Comcast to make monthly Internet use cap official

Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month...

[Merritt]

It sickens me to see this happen. Is this how censorship of the internet will work?!?!

[RevN8r]

I think that actual censorship of the internet will be much worse. This is bad, to be sure, but it's already a practice throughout much of the rest of the world.

My ISP is through Charter Communications, and I feel like they're already throttling our bandwidth. It shouldn't be the case, but I truly wonder sometimes.

[Bnet343]

and to think I was going to sign for Comcast because I am moving next week. No thanks Comcrap, I'll stick to DSL like always.

[sack_boi]

Here in france we have 100MB/s dl and 50MB/s up, without and restrictions.

I really feel bad for you Americans.

[Silver360]

of the internet service if they are changing what is offered. None of this bull about we have the right to change what we provide, the customers get no compensation for the change of the deal.

[JoySticksFTW]

!! The Atmosphere will begin charging for the air we breathe...
!! God will begin charging new born babies for souls...
!! The devil will begin charging for extra helpings of Despair when you reach hell...
!! Too Human, Fat Gabe, Haze, RROD'd 360's, Lair, and the Wii's whole line-up of games will begin charging for the right to laugh at them...

When and where does it frickin' end?

But in all fariness to Comcast, 250gb is pretty generous compared to what the other guys are offering

[Motion]

Digital phone companies like vonage will be pissed about this, since comcast is limiting the amount of time you can use it, especially while comcast itself offers a digital phone service that will probably remain unlimited...since this will effect other companies services, such as vonage, hulu, (basically any IPtv or voice company), I dont' see how they can put these restrictions on.

[kalel333]

Wow 250 gb cap??? That's still pretty good ! here in Canada Quebec, I have a 20gb download cap and I pay 40$ (student price) but if I weren't a student it would be 20$ more I think. I'm hating the internet more and more everyday because I can't do as much as when I had my 256 kbps connection !! Who knew That I'd want my 256kbps connection back when I have 7mbps; f*ck capitalism !

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I hope it will be illegal for isp's to cap. Frankly this is heading ina bad direction. First they say, oh the cap is at a 250GB, then they reduce it by introducing lower cost plan. Then they get rid of the old plans and introduce newer crappier plans.

Step in the wrong direction though, but in Comcast defense they have provided me the best internet I gotten compared to crappy DSL service from AT&T and they are far more generous....

Wish I could get fiber!

[SaiyanFury]

So the American corporate monopoly of the internet continues. Soon the cap will drop and the internet will become more expensive as all things that are involved in a corporate monopoly do. I'm stuck on 1.5mbps DSL so no cap in the world would be low enough for us here in BF nowhere, Florida.

[ShinFuYux]

How much data does Online gaming use in a month?

Yesterday, I downloaded National Treasure, it was 7GB.

:|

[OGharryjoysticks]

This would suck sheep balls if it cut me off a game in the middle

[Shadowstar]

So, at 7 GB... you'd be able to download only 35 movies per month (assuming no other internet usage-- if we say that other than movies, you're around average, that's still over 30 per month.) How many movies do you watch? 250 gigs sounds like you'd only hit it if you were a heavy filesharing family using multiple computers to download individual movies every day, or running a very successful website out of your basement... I mean, I'd prefer no limits, but most of the rest of the world has them, and if the US is going to get them too, they should be reasonable, and this... actually seems reasonable. And from Comcast, no less! Surprising!

[JoySticksFTW]

They won't cut your game off in the middle. Comcast will let you keep playing and just charge you CRAZY fees for going over your limit.

They probably, secretly hope you go over the limit just to charge you more money.

Believe it.

[strotee]

Sounds like Comcast is ready for digital downloads. /sarcasm

[dragunrising]

Hopefully the restrictions won't last or will be refined (higher than 1000 GB). Digital distribution is going to happen at some point and the last thing we need is a data cap. It is more beneficial to single out the major abusers of data bandwidth. Spammers and pirates in particular...

