What is Digg?352 Comments
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+88That's great. Just stop advertising the service as "unlimited", but rather "up to 90 gigs a month"
Yay, truth in advertising. - timpkmn89, on 10/10/2007, -4/+67Verizon doesn't have any caps period. I've had my upload maxed out for most of the time I've had it (~3 years of seeding torrents), and have never got even a notice.
- smokeyphikap420, on 10/10/2007, -1/+62I have Comcast and am desperately looking to get rid of them, but my lone alternative here in Pittsburgh is Verizon, and I don't know much about how good their DSL service is. I do know that Comcast's service and support both suck, so I can't imagine it getting any worse if I switch.
- faceninja, on 10/10/2007, -6/+40Copy pasted from a recent /. thread, dunno about it's accuracy but it seems to make sense:
"I spoke with a comcast friend of mine who is at the executive level about two weeks ago on this... He said that the reason they do not want ot specify the exactly amount is that most of the time they do not care because they have plenty of throughput. Meaning, because their network is mostly shared (unlike the telcos) bottelnecks do occur from time to time. He saids that most of their subnets are fine (over 90% in fact), but occasionally they get a couple areas where he says they constantly have problems with getting their digital services to work well and they almost always find that it is because of huge amounts of p2p traffic. He also said that in an ideal world this would be handled at the network level, but that their p2p limiting ability does not work at this point for balancing balancing the traffic. He said he had no clue what routers they are using, though... He said that the worst part is that in some cases, if they upgrade their "uplink" (my word, not his) to fix the issue, it just means that more traffic, and the problem still is there. In short, the end result is that when they have allot of customers call in saying they are having problems with their service in a particular area, they first try to upgrade their "uplink", then if that does not work, they tell the particular customers to please stop it, and in the few cases where this does not work then they finally just pull the plug on the problematic customer. He mentioned that it rarely happens, though, which is why they are completely baffled internally on why the press is so against on them right now..." - CosmicJustice, on 10/10/2007, -5/+39Nobody seems to get it. If you download more than 90GB a month then Comcast WANTS you to go away. You are not a good customer. They are losing money on you. They will not feel bad if you cancel your service. They hope that you will cancel your service so they can sell the bandwidth to someone else. So YES it is time for you to go somewhere else.
- cmajewski, on 10/10/2007, -13/+44No wonder why DSL is so slow...
- yourmanstan, on 10/10/2007, -3/+31well...one more reason to not use comcast ...or time warner for that reason
but it is reasonable to limit usage if it degrades everyone's usage. i have a much bigger problem with the sales pitch: unlimited internet. then read the fine print - oh, unlimited internet actually means LIMITED internet. - str3ama, on 10/10/2007, -1/+26still better then what I have , 60gb limit and severe packet sniffing and traffic-shaping from the country's greatest Media Monopoly with Rogers.
- BRODEL, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2390GB? That can't be right. If it was, comcast would of kicked me off LONG ago... I have a friend at work that was kicked off and since then I have been monitoring my use, I still use 150 - 200 GB. I think he said they told him he had downloaded over 400.. that was my figure to stay away from.
- acs12798, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20That would be Verizon Wireless's terms of use. Not Verizon DSL..
- thewho, on 10/10/2007, -4/+21I am a film maker and I have comcast. Alot of times i must upload targa files which range from 4-16MB per frame. there are 24 frames in 1 second of film. So every 1 second i upload is 192MB and every minute of raw film i upload is a total of 11.5GB or 11,508.48 to be exact. Every week i upload around roughly 5 minutes (the length of the average music video) to a client. That equals 57GB/week of upload. And if i do that 4 times per month that's a total of 228GB upload. Then most the time i download around 200GB/month of targa files for my business as well. So that's making my total comcast bandwidth consumption per month 428GB combined before any leisure activity's such as youtube/myspace/other various downloads. I would say on average i use 500gb/month of comcasts bw. I have never been disconnected or given a warning. In fact, if i was disconnected without a warning, i would then think about suing comcast for claiming its "unlimited". I would then ask comcast to pay me for the money i have lost due to my business depending on their "unlimited service".
- Nossie, on 10/10/2007, -2/+18no, but it is no to tell them they are when its an 'unlimited' service
- pak314, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17I think they will kick you off only if your usage starts impacting other customers in the branch of your cable network.
- Boing, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17Damnit, 90GB. I was playing it safe...now that I know for sure I have some serious catching up to do on porn downloading.
- hijacktheleft, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I have comcast, and my internet has been losing connection a lot lately. The technician will come out and not be able to find anything wrong, so he'll call the office and they'll do something and it'll "magically" come back on. About a month later, it'll do the same thing. It's gotten to be a monthly occurance. They haven't said anything about bandwidth limitations though. But I guess they wouldn't.
