Comcast to limit customers' broadband usage

112 replies
Straight from Yahoo news...

Comcast to limit customers' broadband usage - Yahoo! News

This is going to seriously impact a few of the IMers I know who use Comcast as their internet provider.
#broadband #comcast #customers #limit #usage
  • Profile picture of the author Asher
    Wow... that's gonna majorly stink for those who use Comcast.

    U.S. Internet subscribers are typically not aware of any limit on their Internet usage once they sign up to pay a flat monthly fee to their service provider.
    Kind of makes me wonder for my own ISP and for my hosting service providers.

    Asher
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      • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
        Customers who top 250 GB in a month twice in a six-month timeframe could have service terminated for a year.

        Ah.. yeah.. send me to my room and make me stand in the corner too. I don't think so. I think I'll fire Comcast before that happens. How the freak am I supposed to know what my usage is? They had better start providing stats.
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        • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayhew
          Wow! I'll terminate my cable, HD, everything. They are already getting too much of my money
          Lot's of alternatives.
          Let'em get cocky.
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          • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
            The bad part of this is, Comcast says they do not have the capability to give you stats of your Web usage.

            I saw this article this morning and called them immediately.

            I talked to 3 different people and the first 2 had no idea of what I was talking about. The third guy I got on the phone was familiar with the new policy, but says as of now and the future customers will not be able to view their own web usage statistics.

            So, it boils down to a guess on our part.
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            • Profile picture of the author KimW
              All the people I know call it comcrap. I have had them for years.Well, actually, they bought out my original ISP,made me change my primary email when they did.
              Their service is terrible. Their customer support is terrible (No offense Canadians,because I know many times I ask the tech I'm talking to where they are located and I'm usually told someplace in Canada).
              Recently we had a tv issue, they sent a tech out 3 times. The first two times it was the same tech ,and he didn't have a clue. He said it was the coax cable. The second time the said it was a bad cable box. Finally the third time they sent a different tech, he put a signal amplifier on and it's worked since.
              Do youi also know that they broadcast more signals thru one line than most other cable companies? I know that's not the proper term,I can't remember it right now but basically most cable companies send 2 HD channels thru a signal, comcast sends 3 or more at times.
              What this means is you might be paying for HD digital cable but are being sent a degraded signal.
              Even though I am going to have to change emails all over the internet with people Ive purchased from over the past 10-12 years, as soon Verizon FIOS is available in my area its goodbye comcrap.
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              • Profile picture of the author Jillian Slack
                Wow!

                Comcast isn't available where I live, but if I was a customer I would definitely get rid of them.

                Just think of it -- if you work from home and you're online a lot for biz and personal reasons, plus you've got a kid or two getting online to check email and do homework, a spouse doing whatever he or she may do online, a dog and a cat each checking their email pretty often...

                It can really add up.

                Wait a minute. They don't have a way to check your stats??? So you're just out of luck and get turned off at some point during the month? Sheesh!

                I've usually got one computer online solid throughout the business day, then Boy Genius is on his at the same time after school checking up on Facebook, doing a little homework, etc.

                We often watch something together on Netflix Instant Watch. Once in a while I'll catch up on "The Young & The Restless" (don't laugh at me!) online. I've got DSL at home through one company, and I've got a wi-fi card through my cell phone provider so I can get online from anywhere.

                OK so maybe I'm an Internet addict. Maybe I need a 12-step program. But I can stop any time I want. I just don't want to.

                However, I do know that if my ISP decides to crack down on me, they won't be my ISP for long.

                Hopefully this won't become standard operating procedure for other ISPs. Maybe we'll end up with different levels of monthly memberships.
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                • Profile picture of the author 4thstreet
                  We have Comcast, and when I saw the info on the news this morning I freaked. When they started talking about it last year, the plan was to only limit new users and not current customers.

                  The limiting was also mentioned by several other providers and each would have different levels that you could subscribe to ( like it was 10 years ago).

                  This totally sucks. We have Comcast now because the other providers pulled out of our area when Comcast moved in. I'll have to see who is going to come back in since so many will be leaving Comcast.

                  The only other option is to go for the business service with Comcast & that's probably what they want everyone to do.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Patty Gale
                    Well, we are moving to Colorado in 2 weeks and Comcast was who we had signed up with for when we get there, although I just put in a call to the dealer out there as I will be looking at other options, of which I think Qwest is the only one.

                    The nice thing about Comcast was that I was able to sign up only for internet access and not have to get their bundle of cable, phone, etc. in order to have internet.

                    We use Skype and cell phones, which means my computer is on all the time, so I'm not about to get landline service (at $60 a month) just to get DSL internet.

                    Comcast's new plan is a step back to the stone ages similar to when AOL gave you the options of how many minutes you wanted to be able to access the internet for.

                    Obviously, Comcast's infrastructure hasn't kept up with the technology or this wouldn't be an issue.
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                    • Profile picture of the author MommyEnterprises
                      I used Comcast, I guess I need to read and see if the change will affect me.
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                      • Profile picture of the author Jelasco
                        Just one more reason why Comcast blows. I'm grateful I don't live in their territory.
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                        • Profile picture of the author adamv
                          I was with Comcast several years ago for high speed internet and I had trouble getting connected every single day between about 5pm and 7pm. I switched to my local phone company for DSL but I had issues with them and switched back to Comcast.

                          The internet connection is far better now than it was a few years ago for me but I have my computer connected to the internet all day, every day. Looks like it might be time to see about getting high speed internet through my directv service.
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                          • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                            Well if the cable companies start pulling this net neutrality bullshit... other companies will start popping up to offer the non-net-neutrality services.

                            You know who they are turning into? The oil companies. They are essentially jacking up the prices on their service because bandwidth is in high demand... and there are usually no other alternatives for users. Cable companies are very, very bad about this.

                            They come into an area, push the smaller companies out of the area with great customer service, and cheap products... and then customer service goes way downhill... and prices go up.
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                            • Profile picture of the author adarwish
                              I've never had a good experience with comcast. Their service is unreliable, their customer service is horrific. I stay away from them at all costs.
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                            • Profile picture of the author summer07
                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                              ...You know who they are turning into? The oil companies. They are essentially jacking up the prices on their service because bandwidth is in high demand... and there are usually no other alternatives for users. Cable companies are very, very bad about this.

                              They come into an area, push the smaller companies out of the area with great customer service, and cheap products... and then customer service goes way downhill... and prices go up.
                              Bingo! I use them because there's no alternate high-speed service in my area. Given a choice, I wouldn't use them.

                              They are already filtering and restricting my internet access, without my permission and without notice or disclosure.

                              About a year ago I tried to access a uk-based IM website, but it appeared to be down. I emailed the site owner and she told me to try using a proxy. Sure enough, I could access her site then. It's happened several times since, now that I know to try using a proxy.

                              It should be illegal, but with everything deregulated, the big fish are turning into pig fish. (oink!)
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                              • Profile picture of the author Patty Gale
                                I have been with Qwest.net DSL for years and I love it. My upload speed is faster than all the cable company options in town and my download speed is not limited at peak times by traffic jams which always happened back in the day when I was on cable.
                                That's good to know. I just got off the phone with Qwest setting up service for when we get to Colorado in a couple of weeks.
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                              • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                @bluesquares -- Ok. So it really will only affect a PC Gaming Server. XBox won't use hardly any of what you say is required. I don't play it every day anyway... I just had no idea how much it would use. IM and the Warrior Forum consumes too much of my time.

                                @Carlos - That is awful. Is Bell connected to AT&T in any way? I have heard of Bellsouth being referred to as Ma Bell referring to the original phone company before it was forced to split up into smaller companies. That became Bellsouth which has now been bought out by AT&T. I have my DSL through AT&T, and it slows down a lot at times, almost to a crawl... and it makes me wonder if they are using bandwidth metering.

                                @Jennstall -- Don't feel bad. Kentucky will probably be the very last state in the continental US to get FIOS. What sucks is that its available in parts of Indiana... but not Kentucky.

                                @Summer07 -- I have often wondered if companies did that... but really due to liability issues, you can't blame them. You are essentially accessing sites through their network connection to the backbone of the internet. A company could sue them just because some person used their connection spread a virus, send spam, run an illegal P2P server, etc.

                                The issue with the IM site? It may not be that domain in particular. It may be an ip range associated with that host of the domain... or anything else for that matter. That is primarily the tactics used by spam filtering companies and companies like AOL.

                                They will block an ip, and if issues get worse they will block a whole range of IP's. Someone using dynamic ip's could just wait for a new ip address and continue doing what they are doing. That is why that happens.

                                I for one have never had problems accessing sites in the UK, Australia, Canada, etc. or any US site for that matter. Of course you live in California... so who knows what their mentality might be when they filter out that site. California has some "interesting" laws.
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                                • Profile picture of the author CarlosGarcia
                                  As far as I know, Bell is its own company, not connected to any others.

                                  Ever since Rogers came into the scene, Bell has lost a TON of customers, since they always
                                  had a monopoly, and had the attitude that if you don't like it, too bad, you have no other
                                  options anyway.

                                  Anyway, 95 GB is still plenty for me, but I just don't like the fact that I have limits you know.

                                  Also, if Comcast claims that you've gone over 250 GB in a given month, then obviously
                                  they have a way to track it, and need to prove it to that customer in some way,
                                  with Rogers you can check your usage online at any time, so I don't see why Comcast can't.
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                                  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
                                    Ooops! I just switched to them from DSL. I did this because I use a VOIP phone
                                    service and Netflix online movies. Now I know why the phone company allowed me
                                    to keep my DSL modem and ask me to keep them in mind for the future. The future
                                    may be sooner than I think.

