable, which doesn't have these caps.

So if I'm in an apartment complex, which is it - is there a cap, isn't there, is it considered a residential line, is it on a large commercial line, what?

[Ben]

You can have either one. A business account generally provides you with some static IPs, some "guaranteed" bandwidth, higher upload speeds, and usually no caps. You just pay more for it. Someone running a business out of their apartment could have business service, their neighbor could have residential service and a cap, but be paying significantly less.

[Vodka7]

So what happens to those using Comcast on rented property on a network of a hundred or more users?

Something like that should have business class cable, which doesn't have these caps.

So if I'm in an apartment complex, which is it - is there a cap, isn't there, is it considered a residential line, is it on a large commercial line, what?

Call the complex manager and ask.  I mean, if you pay your bill to Comcast, then you definitely have the cap.  If your pay your landlord, it could be one of two things: a) a giant commercial account, no caps, or b) I forget the word for it, but basically the landlord opens X psuedo-residential accounts in their name for a discount and basically sublets them out to you.  Situation B is exceedingly rare, or at least was at the cable company I worked for (not Comcast.)  If it's B, you basically have a discounted residential account, and you will have the cap.

[red headed stranger]

It sounds like they are not interested in ever getting into the video on demand business. 

[RocketMan]

I had occasion to call their customer service folks late last night for a cable TV related problem.  While we were waiting for my cable box to reboot, the service tech let slip that they will be bumping data rates again next year, this time by a significant amount.
Download speeds are currently at 8-12mbs in this area, and after a system upgrade, they will be capable of near 50mbs.  The idea is to compete with FiOS.
We will be able to hit the data cap and get The Call" more quickly that way.