- argolis, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15Sorry, but I have limited sympathy for people who complain about a 90GB cap. Many providers in the UK still enfoce caps of less than 10GB, or at least peak time caps. With speed throttling of anything remotely useful (FTP, bittorrent etc)
Besides, with the exception of downloading huge amounts of video, I cant imagine hitting anywhere near that amount of bandwidth. - TroubleInMind, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Or they would tell you that you, film dude, are a business customer, and require you to upgrade to business class service, which would give you a MUCH higher upload speed for your completely important films and improve the quality of your life immensely.
- deadbaby, on 10/10/2007, -3/+14It's not even about piracy anymore. Comcast is trying to stifle online video sales from providers like iTunes, Xbox MarketPlace, Amazon, NetFlix streaming video, etc so they can promote their own premium TV packages. From the Comcast perspective anyone spending "only" $50 a month on Internet service is a customer NOT spending $100+ on cable TV packages. They clearly have a huge conflict of interest here. If Comcast cannnot guarantee an open, fair, internet service the FCC needs to act. It's time for tighter federal price controls on Internet & TV service and tougher franchise renewal agreements. The FCC shouldn't allow ISPs to stifle the natural growth of a new medium.
- DarkMeld, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11thats for cellphones
- meersan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11It's very simple. When you call to cancel your Comcast service, tell the friendly customer servicebot that you'll be writing your state attorney general and you'd like to know who in their company to CC. Then write an actual physical letter to the AG and follow through.
I just got DSL installed and I'm excited to be an ex-Comcast customer very soon. Yes, DSL is slower, but anything is faster than zero. Comcast recently acquired TimeWarner Broadband here in Minneapolis, and immediately afterward they shutdown bittorrent seeding, at least in my area. DSL is great. I can upload faster than Comcast ever let me, not to mention I can actually seed again.
This is what happens, Comcast. Listen to your customers. Or feel the pain. - Buelldozer, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11An HD movie from XBox Live is around 4G. You'd only need one a night to exceed the 90G monthly limit. Now tell me how that qualifies as a business or illegal downloading?
You can't because it doesn't. You don't know what you're talking about so why don't you pipe down and let the big people discuss it mmmmkay? - BRODEL, on 10/10/2007, -4/+13Too bad it's not in the "fine print" either...
- andrew522, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10I have roadrunner, but not with Time Warner, its with Insight (only in columbus, ohio). I download so much stuff (gigs a day) and have never hit any limit.
I've only heard once about a person who had multiple torrents open constantly dumping the files into 2 TB of usb drives, and after SEVERAL months, they cut his connection to 512k. (standard is 5mb/512k)
not bad. - nogami, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10Yup! Their idea of a good customer is someone who pays their bill every month but uses no services whatsoever. Most efficient way to make money. Every byte you download is less profit for them.
And they like profit... - dcbebop, on 10/10/2007, -4/+12Is there a DSL service out there that DOESN'T have a minimum term in their service contract? ***** that *****.
- dicerandom, on 10/10/2007, -0/+790 gigabytes a month = 0.28 megabits per second sustained. So, if you listen to a 128kb mp3 stream and happen to leave it running (I often do this when I find an internet radio station that I enjoy) you've already used half of your allotted bandwidth.
- darkane, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8That means you can download at a constant rate of only 35KB/s. First Comcast ruins the internet, then they ruin TechTV, then go back to ruining the internet. I feel sorry for the people whose only option is Comcast.
- Amablue, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Actually it is. http://www.comcast.net/terms/use.jsp
About two thirds the way down under "Network, Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations"
It's still pretty vague, but it is there. - cwgannon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8AT&T
- scottelsdon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+790 GB is a dream for me, here in NZ we have to buy chunks per month, currently I'm on a 30 GB a month which costs $NZ 100, plus I have to lease the land line for $NZ50 a month. to add insult the max speed is only 5 GB if I'm lucky, at night with the contention ratios its more like dial up. New Zealand, nice place to visit, but the internet offerings is so 90's
- BRODEL, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9A friend of mine who has FIOS called and asked and they told him there was no limit and that his only limit was his 30mb/sec.
- seek205, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8That's funny! I was banned for using 180 GIGS a MONTH! yeah well, they tried to say I have had a virus and what not... But I know better than that.. That was the first warning, then I got banned for 12 months after using 182 GIGS the next month. Yeah well I don't use that much bandwidth. I couldn't prove them wrong because they can't look up my "records", well I was forced to get DSL at a slower speed (that's when I got the "proof") My modem light blinked non-stop with comcast I thought it was normal. But when I plugged in my DSL modem the lights didn't blink.. Hmm defective hardware. it came from my MAC address so it must be true. More like defective hardware.. and they say they cant do nothing.. The 12 month ban goes all the way to the President. I can call the legal department, but when I get ahold of them it's the "internet police" and they won't let me talk to them! ***** Comcast
- Conquerist, on 10/10/2007, -5/+11DSL is slow? ADSL supports up to 8 Mbps, however most NA DSL providers only sell you 6 Mbps connections. However with ADSL2+ you can reach 24 Mbps down, 3.5 Mbps up. In most European countries you can get 16, 20, or 24 Mbps service in major cities. Given that the US population is very clustered in a few dozen cities, a 50% population coverage with ADSL2+ shouldn't be hard to achive.