[Raoh]

dont take this lightly

comcast is the second largest isp...

other companies are all trying to reach the same goal and are all looking at each other to see what works

not only to stop piracy but to make money on it...

this also allows them to blame the customer/offender for less than stellar service

while they still wont upgrade their networks

lets not forget that comcast was also caught delivering SD quality television to its HD customers to increase bandwidth (or not increase bandwidth)

[rogimusprime]

they are just trying set set a strong precedent for F***ing people over.

This is garbage. I'm glad Time Warner bought them out in L.A.

[kalel333]

Yeah i totally agree with you, people don't realize how "dangerous" this could be for us consumers. If we start accepting limited internet every ISP is going to do the same in order to save bandwidth and make more money out of the GB's we download . But then again they'll have to either remove the caps or give us more download and upload with digital downloads becoming more and more popular everyday. Apple should sue all ISP's that force caps (have no limitless plans) saying that they are hampering the growth of their itunes store or something lol. So should Microsoft and Sony with their PS's and Xbox's.

[Silogon]

G'bye Comcast, you won't be missed..

[sunnygrg]

I miss that one month vacation in Japan. Oh! how I gamed that summer.

[Owner360-PS3]

Glad Comcast isnt near me.... This is so 90's

[facepalm]

"It's Comcastic!!" ::thumbs up with an awkward smile::

But seriously... Capping is stupid, but at least it isn't as bad as Time Warner's "40GB" cap that they're testing on...

Luckily for me I have FiOS now...

[tangerine]

I have been on DSL for years, and although it may not be as fast as cable at it's best (but way better most of the time as cable is shared with the block and sucks balls) it is cheap, and consistent.
I download like a mofo on mine.

[RememberThe357]

Got Qwest on Wi-Fi. Not the best, but it works well enough and I'm still not on the fastest speed they offer.

[Lord Anubis]

oh the doom :( so much for a future being connected. They need to upgrade and use other alternatives rather than cap. There is P4P for starters.

[Ozzyb]

Fine.. I already hear from players online what crap service Comcast provides. I'll stick with Verizon; I haven't heard anything about a cap from them. I think this probably won't last unless their competitors follow with a similar plan. People don't like caps on anything, so this will either be short-lived or they will lose many customers.. especially in areas where there are many options in ISPs. (I live 15 minutes from NYC)

[kewlkat007]

I rather go with the small guy, they need the business and hopefully this sh^t does not happen.

[creeture]

signs of the times.

[RememberThe357]

lol he'll tell these ISPs to offer equal service for equal payment! (that speech was kick ass tonight)

[RoidRage]

I think the sh** is about to hit the fan.

[Megaton]

Pssht, I'd take Comcast's 250gig limit over Time Warner's (my current ISP, who have a monopoly in my area) experimental cap of 5 - 40gigs. Luckily they haven't hit us with the cap, but I think it's only a matter of time. Utter nonsense. Will someone please cue the angry mob/uprising before these corporations strangle our internet?

[RoidRage]

This is one of those rare instances that a petition would be a good idea.

[theusedfake]

it seems that comcast just got added
to the list of people that can go F themselves

[VampHuntD]

I'll be finding a new service provider for certain. Bad move Comcast, bad move.

[FantasyStar]

same here

[Bigrhyno]

When I read the title I started to get pissed. But after reading it, it's not too bad. I mean don't get me wrong, I am not supporting the idea of capping, but 250 is much more generous than the other companies trying this method. I also highly doubt I come anywhere close to this amount per month too.

[VampHuntD]

As with any big change, first you get acceptance, by offering, in this case, a large space cap that almost no one would hit anyway. People then say, well it sucks but it'll never effect me! I don't use the internet enough to hit 250gb. Then once that's in place, the limit drops.

Starts to fall to 200, people still go doesn't effect me! 150, doesn't effect me! 100, doesn't effect me! And one day you look at your cable bill cause it's massively over and you realize, that while you weren' paying attention, the limit dropped to where it DOES effect you or you use more BW than you ever thought possible.

And by then it's too late to fight the beast.

[Sitdown]

we could all boycott Comcast and Time Warner by going with dial up.....until it got the point across. Oh well....sounds like this is an instance where some people will just have to grit and bear it....make sure you shower will good to remove the filth of being taken advantage of.