                                    I've always used Comcast though.

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                                    • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
                                      Some good points and posts,

                                      I think the problem here is not the amount of the Cap but the way they choose to handle the "problem"

                                      They fail in two areas, one is that providing accurate statistics, so you know how much bandwidth you are using.

                                      Two, they provide no option for excessive users, instead they state that offenders will be snuffed out, what kind of a solution is that, If someone is a heavy user I am sure they would not mind paying a small fee for the extra bandwidth they use, as long as it is fair.

                                      Or they could be given the option of an upgrade to more bandwidth.

                                      This sounds like bad marketing, If a company has a problem, (which obviously they do) then what you need to do is create a fair solution to that problem, 250Gb sounds like a lot, at least now it does, but I remember designing web-page's around 20kb to make sure they loaded quickly, now it is not that big of an issue, with the average webpage being 60kb to 120kb

                                      eventually, that 250GB will not be much at all, granted that is in the future.

                                      The problem as I see it with this type of limited access is that the ISP could decide to block certain websites that tend to consume more bandwidth.

                                      For instance if a website loads a video of 10MB and the ISP notices that a lot of bandwidth is consumed they could decide to block access to that IP, creating a real problem for both consumers and developers.

                                      This is what is commonly referred to as the slippery sloop.

                                      It is a dangerous thing to allow this kind of limiting without boarders.

                                      Over all it is a bad solution to a problem that could be handled differently.

                                      just a few cents worth.
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                                      • Profile picture of the author valerieSONORA
                                        I don't know anything about bandwidth but it looks like the limit is no big deal. Doesn't effect me anyway cause there's no comcast here.

                                        I'm just glad I'm in good ole USA where I get unlimited bandwidth (even though I don't understand bandwidth) and fast internet for thirty something a month.
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                                        • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
                                          "I don't know anything about bandwidth but it looks like the limit is no big deal. Doesn't effect me anyway cause there's no comcast here."
                                          It may not... unless you publish a lot of large videos as part of an online business... then it may effect you if your clients are Comcast users and if they become overly bandwidth conscious due to the new constraints. Most people do not know a GB from a MB even though as comcast says very few users will ever need to worry about the limit.

                                          "I'm just glad I'm in good ole USA where I get unlimited bandwidth (even though I don't understand bandwidth) and fast internet for thirty something a month."
                                          Comcast is the largest cable company in the..... USA.

                                          For those of you who say it is to "help the users" its not...

                                          It is to help the cable company who is selling more service than they had bandwidth to provide users.

                                          One more reason to look for a provider that has the resources to provide what you need if you do no like traffic jams and bandwidth limits.

                                          If I were living in a part of the world that limited me to 3gb or even 10gb a month I would have to become an expat and go where there is bandwidth to be had.

                                          Here in Idaho I am limited in my options... but I still get 1.5 down and 856 up on my dsl connection which beats the snot out of the 256 up that cable offers here which you only get if its not peak use time.
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                                          • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                            I am pretty content with my current setup. 6 MB down, 512kb up. Anything less than 512kb up would be a real pain in the a**. But even with large uploads, my connection works well enough that I can walk away from it, and come back later.

                                            When I first moved to my current residence... The only DSL I could get was 1.5 MB down. It was extremely slow. Then over the course of year they gradually upped it to 6 MB. I couldn't get cable at all.

                                            I am glad Comcast is not in my area... I always like Insight when I had cable. Small companies are usually good... and less worried about their bottom line. Large companies like Comcast lack the flexibility to have that luxury.
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                                            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                                              Okay, here's the deal. Sometimes you really just gotta dig into these things.

                                              I just got off the phone with Comcast after an hour of being read the party
                                              line and FINALLY getting the truth about this. I had to make one big stink to
                                              get it.

                                              Here it is in a nutshell.

                                              The technology right now to even track bandwidth usage per user is not
                                              in the hands of Comcast. They expect developers to have it ready by
                                              February 2009.

                                              Just before that time comes, notices will go out to each Comcast user. You
                                              WILL be able to track your own usage. How is not yet certain but it will be
                                              something that you can do.

                                              For now, don't even worry about it, not even the October 1 announcement
                                              that just went out. This is still a work in progress.
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                                              • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
                                                The average consumer does NOT need 250gb/month.

                                                If a consumer does, he needs to:

                                                a) Get some sun
                                                b) Stop DLing MP3s, Movies, Games, etc. - You know illegally.
                                                c) Stop sharing his downloads

                                                Out of everyone who has replied, how many of you are paying business rates currently? Anyone? If you need more bandwidth you upgrade to a business plan, get an extra account, etc.

                                                Also, limiting ISP bandwidth is no different than having a limit on your webserver.

                                                I dont think some of you realize how much 250gb is.
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                                                • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                                                  Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

                                                  The average consumer does NOT need 250gb/month.

                                                  If a consumer does, he needs to:

                                                  a) Get some sun
                                                  b) Stop DLing MP3s, Movies, Games, etc. - You know illegally.
                                                  c) Stop sharing his downloads

                                                  Out of everyone who has replied, how many of you are paying business rates currently? Anyone? If you need more bandwidth you upgrade to a business plan, get an extra account, etc.

                                                  Also, limiting ISP bandwidth is no different than having a limit on your webserver.

                                                  I dont think some of you realize how much 250gb is.

                                                  Garrie, you're right. I have NO idea how much 250GB is. That's why I want
                                                  to find out what I'm using so I can have some idea. When it comes to this
                                                  technical stuff, I am clueless. So if they can't tell me what I'm using, what
                                                  am I supposed to do, guess?

                                                  The whole thing is crazy, regardless of how much 250GB is.
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                                                  • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
                                                    Steven,

                                                    Here are some programs that will track ho much you upload/download.

                                                    1. BitMeter II | Internet Tools Download | PC World
                                                    2. Cyber Bandwidth Monitor: Keep track of your bandwidth usage - Download Squad
                                                    3. How to monitor your Internet bandwidth usage in Windows - Simple Help

                                                    I used 1 for about 5 minutes to test it and have used 3 in the past.

                                                    Let me know how much you actually use if you try it.

                                                    Garrie
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                                                    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                                                      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

                                                      Steven,

                                                      Here are some programs that will track ho much you upload/download.

                                                      1. BitMeter II | Internet Tools Download | PC World
                                                      2. Cyber Bandwidth Monitor: Keep track of your bandwidth usage - Download Squad
                                                      3. How to monitor your Internet bandwidth usage in Windows - Simple Help

                                                      I used 1 for about 5 minutes to test it and have used 3 in the past.

                                                      Let me know how much you actually use if you try it.

                                                      Garrie

                                                      Thanks Garrie, that's really going to help. I'll have to install it on my
                                                      daughter's laptop too because she uses my connection when she's home
                                                      from college.

                                                      Much appreciated.
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                                                      • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                        I may have over-reacted a bit... 250 GB is a big number... running a server is about the only thing that would exceed that amount.

                                                        The question remains though... How is this going to affect web hosting? If the cable company is doing it... whose to say the big telecommunications companies that provide bandwidth to hosting companies won't start doing this.

                                                        No matter if normal users don't exceed this amount, it still sets a dangerous precedent for other companies to follow suit. This is a major step backwards in my opinion. This could send internet services back to the early dayz... web 0.5 :p

                                                        Few video applications around. You could mention the days of YouTube to your kids... and they will be like "You what?"
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                                                        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                                                          Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                                          I may have over-reacted a bit... 250 GB is a big number... running a server is about the only thing that would exceed that amount.

                                                          The question remains though... How is this going to affect web hosting? If the cable company is doing it... whose to say the big telecommunications companies that provide bandwidth to hosting companies won't start doing this.

                                                          No matter if normal users don't exceed this amount, it still sets a dangerous precedent for other companies to follow suit. This is a major step backwards in my opinion. This could send internet services back to the early dayz... web 0.5 :p

                                                          Few video applications around. You could mention the days of YouTube to your kids... and they will be like "You what?"

                                                          I agree. It actually could come to that. If people have to start being
                                                          concerned about what they do online so as not to have their service shut
                                                          down, it is going to affect a lot of things we take for granted now. And
                                                          yes, YouTube might become a thing of the past.

                                                          It certainly isn't impossible.
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                                                        • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
                                                          Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                                          The question remains though... How is this going to affect web hosting? If the cable company is doing it... whose to say the big telecommunications companies that provide bandwidth to hosting companies won't start doing this.
                                                          Ummm. They already do and have since the beginning. It's just cheaper now.

                                                          My host provides 2000GB/Month.

                                                          For me to get unlimited, I would have to pay $50/month extra, on the lowend, BUT I can only send a max of 10mb/sec. Which means if I have a lot of people at once, their speed would be slow. (ie 10 people would only be able to download at 1mb/sec. 100 people at 100kb/sec.)

                                                          If I want unlimited at 100mb/sec it would cost $1500/month extra on the lowend.

                                                          Garrie
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                                                          • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                            Perhaps I wasn't clear enough... what I was saying is that if this happens with ISP's... whose to say it won't have an adverse affect on hosting. Sure you may get 2000 GB per month... but after this the bigger companies might increase their rates making it even more expensive for the same bandwidth.
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                                                            • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
                                                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                                              Perhaps I wasn't clear enough... what I was saying is that if this happens with ISP's... whose to say it won't have an adverse affect on hosting. Sure you may get 2000 GB per month... but after this the bigger companies might increase their rates making it even more expensive for the same bandwidth.
                                                              If they charge more, we just charge more if needed.

