DISQUS

PinkDog · 1 year ago

Maybe I'm an idiot, but it sounds like a reasonable limit to me.

JustAGuy · 1 year ago

As others have pointed out, you can burn through 250GB in a day. Is that common? Probably not. But that misses the point. The only reason Comcast can impose a limit on their "unlimited" bandwidth is because they are the only show in town in many areas. Without a functioning market for broadband, monopolies become dominant. And a monopoly has absolutely no incentive to innovate or improve their infrastructure. They are much more inclined to squeeze every last penny out of their existing infrastructure - to the detriment of their customers.

It didn't used to be this way. Broadband penetration in the US has fallen through the floor due to a regulatory environment which favors the established players. What we are seeing here with Comcast is just a symptom of a much larger problem.

-S

HereinDC · 1 year ago

And COMCAST already moved MSNBC to where you have to pay a higher monthly fee.

Wesinoregon · 1 year ago

They did that too here in Oregon. Interestingly, they left Fox News in the lower bracket.

semanticantics · 1 year ago

This affects the top 0.1% of users. Not a big deal.

sanfranguns · 1 year ago

I must comment on this! I have Comcast and every single morning without fail I have to unplug my router so it can reboot or whatever so I can get online. It is truly the worst service I've ever had. I live in downtown San Francisco, the epicenter of technology for christ's sake and I have to reboot my stupid router every morning. They truly suck. I also have cable through comcast and it's not much better.

For the privilege of receiving crappy internet and basic cable, I get to pay them about $100 - $120 each month. Completely lame

ndtovent · 1 year ago

In addition to the shitty service, that's another one of my issues, though it's not 100% comcast's fault.. Whenever the larger cable or telecomms companies want to go into an area and edge out the little guys, the courts always side w/them. The larger companies, i.e. comcast, verizon, etc. come in with bundled service rates and more options, forcing out the smaller, high quality companies already operating in those areas. Legislation should be passed to accommodate more provider companies, but very few areas have this. It really sucks for us consumers.

vwcat · 1 year ago

Unfortunately it';s the only broadband we have around here. Our other service was great and then these dipwads came in a few months ago and I hate it. they are not very good.
but, all we have for now.

Polly_Tics · 1 year ago

The idea that this company would dare limit residential use when we already pay TOP dollar is the straw that is breaking this camels back. We use Comcast for cable TV and high speed internet and pay absurd amounts each and every month.

Customer Service has gotten far worse in the last few months to the point where the operators (or whatever they like to be called) are getting really snippy and won't even answer your questions fully or will give wrong answers.

I don't know what their problem is but I have about had it & will talk to the other half about this to see how quickly we can resolve the situation.

TheLeftIsRight · 1 year ago

With a cap of 250GB a month, a customer would be limited to 768kb/s if constantly communicating for the 30 day period. However, since cable modem technology can peek at 30-40Mb/s (before DOCSIS 3.0), it would be possible for someone to exceed the 250GB cap in less than 14 hours!

Guess they want you to use your cable modem no more than people can utilize the most basic DSL service...

mastrick · 1 year ago

99% of Comcast's customers will be unaffected by this; in fact recent studies have shown that 5% of broadband users consume over 50% of the available bandwith, much of it to illegally download copyrighted material. If anything this move is egalitarian and a positive move for songwriters everywhere.

KISSman · 1 year ago

Creepy. While 250GB is A LOT, I especially don't like that they don't give the user any way to know what their monthly bandwidth usage is and it's quite creepy that Comcast will be keeping such close tabs on its users. I'm glad I don't deal with these people. They are big & evil.

Anyhow, the key to this move is that it's only the beginning. I'm sure that their hope is to influence other major providers to implement such a cap. Once there are no alternatives out there, they'll move to monthly bandwidth rates. Fun.

ggm1957 · 1 year ago

I love how so many people are, "Well, it won't affect most of us, so what's the big deal?" Nothing is a big deal until it ends up directly affecting us. I have comcast hate it. I, too, have to unplug it almost every day. It is unusual when I don't have to unplug it. They are expensive and customer service sucks. I don't see where the restrictions will stop there. I think it will keep going down until maybe even YOU are affected.

Fireblazes(CheetohsandCatfood) · 1 year ago

In NW NM comcast does not even offer internet service. The cables too old and the system is still uni-directional. I use QWEST it is really expensive here.

ComradeRutherford · 1 year ago

I live in rural Vermont, and just happen to have Comcast cable. I am too far for DSL and Satellite internet is just as expansive for 1/4 the speed, so unfortunately I can not dump Comcast, no matter how much I'd like to!