And of course you get your own dedicated line with DSL, unlike a cable connection which you've gotta share with the neighborhood. - BRODEL, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8Per hour fees? WTF are you talking about?
- misterhektik, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5This is what happened to me when I had Comcast. I average maybe 250gb~ a month from usenet and towards the end of the month, my speeds would suddenly drop and the connection would go on/off; then would be fine the next month. Maybe some markets are just a bit more lenient? I was in the Dallas area at the time.
- Arkz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Why is everything such a rip in Britain? i have cable 20mb/768kb for £37.99/month, that's about $75 doll hairs!
and the customer support people on Virgin Media suck! most the the time I'm talkin to some guy in india, he doesn't have a clue how it works and i can barely understand him anyway! he answers and is like Hallo my name is Frank... I'm like......yeah sure it is... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+9Only 90 GB a month?!? You can only download 128 illegal movies a month! How can one survive!?
- DCJoeDogaswell, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6I also love how all ISP's advertise downloading music and movies off the net, but they never tell you it's illegal in any of the commercials either.
- XiozTzu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6You use 60GB a month are you ***** me!
- bradleyland, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6"And of course you get your own dedicated line with DSL, unlike a cable connection which you've gotta share with the neighborhood."
Most DSL customers do not have a direct line to the CO, so you end up terminating at a DSLAM. I live in a pseudo-metropolitan area, and until the last year or so, the DSLAMs in our area were fed by bonded T1 lines. Depending upon the load in the area, they'd increase the number of T1 lines. Most were fed by one or two DS3s, which give you around 6 mbps each. These are 24-port DSLAMs. That math doesn't work in the customer's favor. End up on an overloaded DSLAM, and you're screwed, just like your neighbor who is on cable. AT&T's stated strategy is fiber-to-the-node, which means all these DSLAMs will be fiber fed in the very near future. Their target is gigabit over fiber, but that doesn't help their last mile situation.
The "dedicated line" claim that so many DSL advocates make only holds up to the degree that your "dedicated line" infrastructure can deliver, and no matter how you slice it, phone companies that rely on old POTS copper pair infrastructure have the worst last mile in the business. Only Verizon, with their fiber-to-the-premises (using PON) strategy is in a good spot to leapfrog the cable companies in terms of available bandwidth.
For the near term, cable companies are going to mop the floor with the telcos when it comes to bandwidth because of the readily available DOCSIS 3.0 specification. Verizon will kick much ass as their FTTP plans play out, and AT&T is going to be stuck with their ***** in hand given the fact that they've put their weight behind ADSL2+. Guess they should have made good on their multi-billion dollar promise of fiber to every home after all. - aussieNickuss, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It gets to the point where an external HDD through express post is both quicker, cheaper and fairer to your fellow internet using neighbors.
- slut, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Keep up the bad press, maybe if it gets more attention they'll do something about their terrible network.
- nogami, on 10/10/2007, -5/+9Yup, and 640k is enough RAM, right?
- louiedog, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Let's say you don't have cable TV, instead you download your shows from a service like xbox live. An hour of HD programming is equal to about 2GB. That means you'd hit 90 GB by watching an hour and a half of TV a day or one short movie. That's not an insane amount of TV. Of course I doubt many people watch that much downloaded content from a service like that, but use is growing quickly.
- Sabin76, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7The one thing I'm not looking forward to in coming back to the States. Here in Japan I get 50Mbps for less than $60 a month. I hope prices drop or speeds increase by the time I get back.
- cultist667, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Get verizon and screw comcast especially now with that lifetime price deal. Their are no caps as I know with them at least on the $15 plan and they don't traffic shape.
- Hollic, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7I don't know, I'm pretty sure I go through 90GB a month downloading legitimate video files, etc (I do video compositing work) so to have a cap means they shouldn't be able to advertise it as unlimited (they do). I don't use them at the moment, but it's good to know since I will have to move at some point. I certainly don't want to move anywhere that forces me to use Comcast if that's going to be their position for the future.
- JasonsLan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4ever heard of IPTV ? or VONGO? only a couple days and you're screwed...
- drjekelmrhyde, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I read on Broadbandreports once that people were hitting up to 400GB a month before getting capped off podcasts and movies
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