                                                              You could also look at it that you will need less bandwidth because you have less people dowloading.

                                                              The sky isnt falling over this or what it can lead to.

                                                              I wish people would get worked up over things that really matter.

                                                              You know, losing freedoms every day instead of "oh no I might have to pay more to download"

                                                              Garrie
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                                                              • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                                Freedoms? I live in KY. I can't think of any freedoms I don't have. We live in probably the Free-est country on the planet. Is there a freedom you feel you have lost?
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                                                                • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
                                                                  Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                                                  Freedoms? I live in KY. I can't think of any freedoms I don't have. We live in probably the Free-est country on the planet. Is there a freedom you feel you have lost?
                                                                  I can name a freedom you lost, in your town. You did get it back, temporarily, but will lose it again if you havent already.

                                                                  The right for a business to decide if patrons can smoke or not.

                                                                  Of course many people think this is a good thing but I believe CHOICE is a good thing. Plus, it leads to other things. Like banning...

                                                                  1. Transfat
                                                                  2. Baggy pants
                                                                  3. Music

                                                                  All of the above have been banned at some point across the US in the past 20 years. 2 of the 3, within the last 6 months.

                                                                  I could name lots of freedoms and civil liberties that you have lost. Most you will never know about. Until you need them.

                                                                  But hey, as long as we can download...

                                                                  Anyway, I digress.

                                                                  Garrie

                                                                  PS I'm from KY. Lived there for 32/33 years.
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                                • Profile picture of the author summer07
                                  Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                  @Summer07 -- I have often wondered if companies did that... but really due to liability issues, you can't blame them. You are essentially accessing sites through their network connection to the backbone of the internet. A company could sue them just because some person used their connection spread a virus, send spam, run an illegal P2P server, etc.

                                  The issue with the IM site? It may not be that domain in particular. It may be an ip range associated with that host of the domain... or anything else for that matter. That is primarily the tactics used by spam filtering companies and companies like AOL.

                                  They will block an ip, and if issues get worse they will block a whole range of IP's. Someone using dynamic ip's could just wait for a new ip address and continue doing what they are doing. That is why that happens.

                                  I for one have never had problems accessing sites in the UK, Australia, Canada, etc. or any US site for that matter. Of course you live in California... so who knows what their mentality might be when they filter out that site. California has some "interesting" laws.
                                  Thanks for the explanation, Dennis. I still don't like having no choice about my surfing being "filtered", but at least now I can see a business reason behind it instead of a conspiracy theory

                                  audre
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                                  • Profile picture of the author JFrost
                                    They are out if they attempt to control the Internet at all.
                                    Satellite Internet is available anywhere in the world for a slightly higher than cable monthly cost. Bye Bye Comcast
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                                    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                                      Originally Posted by JFrost View Post

                                      They are out if they attempt to control the Internet at all.
                                      Satellite Internet is available anywhere in the world for a slightly higher than cable monthly cost. Bye Bye Comcast
                                      Is Satellite Internet unlimited usage and if so, what's the speed?
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                                      • Profile picture of the author deu12000
                                        Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                        I've never had that problem with Verizon Wireless...
                                        You're right I've used Verizon wireless for the last two years (while I had Comcast) and they are totally separate from Verizon DSL and phone service. There wireless internet service runs under their cell phone brand which has great service, but their internet speed sucks compared to DSL and is horrible compared to Comcast.

                                        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

                                        Is Satellite Internet unlimited usage and if so, what's the speed?
                                        The speed is much slower than cable (a little slower than DSL) and it's like $130 per month (last time I checked and I'm in NJ also).
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                                  • Profile picture of the author stevenwilson
                                    It seems that it would be hard to go over the limit they set,but one should really not be limited to their use for something they pay a premium price for.
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                                  • Profile picture of the author valerieSONORA
                                    I'm glad I'm not a Comcast customer. I would not like having to worry about how much bandwith I'm using. And they can't even tell you how much, so you'd have to guess. And I wouldn't have any idea. If I were a comcast customer, I'd switch to dsl. Yes, you'd have to get a landline, but here it only costs arount $17 or $18 a month plus tax and fees for the basic service. It ends up being cheaper than cable internet anyway.

                                    Oh and I download tons of stuff so I wouldn't be surprised if I went over.
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                                    • Profile picture of the author John Rowe
                                      250GB a month = major thief!

                                      At least at this stage of technology. If you see it differently,
                                      feel free to enlighten me about current usage.

                                      .
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                                  • Profile picture of the author SeanIM
                                    Great, I just signed up for them as I'm having to move to Illinois for 12 months so that wifey can finish her ph.D.

                                    Fortunately most of my b/w can be run from either my remote windows box or off one of my *nix servers that host my webpages. Anyone charging me more than 60 bucks a mbps irks me as a close friend is a senior network engineer for a telco and can get me pipe at cost.

                                    Comcast needs some competition...btw, I hear more and more ISPs are going to try this move this year. Don't be shocked when cox, charter, verizon, etc pull this move.

                                    I hope this backfires on them. Soft economy and other options might just put a quash on this. Although I think what they're trying to battle is the massive torrent & p2p downloads that some let run rampant without metering.

                                    -S
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                                    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
                                      Comcrap ranks right up there with Hellsouth.

                                      If they were the cable provider in my area, I'd go back to Verizon's DSL, or FIOS if available, in about 30 minutes. (That's how long it would take to switch.)

                                      I would likely never reach those limits. I just find Comcrap's attitude, especially as it relates to net neutrality, to be offensive.

                                      Yes, I would pay more, for slower service, if it meant that some jackass with an axe to grind couldn't control whose info I got and how fast I got it. Not to mention the crappy spam filtering Comcrap has and how much legitimate email they toss into the virtual dumpster.

                                      Recommendation: Get your own domain and hosting, where you can control your spam filtering. NEVER trust your ISP to handle that for you. Especially Comcrap.

                                      I spend a fair bit every month for a dedicated server that runs at about 1-2% load, just so that I can be sure that legitimate email gets delivered to me and the other folks who use my system. I'll tell you, it's been worth every penny.

                                      I have a landline anyway, just so I don't lose phone service when the cable goes out. (I won't rely on any cell phone to be working at any time.)


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                                      • Profile picture of the author dustinlemos
                                        Guys, I really don't think this is as big of a deal as you're making it sound.

                                        250GB of bandwidth a month is a LOT of bandwidth. You can check email and facebook all you want and you won't hit that cap.

                                        To put things in perspective, you would have to stream 2 DVD-quality movies every day for 30 days straight. And you would still have 10GB of bandwidth left over.

                                        my 1mb broadband connection couldn't use that much bandwidth in a month, even if I wanted it to. It's just not fast enough (and 1mb/sec isn't exactly slow).
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                                  • Profile picture of the author junker86
                                    All this complaining and talk of switching carriers is making me laugh. I've been in Australia for a year now (was previously in New Jersey) and here I pay $40 a month for a 10GB download limit. What I wouldn't do for 250GB a month.

                                    The limit on data usage is actually to help its users, rather than hinder them by limiting excessive downloading that clogs up the network by a very small customer base.

                                    The only possible way you could use up 250GBs of bandwidth is if you are downloading somewhere around the equivalent of 8 high quality (somewhere around a GB each), feature length, movies EVERY DAY. If you think you are gonna have problems because you have a family and you check alot of emails or whatever you should probably stop and think before you start posting about a topic you know nothing about.
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                                    • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Lopes
                                      You all really need to get over yourselves....

                                      I'm in South Africa. I pay $120 USD for a 4MB line and a 3GB cap. Yes , thats right...3GB and its over.

                                      What are you all moaning for???? If I was offered 250GB I for that price I would wet myself...
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                                      • Profile picture of the author Justin Jordan
                                        Originally Posted by Lloyd Lopes View Post

                                        You all really need to get over yourselves....

                                        I'm in South Africa. I pay $120 USD for a 4MB line and a 3GB cap. Yes , thats right...3GB and its over.

                                        What are you all moaning for???? If I was offered 250GB I for that price I would wet myself...
                                        Would you be irritated if your 4MB and 3GB was suddenly cut to 2MB and 1GB with no reduction in price.

                                        This issue isn't so much that the prices are unreasonable, just that they're imposing restrictions and still charging the same amount of money. So you're less for the same amount of money.

                                        Plus, cable companys in the States are notorious gougers.
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                                  • Profile picture of the author Carl Hughes
                                    hmmmm that does not sound good at all I had better look into my isp and see what the deal is with them but since I am dsl this may be a non issue...I have contended for years that dsl beats cable any day of the week as cable is shared bandwidth where dsl is not...my advice go dsl my speed never slows down because "too many people are on it" and get satelite tv.
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                                    • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                      Cable TV is still better. I loved On Demand TV when I had Insight. I couldn't stand the satelite losing signal all the time. That and Cable TV will fix your problem for free... Satelite won't do that.

                                      On the internet side, both are shared. Cable is more or less shared within the neighborhood... and DSL is shared at the switching station... or whatever it is called. The DSL option is probably better because it covers a larger demographic of people. The cable option is better, but only if you know your neighbors...

                                      I lived in a neighborhood of email checkers. Zero bandwidth used. I never had speed problems at all. But on the upside DSL limits bandwidth to 6 MB... where my cable connection was 10 MB... so in the end I guess it balances out for both.

                                      Until these caps came into place.
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                                      • Profile picture of the author Carl Hughes
                                        Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                        Cable TV is still better. I loved On Demand TV when I had Insight. I couldn't stand the satelite losing signal all the time. That and Cable TV will fix your problem for free... Satelite won't do that.