[Immortal Kaim]

Your only just getting restrictions on data? Welcome to the world of Australian broadband, though your not restricted to 15GB at $49, right?

[Endorphin]

Just get your local cable internet service provider...much better and none of that big corporate bull crap.

[thereapersson]

And it's the same for most other people as well. I'm not sure what you meant by your statement...

[thereapersson]

Comcast is the largest ISP in my state, servicing millions of homes across the region. The sad thing is, most idiots won't bother to complain about this because society is so complacent with what gets forcefed to them. I hope to god this doesn't go into effect.

I remember them getting in a heap of trouble for attempting to do something like this a while back, so instead they decided to go for bandwidth throttling during peak hours for "heavy" users. I wonder what will come of this if it comes into effect?

[Fanboy Slaughter]

I hear you completely. We had Insight Communications here in Northern IL for almost a decade, and they were great, they NEVER even charged for a repair call. They never b!tched about bandwith usage or anything, but when Comcast bought them out they saw that Insight had subscribers to the tune of almost 80% of the entire metro area population, so Comcast booted them to rural Kentucky while they (in a VERY hostile manner) took our area over.

Needless to say, I'm not thrilled with them AT ALL. The fact that Cable companies are practically the only industry allowed to have a monopoly over an area just isn't right

[Citizen Cook]

Only a pirate would want more than that. And by that, i mean a pirate that sells on the movies. Not the rest of the worlds pirate that only download for their own viewing.

[Captain Tuttle]

Luckily I'm getting Verizon FIOS next week, just a coincidence. Although there's no way that I use close to 250 gigs. How does this apply to online gaming?

[titntin]

This is simply what will happen everywhere.
There's limited bandwidth on any system and increasing demand for it. In order to cater for the majority of users, they will penalize those few thats over use the system.
Its been like this in the UK for years. Most packages here have a monthly download quota averaging 30 to 40 gig for a month. But even if you sign up for an 'unlimited package', if you use a lot of bandwidth (say over 80 gig) then they profile your line and reduce your speed terribly. I have a business line that supposed to support 3 or 4 business users and be unlimited, but if I download a lot of movies or upload a lot of media files (my work), my line gets crippled in peak times and I can't even watch a streaming game trailer without constant buffering.

Figures like 250gig are huge, and extremely generous by the standards of the UK.

Its the certain knowledge that these 'caps' will become standard everywhere, that belies those who suggest digital downloads is the distribution method thats about to overtake everything else. The capacity is simply not there for the majority of people for the foreseeable future.

[PirateThom]

I'm on a 40GB but my ISP is quite small and don't enforce it, even though I'm sure I've gone over it once or twice.

But this is why digital distribution will never be viable, too many limits.

[kevin1122]

disregard this post.

[kevin1112]

how does this affect me, i always stream movies, rarely ever download stuff. except for psn demos and a few other things that are around 50mb. and i use the internet for gaming, will I go over 250gb?

[SL1M DADDY]

I am still pissed. As soon as another service is available, I may move on to the other guys...

[Merritt]

I stuck with it down here in the Keys myself. I could switch to DSL but that means no more Vonage due to having a landline for DSL and I don't want to pay for that.

How will this affect Vonage? I'm curious.
How will this affect my gaming? I have no clue what I use.
How will this affect my legally downlinding movies, streaming video...etc? Again, no idea.
How will this affect consoles future plans for offering online experiences? I.E. Home and any MMORPG On both the PS3 and 360 side.

The internet was created with the intention to be free and such, these companies have bastardized it. Upgrade your infrastructure, there is no need to cap. Punish the extreme users of file sharing etc...etc...not people such as myself a "power user" it's sad really.

Comcast will be loosing quite a few customers, that's for certain.

[tuaamin13]

Is that the local mono/duopolies (cable+phone companies) have no incentive to upgrade their existing capacity. It's like that with wireless service too. AT&T has more subscribers in some areas than they have infrastructure, leaving dropped calls and all that crap.

