Warning: Comcast is Now Throttling Broadband

[AtuBrian]

[citation][nom]sidran32[/nom]I just read the PDF report. As they were previously using protocol specific throttling methods, which people were complaining adamantly about previously, I think this is a positive step. Congestion needs to be controlled. My only hope is that their threshold levels are correct. 70% seems a bit low to me, though the downstream is 80%. I also think that these should probably be more aggressively applied towards users who bought the higher tier services, as they would most likely be larger offenders of network congestion (though cumulatively, lower tier users can also be offenders, so they should not be exempt). Ultimately, though, they should work on upgrading their network so all users can have a better experience, without so much need for throttling.[/citation]

lmao 50gb "legally" haha!

 

[mlopinto2k1]

[citation][nom]leetoranges[/nom]Sigh time to lower my upload speeds D: sigh if only internet was like in korea, or Japan, i dont think they have any problems there with throttleing their customers, and i think that over there, they have alot more freedom on the internet rather than us.[/citation]Move to Japan, stop sharing pirated software.

 

[maban]

Thought I'd chime in with this.

http/customer.comcast.com/Pages/FAQViewer.aspx?seoid=Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Network-Management

 

[koga73]

i have comcast and i will be looking for a new ISP (like a have a whole lot of choices)

 

[Mysteic]

I am going to get flack for this, but my Comcast is incredible. I like in a semi-rural area and I pay like $30 a month for "6 Down, 2 Up" and I have tested it. 90% of the time I get 8.9 to 11 Mbps down and 2.5 to 4 Mbps up. It is blazing fast, disconnects maybe once a month for 15 minutes at most. And to top it off, I have violated their old and new rules, but since the network hub is never congested they have done nothing about it. So for people living in the middle or the city, sorry. For people like me, slightly outside the primary populated area. Comcast is awesome.

I will give them a thumbs up for making the throttling rules less restrictive. Hell these new rules seem more geared to ensure people in your area get the service they pay for by controlling one of two people who eat up everyone's bandwidth. The old rules were just plan wrong, stupid, and several words I will not say.

 

[buwish]

Thank god for small, little known ISP's like the one I use. I could DL the entire Internet (may take awhile) and they wouldn't do a thing.

 

[fflam]

if you read the user agreement with comcast internet you are paying for a maximum speed. they only guarantee something like 60% of they speed you think your getting. here in Seattle we have 4 speed tears with comcast, 12mb, 16mb, 22mb and 50mb. prices start at $19.99 and go up around $10 per tear. 50mb however is a lot more. the max the closest competitor offers is 1.5MB at $19.99 a month.

so if you think about it, if you think of a going rate of $19.99 per 1.5mb/s of speed. 12mb/s would come to roughly $160/month? even if they throttle the speed comcast doesn't seem so bad to me. and yes customer service leaves something to be desired, but its much better then it once was.

 

[truehighroller]

This means you are not, gettin what you paid for and I say some one sues for that very reason. Issue stopped in its tracks.

 

[fflam]

no this does not mean you are not getting what you payed for. what you payed for is speeds "up to" but they guarantee speeds far slower. and i would not even doubt there is a statement saying speeds may drop lower if there is "congestion". you are paying for what the user agreement says NOT what the big flashy words say. and no its is not false advertising. here is a clip from the www.comcast.com website

"Performance

Downloads up to 12 Mbps with PowerBoost. A great value!"

download "UP TO" not at least, or at. up to.

 

[truehighroller]

That's just bull shit that IMO a judge would see right through.

 

[drvcycle]

Wow, a lot of people seem to be upset by this! I think there would be a lot fewer negative comments if the readers read the PDF linked to in the article (the link is bad, by the way. You will need to edit it in order to get to the document).

What Comcast is doing is not really throttling traffic. They are just using priority scheme similar to weighted fair queuing whereby the subscribers who are using a large amount of bandwidth have their packet's priority reduced when their cable segment is nearing saturation.

What this means is that you can use 100% of your provisioned bandwidth for as long as you like, unless lots of your neighbors are also using lots of bandwidth. Then your priority might be reduced if you are still able to exceed 70% of your provisioned bandwidth. And even if your traffic is set to run at a lower priority, you will only see a reduction in throughput when your cable segment is saturated.

I see this as a positive move on Comcast's part. It is a very fair and reasonable way to manage their network.

 

[fflam]

i agree with you and it may be bull. but a judge would agree with them. hell even fios does it. from the verison fios site

Fast

Download up to 15 Mbps / Upload up to 5 Mbps

and you don't think they have tons of layers checking and double checking this stuff? its like going to buy a advertised car and its gone because there was only 1 at that price. it may be bull, but its not illegal.

 

[lopopo]

[citation][nom]hillarymakesmecry[/nom]I, for one, am glad I have comcast.Bandwidth throttling could be a good thing. If I'm trying to play some online games and the neighbors kid is slowing down my local internet down by up and downloading 1 tb or more a month and preventing me from playing my games on the connection I'm paying for. Then throttle away.I probably use 50gb a month.[/citation]

Toms should have a hall of fame for these comments. Does this guy even know what a what a terabyte is?

Its morons like you, with uncanny stupidity, that destroy what others have worked so hard to achieve. I imagine one day you will be waking up to a future world where you are being raped for throughput only to wonder what went wrong and blame it on others.

Go back under a bridge you chud.

 

[madhumper69]

pathetic it would be like saying to many people are using landlines at once lets throttle that so that the network doesn't slow down lets cap that for a maximum of 20hrs on weekends , only way they will back down is if they see a big ass hit by consumers going elsewhere but that will never happen people will just continue to use their services.

i wish i lived in Sweden or Europe, a 100mbit connection for half the price uncapped!!!

 

[eddieroolz]

I just hope the families of Comcast employees or executives don't do any high-bandwidth tasks. That includes YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and multiplayer gaming.

Or would we see "special circumvention" be implemented for the families of executives...most likely. It's aggravating how the dirty corporations can get away with something like this.

 

[lopopo]

BTW only in America would some crap like this happen. I mean this is wrong for so many reasons. You see society frowns upon people who pirate or who make modified boards for uncapping modems and such... but the biggest crimes are not committed by pirates or hackers they are committed by the comcasts or AIGs of the world... those who manipulate the playing field so you don't have a choice.

If we really want to succeed in harnessing the internet and fostering a new environment for businesses to grow we cant have
companies choking bandwidth because they are too cheap to invest in upgrading infrastructure. the internet is just like the highway system. You want to grow your economy you have to make it easy to get around town to spend money on different services.

 

[jwclark]

This isn't anything recent. There was a slashdot article about it a couple days ago, but the article linked to a story from January(http/www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050238/comcast-internet-throttling-running)

 

[Guest]

I've got Cox.
30mbits for 39 bucks

Fios is here too lower speeds though about the same price.

2mbits torrents.

 

[Guest]

Just went to Verizon Fios website and there making fun of companies throttle your internet connection.

Play the Fact or Fiction on there Verizon Fios page. Classic.

 

[Supertrek32]

I wonder if you could sue them for false advertising, since you're not getting the full service they show on TV.