                                        On the internet side, both are shared. Cable is more or less shared within the neighborhood... and DSL is shared at the switching station... or whatever it is called. The DSL option is probably better because it covers a larger demographic of people. The cable option is better, but only if you know your neighbors...

                                        I lived in a neighborhood of email checkers. Zero bandwidth used. I never had speed problems at all. But on the upside DSL limits bandwidth to 6 MB... where my cable connection was 10 MB... so in the end I guess it balances out for both.

                                        Until these caps came into place.
                                        well I have satellite TV and rarely loose signal even in rain storms. (depends on how well it is aimed) and dsl is not shared dsl=dedicated subscriber line cable is always shared at least that is how I understand it. (if someone knows the tech side of the two please enlighten us)
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                                        • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                          yes you have a dedicated line to the switching station...

                                          It is at that point the line is shared with everyone who is served by that station.

                                          They wanted to charge my Dad, $120 to fix his satelite problem. In my opinion the dish is the Satelite companies equipment even though you paid for it. They shouldn't charge to fix it.

                                          Cable doesn't do this. They only charge if you miss an appointment or the issue is your fault like a dog chewed through your line or something along those lines.
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                                        • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                          Hey guys,

                                          I have a couple things to say about this issue.

                                          First of all, 250GB/mo is a shitload of bandwidth that most users (even power users) will never exceed. That said, I don't agree with caps or at least the way they go about placing them upon their users. However, if any of you get out your contract from your ISP, you will likely find that you already have caps placed on your account and always have.

                                          There's usually some sort of limitations in the fine print that simply aren't enforced as yet. At least, I noticed there was when I was with Verizon DSL.

                                          Hosting accounts always have had limits on bandwidth of some sort. Even the so-called "unmetered" bandwidth almost always has some sort of cap attached to it. Read the fine print in the TOS and all the links within the TOS and you will almost ALWAYS find a cap on "unmetered" bandwidth.

                                          These caps are placed on hosts by server providers and placed on server providers from their upline providers and so on. So it's really not as big of a deal as it seems. It's just being made public now.

                                          [vent]
                                          As for customer service, I left verizon specifically because their customer service sucks. Well, that and because they kept to adding services to my already expensive package. I had to call them at least every other month, sometimes every month to have them remove shit I never asked for. Their blanket response was to tell me I signed up for these "extras" online. Bullshit!

                                          I dreaded getting my phone bill EVERY month. I came to expect having to call customer service. Usually several times (to get a rep that will actually help) and spending several hours per month just getting my bill back to the original package I signed up for.

                                          In fact, before I left them completely, I simply separated my DSL service from my regular phone bill. You see, Verizon was sending me bogus bills and cutting off my DSL if I didn't pay the FULL amount supposedly owed. I could still use my phone and the unlimited long distance, but no internet even though the DSL portion was not in dispute and would be paid. I was only disputing the bogus add-on charges that kept appearing on my bill. So I paid everything except those extra charges.

                                          Why they would disconnect the DSL was beyond me. But I finally talked to a rep that admitted getting angry customers calling because of the same problems I was having ALL the time. ALL day EVERY day and suggested that I separate my DSL bill from my phone bill to avoid this problem.

                                          That worked quite well for awhile. But the ensuing monthly headaches had to come to an end. I stayed offline for almost 2 years since Verizon was the only high speed provider in my area and I refused to use them.

                                          Now that I've moved, I have another option. So now I'm currently using SuddenLink which I'm not very impressed with either.

                                          The first day they installed their service I had problems. I was constantly losing my internet connection so I called customer service. Their customer service might as well be non-existent. When you finally do get someone on the phone, they always blame your equipment right away. First they say it's your ethernet adapter and/or router. If you can convince them that that is NOT your problem, they say it's your PC configuration (even though they are the ones that configure and install their service on your PC).

                                          I was pretty sure that the problem I was having was the result of a faulty modem and/or faulty cable and I told them this. But I went out and bought a new ethernet card because they were convinced that was my problem (I was 99% sure that wasn't the problem but since you can pick them up so cheap nowadays, I got a new one).

                                          I installed the new card, had the same problem and called them back. They still tried to convince me it was the ethernet card or router again. I told them it had to be the modem they provided me, as everything worked fine before (on Verizon DSL) and I wasn't using the router at this point. Since I was using a brand new eithernet card, it was highly unlikely to be the problem. Not to mention the fact that the home network was still working fine when the router was hooked up (even with the old ethernet card). They still refused to accept that it could be their equipment and basically said there was nothing they could do.

                                          I noticed that one of the LEDs on the modem was blinking rapidly and told the customer service rep
                                          about this. She proceeded to tell me that what I was telling her was impossible cuz she could see me
                                          online on her end and if my modem was REALLY doing that, she wouldn't be able to see me. She said
                                          the LED should be on constantly and only blink during setup.

                                          Well, I happened to remember having this same problem a few years before and had purchased my own cable modem. So after arguing with these clowns until I was blue in the face and getting no results, I simply hooked up my own modem and called them back. Now, I was online and wasn't constantly getting dropped.

                                          However, they "couldn't" guarantee service unless we lease one of theirs (forget the fact, that the one I have was purchased from them when they went under the name of Charter Communications). So I agreed to lease another one of theirs. Good thing I had one of my own while I waited, it took them 3 or 4 days to bring me a new one.

                                          The first guy that showed up merely replaced the cable splitter and installed their old, junky modem, which of course did NOT help.

                                          So I called back and got all the same scripted bullshit answers.

                                          So we hung up and called back (I've found that sometimes you just have to get the right person on the other end of the line). We went through the same story with the same replies. It MUST be scripted. However, after explaining to this guy the whole story he mentioned that we might want to sign up for their "wire maintainance" plan as we would get better, no wait..."preferred customer service".

                                          So we sign up for the "wire maintainance" plan for an extra $5/mo. Now, he adds this to our account and we hang up and call back again right away. All of the sudden, they accept that it could either be the cable itself or their new modem! Wow, $5/mo extra and now it just might be the modem and/or the cable. Hmmm....why didn't I think of that?

                                          When they sent a second guy out, he did replace the old modem with a new one of the same junky design. Once they installed the new one, I started having problems again within few hours.

                                          I will admit, after paying the extra $5/mo their customer service level seemed to step up a bit and they scheduled an appt. within 48 hours to come out and check the old cable. However, who wants to wait 48 hours when you are 99% sure it must be the cable and you happen to have some extra digital cable lying around?

                                          So obviously, I ended up running the new cable myself.

                                          The part that really ticked me off about this entire situation is that we specifically asked them how much the installation would be if they were to run brand new cable from the box into the house and to the computers to begin with. In other words, we paid the install price for all new cable to begin with. But the original installer refused to run the new cable.

                                          I wasn't personally home to oversee this guy when he showed up or it probably would have gone differently, very differently. But then, I'm a bit more demanding than my better half. Especially when we paid extra to begin with.
                                          [/vent]

                                          Ok, Ok. Sorry for the venting, but reading these posts just brought up these memories and I couldn't hold back. LOL

                                          All the best!

                                          Peace & Prosperity,
                                          Matt Fulger
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                                          • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                            Let me put it to you like this, Matt. That is typical of ISP support from a large company.

                                            When I worked for Charter Communications in their Tech Support department, I with all my technical knowledge was placed alongside people that had come from their cable tv customer support department. These people I swear to you, didn't know jack about computers. They barely knew enough to even run the software the company was using to manage accounts.

                                            How can any company expect to provide decent support to customers doing something like that? I spent the majority of time showing them how to do their job... which should have been taken care of in their 8 weeks of training. Yes 8 weeks.

                                            Then they started forcing reps to recommend Charter's High Speed Security Suite, which was powered by F-Secure... which if you think Norton's is a resource hog... this would put Norton's resource use to shame.

                                            This was for customers still running Win9x with little ram. Absolutely horrible. Then they tried to charge customers $150 for a router they could go to any electronics store and get for $50 to $60. Completely insane. That is when I got the F out of there.

                                            But that is how big companie roll when it comes to customer support. I guess it could be worse. They could've just outsourced it to India.
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                                            • Profile picture of the author Erum Munir
                                              Wow! And I thought it was only Internet companies in Pakistan that were crappy LOL.

                                              We have two extremes here. Either it is completely unlimited download or they are capping at 10GB - 20GB. I need to upload (websites and products) way too much to not go above that limit.

                                              However, even if the limit was 250GB and I knew I most probably wouldn't go over it, I would still want to switch to unlimited.

                                              Why?

                                              Because I still remember that horrid feeling on dialup where you had to watch every hour you were online as you were charged top price per hour. Now I have gotten used to the freedom of going online and not having to watch the clock. I would never want to go back to where I have to watch what I am doing on the Internt and whether I am exceeding limits. Just not a pleasant feeling IMO. I don't want to feel restricted and I want to be able to work in peace.

                                              Where the companies have users who may be using GBs like anything, they will also have users who are using almost nothing. If someone is just checking personal email, they might not even go over 1 gig. It balances off in the end.

                                              Are they charging the people who are using less bandwidth a nominal sum? If they think people who use more bandwidth should pay more, then people who don't should pay less, too.
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                                            • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                              Let me put it to you like this, Matt. That is typical of ISP support from a large company.
                                              I'm aware of that, but it doesn't make me any happier about it. LOL

                                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                              When I worked for Charter Communications in their Tech Support department, I with all my technical knowledge was placed alongside people that had come from their cable tv customer support department. These people I swear to you, didn't know jack about computers. They barely knew enough to even run the software the company was using to manage accounts.