Other countries with (considerably) faster internet have government restrictions in place about line sharing (they have to lease out lines, so that gives more smaller ISPs a chance without them having to own infrastructure), and they also give tax breaks to companies who do upgrade their infrastructure/lay new lines.

I'm not saying tons of government is the answer, but there are things they can do to help the US catch up to the rest of the world.

Remember the FCC defines broadband by 256kbps. They recently re-ran the numbers with 512kbps as the minimum, and afaik they haven't released them to the public because the numbers look so bad.

[MrWonderful]

F*ck you comcast! if i dont decied to sue then i will drop my service.

[Balance]

let me tell you about the first time i get one of those letters (if it starts oct 1 i should get one starting november :-) ) i am going to dump their ass. what total BS, i pay for internet access, not x gig of internet access.

[RadientFlux]

250 GB isn't bad for a cap. The average user won't even get close to the cap.

Heck I do web design and development from home and I don't even get close to 90 GB a month.

[Voozi]

Fu­ck you Comcast, first you take away my Cartoon Network and tell me I have to purchase one of those boxes at an extra per month cost + the installation fees...and now you're capping my internet?

[seraph pinion]

Next the Feds'll be regulating how many miles we can drive in a month, over 250 miles and the engine cuts out. This would be like the government legislating what consenting adults can do in the privacy of their own home. Oh, wait, I forgot, it's already 1984.

[Captain Tuttle]

Bob Barr for President!!

[Merritt]

AMEN CAPTAIN TUTTLE!!! AMEN!!! Bob Barr. FTW!

[seraph pinion]

He used to be a hardcore dck. I'd vote for anybody that changed the fact that my religion is de facto illegal.

[Captain Tuttle]

He still is a d!ck. He's just the Libertarian candidate.

Personally I think he's a fraud. I should have put /sarcasm in my post. Sorry.

Back on topic.

[butterfinger]

LMAO, not any time soon apparently.

[Andor_Trask]

Internet Hate Machine needs to mobilize...

[Hitster]

If anyone should put a hit on the CEOs, I would applaud them.

[Stinkey]

Instead of these US ISPs try to increase the bandwidth their busy trying to figure out how they can rape us out of the large amount of money we spend for such little speeds compared to the rest of the world. In other parts of the world they have 100GB downloads for the same or comparable prices. Even though the cap is relatively high I think they should be worrying about "how are we going to increase the speeds of our network". I have Comcast highest speed in my Area that is a bullcrap 16MPS

[CarnageXB]

I cant wait for Verizon Fios to get in my area. Its like a block away from me but the city wont allow it. I live on the borderline of the city and the county.

[unbiased]

i warhawk all day!!!!?????

[kevin1112]

after hearing about this i was curious to see how much bandwidth i use a month, so i stumbled upon my mcafee security center and it lets me look. last month i used around 90gb all-together, im not sure if that is also with my ps3 since mcafee does recognize my ps3 in network settings but under anonymous. The ps3 can suck up a good bit since demos and videos add up awhile.

One thing ive been hearing on forums is comcast always had this bandwidth cap, but they have been secretive about it and the people who have been going over it have been getting warned already. and some cased services get terminated. So if comcast hasnt been hassling you already you are most likely set.

[FantasyStar]

It's about the principle of being charged "per gigabyte". In America, it's always been "pay for unlimited access" which was one of the main selling points of Broadband, what happens now?

I know if I get sent a letter, I'm cutting Comcast off. I don't ever use 250 GB (maybe close because of anime) but I don't like being monitored for my internet usage. It was never like this, I don't see why it should be like this now other than "corporate gains".

I swear, the moment I get sent a letter, I'm calling Verizon for a petition to set up Fibre Optics lines in my neighborhood. I've tolerated Comcast up to a certain point, but this is it.

[kevin1112]

they have always monitored from the looks of it, they are pretty much announcing it to the public.

[DR-IVO]

that COMCRAPTASTIC!!!!!!1

[joevfx]

all internet providers are gonna end up doing this.

HAHAHA dumb microsoft, i thought digital downloads were gonna make all optical disc obsolete? LOL. Not anymore :)