SOB Comcast did it to me!

broni · 2008/09/15

Today, I received following email:

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.
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At Comcast web site, it says:

What will happen if a customer exceeds 250 GB of data usage in a month?

The vast majority - more than 99% - of Comcast customers will not be impacted by a 250 GB monthly bandwidth or data usage threshold. If a customer exceeds more than 250 GB and is one of the heaviest data users who consume the most data on our high-speed Internet service, he or she may receive a call from Comcast's Customer Security Assurance ( "CSA ") group to notify them of excessive use. At that time, Comcast will tell the customer exactly how much data per month he or she had used.

If a customer surpasses 250 GB and is one of the top users of the service for a second time within a six-month timeframe, his or her service will be subject to termination for one year. After the one year period expires, the customer may resume service by subscribing to a service plan appropriate to his or her needs.
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I just read the above mail, so I'm still munching on it. ****** off, that's for sure.

Admin. · 2008/09/15

Not only to you.

It makes total sense to me.

250GB/30 days = 8.33GB a day. You think you'll ever use that?!

I'm 'doing' around 33 GB a month.

noahdfear · 2008/09/15

This is due to all the p2p users and botnets bogging down the available bandwidth, preventing not only the average user from having a good online experience, but affecting many businesses that depend on high quality service as well. Expected, and needed IMO. 250GB a month ........ that's a lot of usage.

broni · 2008/09/15

I understand well, what you're saying, but that's not the point.
This is about principle:
UNLIMITED Internet
This is what I signed for, and it doesn't matter to me, if I use 1gig a month, or 100gig.

Greed: you give them a finger, soon, they'll ask for a whole hand.

AKAJohnDoe · 2008/09/15

I understand. I was equally irritated when Sprint capped my unlimited plan at 5GB and I immediately cancelled it.

Still, 250GB would be tough to exceed at this time.

Admin. · 2008/09/15

"broni said: ↑

I understand well, what you're saying, but that's not the point.
This is about principle:
UNLIMITED Internet
This is what I signed for, and it doesn't matter to me, if I use 1gig a month, or 100gig.
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Sure, and now they change the conditions. Which is their right to do.

noahdfear · 2008/09/15

It's not about greed. It's about shutting down botted and p2p networks that are consuming so much bandwidth that other customers are being deprived of what they pay for, which is reliable service with a nominal amount of available bandwidth. Are you really willing to sacrifice your internet speed to allow those machines to continue infecting millions of users around the world, just for the satisfaction of knowing your own usage is unlimited? 250GB ..... might as well be unlimited.

broni · 2008/09/15

I'm not worrying about 250gig. I'll never exceed it.
My concern is: today it's 250gig, tomorrow, maybe 100gig?

noahdfear · 2008/09/15

I would guess that Comcast did significant studies to determine that 250 GB allotment, and wouldn't expect that to change any time soon, if at all. At any rate, why spend today worrying about tomorrow? Just get through today and if tomorrow brings a change you cannot sit still for, deal with it tomorrow.

broni · 2008/09/15

I try to live by carpe diem, but....

noahdfear · 2008/09/15

Understandable broni, but again, no doubt Comcast did extensive studies before implementing this change ........ not as if they just picked some random number on a whim. It's unlikely that number will be revised any time soon. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you actually see an increase in your transfer speeds because of this. After all, taking down the machines that are eating up the available bandwidth leaves more for whoever is left to share/divide.

broni · 2008/09/15

It's unlikely that number will be revised any time soon.
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You pay half of my monthly bill, if it'll happen again, deal??....LOL

noahdfear · 2008/09/15

If I take up a collection, would that suffice?

If it changes any time soon, I'll start a campaign to spam Comcast with emails about how wrong they are to do that to you.

broni · 2008/09/15

I'll start a campaign to spam Comcast with emails about how wrong they are to do that to you
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Fair enough

AKAJohnDoe · 2008/09/15

"broni said: ↑

I'm not worrying about 250gig. I'll never exceed it.
My concern is: today it's 250gig, tomorrow, maybe 100gig?
Click to expand...

I try to avoid pre-traumatic stress disorders. In other words, I try not to worry about what has not happened yet.

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