                                              How can any company expect to provide decent support to customers doing something like that? I spent the majority of time showing them how to do their job... which should have been taken care of in their 8 weeks of training. Yes 8 weeks.
                                              Well, yeah, that's why sometimes I use the hang up and call back method in hopes of getting someone like you on the line. Because in MOST cases, I know more about the setup than they do. In fact, every time I've had Cable internet (Charter/SuddenLink) either myself or my better half has to configure the modem for the moron installers. Including this last time.

                                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                              Then they started forcing reps to recommend Charter's High Speed Security Suite, which was powered by F-Secure... which if you think Norton's is a resource hog... this would put Norton's resource use to shame.

                                              This was for customers still running Win9x with little ram. Absolutely horrible. Then they tried to charge customers $150 for a router they could go to any electronics store and get for $50 to $60. Completely insane. That is when I got the F out of there.
                                              Yeah, I recall them pushing Internet Security on us too. Fortunately, I was wise enough to refuse the service. They also tried to charge me $250 for a router that I had returned AFTER I returned it. It took me quite a few phone calls to get that one dealt with. And now SuddenLink charges a ridiculous amount for this cheesy $15 modem their currently pushing.

                                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                              But that is how big companie roll when it comes to customer support. I guess it could be worse. They could've just outsourced it to India.
                                              Good point there and they probably will eventually. Verizon already does.

                                              Matt Fulger
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                                              • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                I'm sorry you had to deal with the Charter experience. You know they actually had a major problem of not having enough field technicians to work on line issues. It takes 6 months to train those guys. Some customers had to wait well over a month to get their internet fixed.

                                                I would cancel in a heartbeat if a company ever told me that. I wouldn't care if it was the only internet connection within a 50 mile radius. I would move. That is total crap.

                                                These companies need to move their support to Costa Rica if they outsource. I dealt with a company that had outsourced to Costa Rica... and I could understand every single word. They could understand me. Other than the fact that it is outsourced... I would say I was happy with that. I would prefer the jobs stay in America, but if they don't then Costa Rica gets my vote.

                                                I have never been able to understand India reps. They don't understand me. It is always a difficult experience.
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                                                • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                                  Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                                  I'm sorry you had to deal with the Charter experience. You know they actually had a major problem of not having enough field technicians to work on line issues. It takes 6 months to train those guys. Some customers had to wait well over a month to get their internet fixed.

                                                  I would cancel in a heartbeat if a company ever told me that. I wouldn't care if it was the only internet connection within a 50 mile radius. I would move. That is total crap.

                                                  These companies need to move their support to Costa Rica if they outsource. I dealt with a company that had outsourced to Costa Rica... and I could understand every single word. They could understand me. Other than the fact that it is outsourced... I would say I was happy with that. I would prefer the jobs stay in America, but if they don't then Costa Rica gets my vote.

                                                  I have never been able to understand India reps. They don't understand me. It is always a difficult experience.
                                                  The Charter Experience. LOL Yeah, I think I'm still dealing with the Charter Experience. The new name is SuddenLink, but I believe it's just Charter under another name. Charter disappeared and SuddenLink magically appeared right after a big class action law suit against Charter. I can't see Charter selling out to a smaller company. Keep in mind there's no facts I'm basing my opinion on, it's just a gut feeling.

                                                  6 Months to train a field tech! Are these guys total IDIOTS or what? I've had zero training and there's no doubt in my mind I could go setup a cable internet connection anywhere the service is available. It's almost as easy as setting up cable TV. Screw the cable in, turn on the PC. There's not much more to it than that in MOST cases. Sometimes a phone call to the main office to provision the modem, but other than that, there's really not much to installing cable internet.

                                                  And these idiots they send out here get 6 months training for that? Better still, the vast majority of them (in my experience anyway) STILL cannot properly hook up a Cable modem. As stated earlier, I have to do it for them. Also, anytime I've had to have a tech come to the house, I've basically had to hold their hand and tell them how to do their job.
                                                  Why is that? I don't understand, especially now that you've told me about the 6 months training.

                                                  I personally wouldn't wait for a month for service either. I'd cancel for sure, even if there was NO other option. As I did with Verizon. I stayed offline for over a year simply because I refused to pay for services I never asked for and never recieved.

                                                  Verizon outsources to India, sometimes I could understand them; sometimes, I cannot. But I think the main reason I could understand them sometimes is simply cuz I have a few Indian programmer buddies I've talked to on Skype and Yahoo. So I got used to the heavy accent.

                                                  Anyways, this whole 6 months training thing really blows me away. I cannot believe someone could go through 6 months training and STILL not know how to hookup and/or troubleshoot a cable internet setup. I mean, there's only so much that could go wrong:

                                                  A. Bad Modem
                                                  B. Bad Router (in case of a network)
                                                  C. Bad Ethernet Card
                                                  D. Bad Cable
                                                  E. Bad Cable Splitter
                                                  F. Bad Cable Software (which can usually be avoided and/or bypassed to begin with)
                                                  H. Cable company itself experiencing outages and/or updating the system

                                                  I mean obviously there are other things that could go wrong, like a junky OS or some other PC complication, but the cable company doesn't fix computers, or even attempt to. So if it isn't one of the above problems, it's probably not a problem on their end to begin with. Or am I the idiot here? And if I am the idiot, then why is it 99% of the time I have to fix the problem FOR the moron techs they send?

                                                  The last incident I had was simply replacing the old, outdated cable wiring in this old house. The cable tech probably "could" have done that for me, however, I would have
                                                  a. had to wait 48 hours and b. I doubt they would have run the cable through the walls, floors and ceiling the way I did (to hide the wires). At least, I know they didn't the last time they actually installed the wires for me (cuz I ripped out the old shit to start fresh before I even called them). All they did was run it into the basement and then throughout the house everywhere I wanted it (after several visits, that is).

                                                  They didn't even attempt to hide any cables and they tried to short me on the installation.
                                                  I PAID for a 4 room install, they ran ONE wire (naturally, I wasn't home for that one, the better half was). We had to call them back a few times to get all 4 wires ran. I'm quite sure had I been home during the installation process, all wires would have been run the first time out. But I'm a bit more pushy than my girlfriend. Instead, they had to come out 2 or 3 times to finish the initial job. And that was only AFTER I started to cancel my service and demand a refund.

                                                  But the fact is, this shit is nothing new. Big companies do this type of shit all the time and get away with it cuz we don't have any other options. MaBelle used to control the phone lines and could charge whatever they wanted until it was deregulated and new companies came in to pick up the slack. Now we can have unlimited long distance for under $100 bucks, under $50 in some places.

                                                  Anyway, life goes on and we all deal with it.

                                                  Peace & Prosperity,
                                                  Matt Fulger
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                                                  • Profile picture of the author zerofill
                                                    6 Months to train a field tech! Are these guys total IDIOTS or what?
                                                    You do realize that there is a lot of bullshit red tape that companies have to deal with and that is why it takes 6 months right? Not because someone is necessarily an idiot.
                                                    Not to mention all the safety shit...some of them still climb poles here.

                                                    Ever hear of OSHA?

                                                    Try half ass training someone have something happen and watch the fines role in.
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                                                  • Profile picture of the author Internet Income
                                                    Don't all ISP's limit usage? I was sure they did, a big thing in the UK 6 months ago proved that 85% of iSP's were not even giving 50% of the claimed bandwith. People were paying for 8MB and not getting 1 MB!
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                                  • Profile picture of the author VinceNouvel
                                    comcast comcast comcast...
                                    they are juswt giving me trouble... I have 8mb/s connection but never ever have a download speed more than 2mbps... heck..
                                    so they decrease my speed in order to save bandwith?
                                    Jeez, I will start to hit them harder from now on..
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                                    • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                      Yeah and the six months wasn't necessarily all for the cable modem install. It was probably more to deal with the OSHA stuff like already mentioned, in addition to teaching them how to properly terminate coax cables, and test noise levels in the line, etc., etc. and all the other stuff to go along with cable tv installation... and the phone service that Charter was selling... it was supposed to be a hybrid between a land line and a VOIP line. Then add knowing how to setup and install a network on top of that...

                                      That is quite a bit in six months. Of course when you offer crappy pay for a job that can be quite dirty and physical at times... this is the quality of worker you get. You get what you pay for.
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                                      • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                        Originally Posted by zerofill View Post

                                        You do realize that there is a lot of bullshit red tape that companies have to deal with and that is why it takes 6 months right? Not because someone is necessarily an idiot.
                                        Not to mention all the safety shit...some of them still climb poles here.

                                        Ever hear of OSHA?

                                        Try half ass training someone have something happen and watch the fines role in.
                                        Yes, I understand the Red Tape Bullshit and OSHA, I worked for Waste Management, Factory Jobs, Cunstruction, etc. before so YES, I'm definatley aware of OSHA (don't get me started on them). Although, I admit I wasn't thinking about red tape within my post.

                                        I was thinking more along the lines that their training program must not be too great. Or they hire unqualified people that don't want to work to begin with and no amount of training will do them any good. They don't wanna be there.

                                        Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                        Yeah and the six months wasn't necessarily all for the cable modem install. It was probably more to deal with the OSHA stuff like already mentioned, in addition to teaching them how to properly terminate coax cables, and test noise levels in the line, etc., etc. and all the other stuff to go along with cable tv installation... and the phone service that Charter was selling... it was supposed to be a hybrid between a land line and a VOIP line. Then add knowing how to setup and install a network on top of that...
                                        Good point and thanks for correcting me, I feel MUCH better now. I wasn't thinking about Cable TV signals and their new phone system either. And you're probably right about the OSHA stuff too. All I wanted was a simple Cable Internet connection, nothing else and that's what I was thinking about. lol Either way, no matter how long the training is and what all they have to learn, if they DO NOT learn the job, they shouldn't be sent to my house to install my service. No matter what service that might be. It pisses me off to no end when I have to do their job for them. I've demanded and gotten(after hours on the phone) a refund on the installation price once.

