Comcast Limiting Residential Internet

Comcast Downloads Starting October 1st Comcast will enforce a pre-existing limit to residential broadband internet access of 250 gigabytes a month.

by Chad Petri

Published: Fri, September 19, 2008 - 3:13 am CST Last Updated: Fri, September 19, 2008 - 3:48 am CST

John Strope describes himself as a heavy internet user.

“I'm on the internet constantly surfing the web, checking e-mail doing all that,” says Strope. As a Comcast customer with his habits he says it'll be tough to reach that cap.

“You would have to download roughly 60,000 songs a month, roughly 100 hours of video or send 50 million e-mail messages in order to exceed that cap,” says Michal “Webby” Douglas. He runs Web Operations.net. He says Comcast sets a big precedent. Douglas says people keep downloading bigger files with 10-megapixel cameras and online video. Douglas says it's strange that Comcast isn't giving users a tool to monitor their own use.

“It's like the phone or water company giving you a bill without you knowing how much you used,” says Douglas. While most users will probably never hit that bandwidth cap some are just upset that something they thought of as unlimited has come to an end

“The internet may be infinite, but the on ramps and the connectivity that's required to get you there certainly can't be unlimited forever it's like unlimited water or electricity, at some point you have to pay for what you use,” says Douglas. Comcast officials say bandwidth limits have been in place for months, but this is the first time they're going public with a specific number. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi hardware at home, like the I-phone, users like John Strope see that bar eventually getting passed.

“Downloading a lot of movies online you know I do see it coming into play down the road,” says Strope. Comcast officials say the first violation of the bandwidth cap will result in a phone call request to limit internet use. After a second violation is six months, Comcast officials say they reserve the right to suspend service.

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Razorsharp Says:

Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:24 am

Thanks for the tip. I might just try that route and see if I can get a result. After all, I am paying them for a service that I am unhappy with. Thanks again Opinionwriter.

Opinionwriter Says:

Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 10:46 am

Not to make it sound like they never sent a service technician, they did. The poor guy just couldn’t find anything wrong because the amplifier only dropped out for an hour here and there. It ended up they had to sit and monitor the line for hours until they figure it out. Something they won’t do unless you call often and put pressure on them. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”

Opinionwriter Says:

Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 10:36 am

Razorsharp, I understand your grief. When I first started with Comcast internet I had intermittent outages over a six month period. I game a lot and any small data disruption means getting kicked offline so I was pretty unhappy. I called in every day I had a problem and got a refund for that day because lost money is the only language Comcast understands. Eventually I spoke with the customer service manager for Mobile County and they sent out a crew and figured out an amplifier was going bad. Now my service has been great every since. I recommend you run a line quality testing tool from http://www.dslreports.com/linequality and also smoke ping http://www.dslreports.com/smokeping to see when your connection is dropping out. I’m telling you, when Verizon gets FiOS service in our area Comcast is going to find out how unhappy folks are when they have a choice.

Razorsharp Says:

Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 10:05 am

I am really not that happy with the performance of Comcast Internet. I lose connection often and it seems to lag more often than what I would think is acceptable. There are no other high-speed internet options in my area though. My parents live on the Eastern Shore and use Mediacom and their service is much better and actually less expensive than Comcast. I am getting tired of paying $60 a month for spotty service.

Opinionwriter Says:

Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 8:10 am

The limit (not stated in the article) is 250GB per month or 250,000 megabytes. While the limit is reasonable and most won’t come close to this, there is a real problem with not giving customers a way to meter their usage. It’s like giving someone a really fast car without a speedometer. Cell phone companies let you log in to your account to see your minutes, and Comcast should let users log in to see their use. It’s only reasonable since the data is already in their system… they just don’t want to do it. If I can’t meter my usage I will cancel my service after the first call about going over the limit. Verizon can’t get their Fios service here soon enough. If you agree that they should give you a way to meter then call them and let them know.