                                        Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                        That is quite a bit in six months. Of course when you offer crappy pay for a job that can be quite dirty and physical at times... this is the quality of worker you get. You get what you pay for.
                                        You probably hit the nail right on the head with that one.

                                        Now that I've vented, I will say that I do seem to get better speeds with cable here vs. DSL. However, in Michigan it kinda depended on the time of day. But overall DSL was faster. Cable speeds were advertised as being 3x faster than DSL but from a user experience, DSL was faster more often than cable. I didn't have FIOS either. I think cable just had more users and was more congested. Plus, I was closer to the DSL hub (or whatever they call it) since you had to be within a 3 mile radius.

                                        Overall, the Internet experience was much better on DSL than Cable up there. Whereas down here in West "BY GOD" Virginia, it's the opposite.

                                        Either way, they BOTH beat the shit out of good old dialup.
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                                        • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                          If you can get cable in a rural area... that is the best. DSL in the city because of the location of the hubs and the number of hubs.

                                          I had cable in the south end of Louisville. Everything south of me was spread out businesses and a few residences. Not enough to really compete with bandwidth on. I live in the country further south of where I was living... and I am using DSL. Service is comparable between the two, but if I had my choice I would still prefer cable.
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                                          • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                            Yeah, Cable Internet Rocks. Their support just sucks my left testical.
                                            I'm curious to see how this FIOS plays out. Also, have you ever heard about Internet connection thorugh the power lines? I recall reading about it a few years back, but never followed it. A fellow warrior had pasted a link to the WF about it.
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                                            • Profile picture of the author ahlexis
                                              Anyone remember the old Compuserve? Not the one run by AOL, the ORIGINAL one? The one that charged $12 - $24 per HOUR for access?

                                              There was this program called TAPCIS, that allowed you to set up to get on and download and then get off and not burn up so much $$$.

                                              At the rate these companies are going people who DO go over will just get more creative about how they access the internet, like the creators and users of that TAPCIS program.

                                              Case in point: one of my neighbors' wireless is wide open. I try not to use it even though it seems to be the path of least resistance for my computer. But here's the thing. I bet my neighbor only uses it to get a bit of email, nothing heavy. Those that require more than the limit will just start cruising the streets for bandwidth, their laptops set to tie into whatever wireless is open! Which in my eyes is even worse than the God-awful downloading of tons of torrents and illegal music downloads!
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                                              • Profile picture of the author chucknnita
                                                I'm not going to call it a problem until it actually becomes a problem. Although I wouldn't be surprised by anything Comcast does. I'll just go back to DSL or get a dedicated circuit and sell access to a few neighbors to offset the cost. I can get a T1 for under 400 a month. A few years ago I never thought I would think of a T1 as slow, but whatcha gonna do.
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                                            • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                              So then, no one else has heard of powerline internet access yet?

                                              Well, if anyone IS interested take a look at:

                                              Power line communication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                                              From there you can find links to providers, etc.
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                                              • Profile picture of the author Matt Fulger
                                                Originally Posted by ahlexis View Post

                                                Anyone remember the old Compuserve? Not the one run by AOL, the ORIGINAL one? The one that charged $12 - $24 per HOUR for access?
                                                Yeah, I remember those days. But I didn't sign online with them EVER. ISP's used to have per minute usage fees too. I never paid per minute fees either. I lways found a way around those excessive fees.

                                                Originally Posted by Internet Income View Post

                                                Don't all ISP's limit usage? I was sure they did, a big thing in the UK 6 months ago proved that 85% of iSP's were not even giving 50% of the claimed bandwith. People were paying for 8MB and not getting 1 MB!
                                                I think you are right, I stated basically the same thing earlier in the thread. I mean, really, who here has EVER actually got the max speeds advertised? Even when you pay for the highest level available, you will be LUCKY to actually get the minimum package speeds. But what the hell can we do about it?
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                                                • Profile picture of the author Wakunahum
                                                  250g is actually quite a bit of bandwidth.

                                                  I have been monitoring mine for the last 4 months and haven't used more than 20g in any one month. That includes watching way too many videos online as well as a subscription to netflix watching movies online.
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                                                  • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                    That is interesting. Did you use the connection 8 to 10 hours per day?
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                          • Profile picture of the author dbh
                            Pretty much sux for sure. I see near the end of the article that Time Warner is going to test usage pricing. This is just the beginning folks. Internet service in the U.S. will likely become like some membership sites are now - more $$ = more/faster service. Net neutrality might go bye bye.

                            I think that sooner or later after Comcast gets people used to limits, they'll figure out some way to generate revenue from the caps.....

                            - Darrell
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                            • Profile picture of the author marcanthony
                              Now some of us have a good reason to switch to Verizon FIOS...
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                              • Profile picture of the author John Rogers
                                I was considering a switch to Comcast as my DSL requires landline phone service that I really have no use for. What really sucks is I live about a quarter mile outside the fiber service area. Looks like DSL remains my best option for the immediate future.

                                John
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                            • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                              I am hoping this will be a minor change in the ISP world. I am hoping that it will be similar to what they charge for faster speeds now.

                              For example, you have some DSL companies that charge a price for 1.5 mbps, 3.0 mpbs, and 6.0 mbps. Hopefully they will just trade in the speed pricing for bandwidth pricing.

                              One thing I do see as a problem, and something that will spawn a bunch of lawsuits is the fact that people won't be able to know their bandwidth usage. That leaves room for major abuse from the ISP's. There has to be some law that would protect users from this... or then again maybe there will be a law implemented to protect users if there isn't already one.
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                              • Profile picture of the author adarwish
                                Open Left:: McCain Prepares to Hand the Internet Over to Comcast, Verizon, AT&T

                                Funny how the thread right next to this one delved into discussions of who is better for IM - McCain or Obama.

                                Obama's support for net neutrality is huge for us. McCain's opposition to it is very dangerous.

                                Obama pledges Net neutrality laws if elected president | Tech news blog - CNET News
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                                • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                  Originally Posted by adarwish View Post

                                  Open Left:: McCain Prepares to Hand the Internet Over to Comcast, Verizon, AT&T

                                  Funny how the thread right next to this one delved into discussions of who is better for IM - McCain or Obama.

                                  Obama's support for net neutrality is huge for us. McCain's opposition to it is very dangerous.

                                  Obama pledges Net neutrality laws if elected president | Tech news blog - CNET News

                                  That is just another reason why I know voting for Obama is the right choice. I was already decided... and voted for him in the primary election. But that fact alone insures that I won't change my mind.
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                                • Profile picture of the author Jason_V
                                  "If a customer exceeds more than 250 GB..."

                                  I'm not exactly sure what this means. I understant they're capping it at 250 gigs per person per month. However, this is fuzzy to me. They gave the example of 50 million emails or 124 standard definition movies.

                                  Who the hell in here gets 50 million emails or downloads 124 movies in a month?

                                  Yeah, at first I was a little pissed when I read this, but someone needs to put that amount of space into more tangible terms in relation to IM before I fully understand it. For example, how many PLR pack downloads does that equate to. How many website uploads does that equate to, etc..
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                                  • Profile picture of the author John Rogers
                                    Originally Posted by Jason_V View Post

                                    "If a customer exceeds more than 250 GB..."

                                    I'm not exactly sure what this means. I understant they're capping it at 250 gigs per person per month. However, this is fuzzy to me. They gave the example of 50 million emails or 124 standard definition movies.

                                    Who the hell in here gets 50 million emails or downloads 124 movies in a month?
                                    250 GB is a lot. For the vast majority of users, it is plenty. For a consumer downloading HD movies, it may or may not be. For a family of six downloading HD movies and sending and receiving emails with large attachments, quite possibly not.

                                    I suspect the cap is to weed out the commercial users paying consumer rates. I'm not a Comcast customer, but I also suspect there is something already in the contract regarding commercial use.

                                    John
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                                    • Profile picture of the author midwestmedia
                                      I'm a Comcast user and I'm not worried. The limit would be difficult for most regular IM'ers to meet even with the personal use equivalent to a movie download every few days.

                                      Plus, the article said that they will call you if you exceed the limit to give you a warning. If you get a call, just make note of what you did in the days leading up to it and shift your usage.

                                      I think John hit the nail on the head...they are trying to find commerical users who haven't signed up for commercial accounts. That and people who are pirating dozens of movies a day.

                                      Jen
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                                    • Profile picture of the author Patty Gale
                                      What is disturbing about this new policy is not so much the amount of downloads, etc. It sets a precedent and opens the door for more limitations and variants of how much you can and cannot use.

                                      What is this same philosophy were applied to television? You already pay X amount of dollars for cable / or satellite access or whatever you get... what if they said, "Well, you can only watch X amount of channels based on the frequency useage for the amount of time your tv is on?

                                      Not exactly the same thing, but you get my point.
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                                      • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                        I believe it is 1 for 1. So if you download a PLR video series... that contains the AVI's or WMV's or MPG's or whatever... that is 100 MB per video... then 10 videos would equate to 1 GB of bandwidth used.

                                        But I agree the precedent it sets is a dangerous one. Like I said, they could easily become the oil companies.

                                        20 MP3's per month would amount to about 100 MB's for songs. They usually average about 5 MB's each.

                                        How many YouTube videos do you watch? The first view will amount to about 1 MB per minute of video streamed. Subsequent views of the same video shouldn't amount to anything if YouTube caches video downloads.

                                        100 minutes of video could equate to 100 MB's of bandwidth. A typical family could easily eat through 1 GB per day... without even really trying.
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                                      • Profile picture of the author jstover77
                                        Banned
                                        I used to work as a contractor for Comcast. Not only was it a nightmare as an employee, but I had the joy of walking into customers houses and hearing all the nice things they had to say. I used to tell customers that I didn't even have Comcast, and they usually would become friendly at that point.

                                        I had a friend who was a fellow contractor who got banned from using their internet service for using up too much bandwidth. And he was an employee!! This was over a year ago, so this has been going on for a while. He made the switch to FIO's as did I, cause there is no limit on bandwidth usage.

                                        I got to go. Buying 10,000 shares in Verizon.
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                                        • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                          @kimw

                                          I was saying as a replacement. If they charge for both speed and bandwidth I would be extremely pissed. But at least that way for people like my Dad who rarely use the internet... he wouldn't have to deal with a crappy connection.

                                          I was saying so there is minimal change in pricing for most people. The only people affected would be people running P2P servers, Email Servers, File Servers, etc. from their house.

                                          @jstover77

                                          I wish FIOS was available in my area. 30 MB service would be sooooo nice. Not to mention have 2 MB upload speeds.
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                                          • Profile picture of the author KimW
                                            Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                            @kimw

                                            I was saying as a replacement. If they charge for both speed and bandwidth I would be extremely pissed. But at least that way for people like my Dad who rarely use the internet... he wouldn't have to deal with a crappy connection.

                                            I was saying so there is minimal change in pricing for most people. The only people affected would be people running P2P servers, Email Servers, File Servers, etc. from their house.

                                            @jstover77

                                            I wish FIOS was available in my area. 30 MB service would be sooooo nice. Not to mention have 2 MB upload speeds.
                                            ah, I gotcha now.
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                                        • Profile picture of the author Patty Gale
                                          He made the switch to FIO's as did I, cause there is no limit on bandwidth usage.
                                          I'm pretty good at most technical terms, but what is an FIO?
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                                          • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                            Patty FIOS is Fiber Optic Service for consumers. A lot of businesses are using Fiber now... but Verizon is building a 100% fiber network. It is a lot faster than Cable or DSL. For what you would pay for a 10 MB connection with cable you could get a 30 MB connection with Verizon's FIOS service.

                                            http://www22.verizon.com/content/ConsumerFios
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                                            • Profile picture of the author Andy
                                              Cable companies have a long history of "in your face" customer service. They seem to take more joy in making customers miserable than g'vment folks.

                                              That said the nature of cable makes this announcement inevitable. Unlike copper, everybody's using the same bandwidth on cable. It's like a straw - it only holds so much.

                                              Segmenting is the expensive way of doing things and cable companies hate spending cash flow. So they'll limit your access. It's not bad now but eventually you'll pay by the bit. Okay actually you'll have your choice

                                              128 bit "Mega Pack" (a fraction of what you'll soon be getting) $99 a month

                                              64 bite sized bits $79

                                              2 bit economy pack $59 plus a $29.99 "access fee"

                                              God bless,

                                              Andy
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                                              • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                I never even thought about this... How much bandwidth would my venting cost? I mean "Call of Duty" is a necessity. Someone pisses me off, I logon to XBOX live and shoot a bunch of people. :p

                                                Online gamers will get hit hard I'm sure.
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                                                • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
                                                  Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                                  I never even thought about this... How much bandwidth would my venting cost? I mean "Call of Duty" is a necessity. Someone pisses me off, I logon to XBOX live and shoot a bunch of people. :p

                                                  Online gamers will get hit hard I'm sure.
                                                  I can't see gamers using 10gb per day. That's a LOT of transfer. (The equivalent of 2 DVD's per day.)

                                                  To understand, let's look at the flip side: You would need 100 gigs a month excluding custom maps, for a 20 man server. You're just one player. You'll never come close.
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                                                  • Profile picture of the author Patty Gale
                                                    Patty FIOS is Fiber Optic Service for consumers.
                                                    O.k. I understand, now. That's actually what we have in our home. AT&T UVerse running on fiber optics. I've been using it since the beginning of this year. Prior to that, we had regular DSL with AT&T.

                                                    Honestly? I don't notice any difference in speed between the two.
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                                                  • Profile picture of the author CarlosGarcia
                                                    Guys,

                                                    You think Comcast is bad at 250 GB?

                                                    Here in Canada, Rogers our Cable Internet Provider already implemented caps at 95 GB,
                                                    and if you go over that it's $1.50 per GB to a max of $25, after $25 it's unlimited though.

                                                    At least Rogers had the decency to implement a system that warns you at 75% of your useage,
                                                    and they tell you when you've reached 100%, plus you can check your stats online.

                                                    Bell, the DSL provider caps you at 60 GB down, and 30 GB upload, which is worse.

                                                    250 GB is more than plenty for most people. They claim 99% of users will not be affected,
                                                    I guess it all depends on what you do every day. Are you downloading movies, and watching
                                                    YouTube videos EVERY SINGLE day, 24/7?

                                                    Most IM'ers are not, and will not likely be affected by this.

                                                    The only downfall is that they're not providing you any stats or warnings, which is where
                                                    they're really dropping the ball.
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                                                    • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
                                                      I learned a lesson long agao...

                                                      Never buy your internet from the cable guy if you have a choice.

                                                      Cable has many issues including that it is a shared pipe so it gets congested.

                                                      Comcast's proposition is their attempt to solve a problem which is that cable is just not capable of providing for an ever increasing consumption of bandwidth.

                                                      Its Craptastic!

                                                      I have been with Qwest.net DSL for years and I love it. My upload speed is faster than all the cable company options in town and my download speed is not limited at peak times by traffic jams which always happened back in the day when I was on cable.

                                                      Cable companies sell you on how fast your connection might be but they fail to tell you that it can be slow as snot during peak hours because you share the pipe.
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                                                      • Profile picture of the author zerofill
                                                        Originally Posted by Josh Anderson View Post

                                                        I learned a lesson long agao...

                                                        Never buy your internet from the cable guy if you have a choice.

                                                        Cable has many issues including that it is a shared pipe so it gets congested.

                                                        Comcast's proposition is their attempt to solve a problem which is that cable is just not capable of providing for an ever increasing consumption of bandwidth.

                                                        Its Craptastic!

                                                        I have been with Qwest.net DSL for years and I love it. My upload speed is faster than all the cable company options in town and my download speed is not limited at peak times by traffic jams which always happened back in the day when I was on cable.

                                                        Cable companies sell you on how fast your connection might be but they fail to tell you that it can be slow as snot during peak hours because you share the pipe.
                                                        DSL... it depends on where you are...DSL is shit here. Not to mention DSL is technically shared to. Everyone in your area is going through the same DSLAM...

                                                        My Cable is 1up 10dwn and I always get that...But then again Time Warner ran completely new everything in this state...
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                                                        • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                          Say what you want about Cable... I had the same setup through Insight Communications. I miss my cable connection in the worst ways. It was never slow. In fact I miss my On Demand services on the cable tv side as well. I used to have Earthlink DSL for a bit... they sucked on all aspects. AT&T is not so bad though, although it has been slow at times... but not too often.

                                                          With Cable it was always blazing fast.
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                                                          • Profile picture of the author deu12000
                                                            I had Verizon DSL for 5 years and have been with Comcast internet for 2 years. Comcast hands down is faster and has much better customer service. I canceled every single Verizon service I had because each problem would take a minimum 2-3 hours (between waiting times and transfers) on the phone before they realized they were clueless. With Comcast they answer the phone within seconds and call transfers take seconds and very little wait times for customer service when there is a wait. Also Verizon doesn't work on weekends. Comcast comes to your house 7 days a week.

                                                            250GB had me pissed when I first read about it, but if you think about it you probably can't even push that out of Verizon's lines. I'd download from one site at 125 kilobytes per second with Verizon and with Comcast I can pull 900 kilobytes per second from the same site. Also Verizon's outages were for 2-3 days at a time (a few times a year). The worst I've had with Comcast is about 10 hours (once).

                                                            For those that think you need to have a phone line to use DSL, Verizon has something called dry loop DSL which is basically pay an extra $5 per month and you don't need a phone line to get DSL. It's a good idea on paper, but what you won't realize is Verizon is so incompetent that if you tell them one month in advance they still won't have your line ready without a hitch.

                                                            Basically I'm a disgruntled Verizon customer after paying them for 5 years of internet service and they bungled up everything at every chance they got. I canceled the phone line after getting $100+ bills every month for years (just on the phone side for US only calls), when I switched to Vonage. I told them to switch me to dry loop DSL a month in advance. It took me 8 hours on the phone for this all to happen. When the day came...guess what? I got dry humped by Verizon. They told me they messed up and it would take them two weeks to fix the problem. I told them to...ass...and called Comcast and they told me just cross the street and buy our modem and you can be up and running instantly. I did what I was suggested had technical difficulties where my internet didn't work instantly but guess what? They came to my house the next day on a Saturday (a day Verizon doesn't work) and fixed the problem.

                                                            Ever since then I've been a Comcast supporter, even though I bitch to them every month because they raised my rate from $120 per month to $160 per month and trying to get a deal.

                                                            I'm one of those people that hate to be reliant on one company for more than one service, but Comcast is starting to convince me because I can pay $140 and cancel my Vonage and keep the same channels. I'm sure it's a scam to jack the prices up later, but I might fall for the trap next month. There service is the best compared to Verizon which is my only high speed provider comparison. Between the two companies I've spent about 7 years if not more.
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                                                            • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
                                                              I've never had that problem with Verizon Wireless. Their reps are very knowledgeable about their services, features, etc. I don't think I have ever had to wait on hold for longer than 1 to 2 minutes with them.

                                                              AT&T it takes forever to get them on the damn phone. I don't even bother anymore. I have had a few outages since I have been with them, but they usually have it fixed within 12 to 24 hours. But like I said, you won't have long hold times... you won't be able to reach them at all.

                                                              You want morons? Try contacting Cingular support reps... which is now AT&T. Complete idiots. I may have to switch to AT&T for wireless service because of the area I live in... I hope I never have to call their reps.

                                                              But back to the original topic... When I was with Insight Communications... I never had to wait on hold mainly because it was a local company. I did have outages and they rarely lasted more than 24 hours. To me that is acceptable.

                                                              With AT&T Internet, I am forced to use their DSL modem that has built in router. I cannot stand that. I would much rather use my own router. I now don't use my router, because I don't want to add an extra hop just to use my own router.
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                                                              • Profile picture of the author rondo
                                                                Here in Australia capped plans are standard. I pay $50 for 20GB per month. The most common plans here are under 5GB per month.
                                                                Sounds like you guys have it pretty good.


                                                                Andrew
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                                                                • Profile picture of the author threeg5
                                                                  Originally Posted by rondo View Post

                                                                  Here in Australia capped plans are standard. I pay $50 for 20GB per month. The most common plans here are under 5GB per month.
                                                                  Sounds like you guys have it pretty good.


                                                                  Andrew
                                                                  I think it's more the fact that they are not going to allow you to monitor it. or tell you where you stand in any way.
                                                                  but if they could or do then I guess "cap away" it would at that point be fair given the prices weren't too ridiculous.
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                                            • Profile picture of the author jennstall
                                              Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                              Patty FIOS is Fiber Optic Service for consumers. A lot of businesses are using Fiber now... but Verizon is building a 100% fiber network. It is a lot faster than Cable or DSL. For what you would pay for a 10 MB connection with cable you could get a 30 MB connection with Verizon's FIOS service.

                                              Verizon | FiOS Internet (High-Speed Fiber-Optic Broadband Internet)
                                              I am very impatiently waiting for FIOS. I wish they would hurry up rolling it out. I live in Boston. It's available in the burbs, but not Boston itself. Argh.

                                              And I was thinking about moving to Vegas next year and it's not available there either. Double argh!
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                                        • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
                                          This is terrible for the precedent it is setting.

                                          But I'm not surprised.

                                          And actually, I'm kinda glad they're doing it. I personally don't download 10gb's per day. Nor do I upload that. And I am definitely a power user on the internet.

                                          This is clearly targeting the extreme users that are running home servers and torrent services from the comfort of their home. And I don't think it's right for them to pay the same amount that I do. Nor should my service suffer.

                                          Do I agree? No. But I also don't agree with the people running major servers from home and utilizing the bulk of the bandwidth in my neighborhood.

                                          This will not impact me. I'll never get a call.

                                          And you know what? I've had comcast for over 8 years in diverse locations across South Florida. It beats Bellsouth DSL hands down. More bandwidth, faster speeds and no need to pay an extra $20 for a phone line I never use. And when Comcast goes down 3 times a year or so...it's never for more than 2-4 hours tops. I can't reference Verizon because they haven't penetrated this market yet.
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                                    • Profile picture of the author KimW
                                      Originally Posted by jjpmarketing View Post

                                      I am hoping this will be a minor change in the ISP world. I am hoping that it will be similar to what they charge for faster speeds now.

                                      For example, you have some DSL companies that charge a price for 1.5 mbps, 3.0 mpbs, and 6.0 mbps. Hopefully they will just trade in the speed pricing for bandwidth pricing.....
                                      Where I live comcast already does that.You can pay for 8 12 or 16 mb download speeds. Personally I think that's a crock.If I'm paying a premium price for broadband service,I should get broadband service.

                                      Originally Posted by John Rogers View Post

                                      ...I suspect the cap is to weed out the commercial users paying consumer rates. I'm not a Comcast customer, but I also suspect there is something already in the contract regarding commercial use.

                                      John
                                      Until recently I had two comcast accounts.one at my house and one at my business, I owned a computer service repair service. At my shop I had to pay $95 a month for the broadband,and towards the end they thru in free basic tv.
                                      At my home I pay aprox $50 for the cable and for the most part the service is better than what I was gettting at my business account.
                                      Figure that.
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                          • Originally Posted by adamv View Post


                            The internet connection is far better now than it was a few years ago for me but I have my computer connected to the internet all day, every day. Looks like it might be time to see about getting high speed internet through my directv service.

                            Hi Adam,

                            I've had the satellite service from Directv which is actually HughesNet now, for almost 3 years because it's the only option for broadband I can get.

                            If you download more than 400 MB in a day you violate what they call their "Fair Use Policy" and you get throttled down to less than dial up speed for 24 hours.

                            There is a window in which you can download as much as you want and not affect your service...its from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM EST.

                            Also, I pay for the ProPlus package which is supposed to be 1.6Mbps (megabits per second) download speed and 250Kbps (kilobits per second) upload. $79.99 a month plus tax...around $85 total.

                            My download speeds average around 150 KILOBYTES per second and 20-25 KILOBYTES per second upload.

                            If you live in an area like I do and cable or DSL is not available, then satellite is better than dial up, but if you have any other option, I'd go with that first!

                            Just my informed opinion.

                            Michael
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                            • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
                              From what they're saying - at least in the article that I read on it this morning - that amount of bandwidth would equal 50 million emails in a month OR 124 full length movies. Wow.

                              First of all no-one but spammers needs to send out 50 million emails in a month, do they?

                              But only 124 full length movies...or the equivalent...that kinda sucks. I hope the video bandwidth dilemma is solved soon, not just in the Comcast area but for everyone.
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                              • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
                                Hey guys,

                                It seems to me that Comcast is targeting prolific users such as pirates, cronic email smpammers, comercial users (who aren't paying for it), etc ...

                                Now I don't know about you but I am looking forward to them shutting down some people, or at least slowing them down.

                                This can be a good thing for most net users in the ling run!

                                And no, I am not with Comcast. I use Armstrong because it's the only compnay in this area.


                                Mary
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                            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                              Comcast must be getting hammered with calls about this because I just
                              called to give them a piece of my mind and I got the "all circuits are busy"
                              message.

                              Is there a way to figure out what you're using per day? I have absolutely no
                              idea how to track this.

                              How are we supposed to know?

                              I mean for crying out loud, I'm technically challenged as it is. This is the last
                              frickin thing that I need.

                              Unfortunately, next to dial up, I have no other options but Comcast where
                              I am.

                              Sheesh!
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            • Profile picture of the author threeg5
              Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

              The bad part of this is, Comcast says they do not have the capability to give you stats of your Web usage.

              I saw this article this morning and called them immediately.

              I talked to 3 different people and the first 2 had no idea of what I was talking about. The third guy I got on the phone was familiar with the new policy, but says as of now and the future customers will not be able to view their own web usage statistics.

              So, it boils down to a guess on our part.
              first of all I am not a Comcast user but very nervous because usually all The cable Co.'s seems to follow Comcast lead. My immediate thought on this is if they are unable to provide to us then how are we able to make sure that we do not go over this amount per theis standards then they are more or less targeting certain people or though it could be said or interpreted. With that said They are saying that it is unreasonable that anyone would need to use that amount. Ok well if I don't know where I satnad then how to I budget into that FCC hey FCC hey FCC how can they charge me for something that they are not allowing me to monitor what I have. here take this bag of M&M's and you can only eat 55% of them "What? You need to know how many are in there. No Way" Or better yet isn't that kinda like driving your car around with no fuel gauge to be able to tell when you are going to run out of fuel. I don't find this as fair and it is not just money because they are talking of permentantly banning you from obtaining service with them. What are they scared of is what I think we should wnat to know from this and also how unethical is this anyways?
              Arrgghh
              Thanks for reading the ramblin'
              Mike G
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        • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
          Originally Posted by Scott Ames View Post

          Customers who top 250 GB in a month twice in a six-month timeframe could have service terminated for a year.

          Ah.. yeah.. send me to my room and make me stand in the corner too. I don't think so. I think I'll fire Comcast before that happens. How the freak am I supposed to know what my usage is? They had better start providing stats.
          Unless you're running an online game server, bittorrent server, or trade pirated software in the hundreds of copies, I highly doubt you will ever come close to, let alone exceed 250gb a month.

          You might be able to do it if you're watching lots of pirated movies, but I doubt you do that either.

          250gb is quite generous IMHO. Time Warners users will soon be limited to 5gb, now that sucks. Guess you should never go with a broadband provider owned by AOL, eh?
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          • Profile picture of the author valerieSONORA
            Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

            250gb is quite generous IMHO. Time Warners users will soon be limited to 5gb, now that sucks. Guess you should never go with a broadband provider owned by AOL, eh?
            OMG, I almost signed up for Time Warner cable when I moved recently. Glad I didn't. I was going to, but I would have to wait at least 2 weeks before they could install it and I didn't wanna go 2 more weeks w/o net.

            ps. Are dsl companies going to limit GB?
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  • Profile picture of the author aggron
    Yohohooho .. free market will win. Seriously speed is increasing due to better communication devices /hardware as much as increase in internet usage . Just let the markets decide .
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