Capped Internet? That's Comcastic!

HidingFromGoro.

Posted to Diary on Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 02:04:15 PM EST. RSS.

If you have Comcast broadband, you've got until Oct 1 to torrent all the "Linux ISO's" you can. That's the date that all subscribers will be capped at 250GB per month.

Maybe they'll drop the price each year to match their yearly decrease in bandwidth cost-- oh wait, no I'm actually unable to type that with a straight face.

< This is bullshit!

***BREAKING***SWEDISH LAKE MONSTER!!!*** >

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1	Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic! Lou. Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 03:26:39 PM EST none

Doin' well with my DSL.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

5 1	Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic! zyxwvutsr. Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 06:44:20 PM EST none

That's because it'd take you a month and a half to download 250GB on your puny DSL.

6 5	Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic! Lou. Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 06:55:20 PM EST none

Ah yes, Obi Wan...I do have slower speeds...but for what I do, the freedom of DSL more than meets my needs.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

8 6	Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic! delete me. Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 05:54:40 PM EST none

I heard that some DSL companies plan on capping those, too.

Despite DSL lines not being shared like cable connections are in a neighbourhood.

- derumi (del-me)
"Bobby Fischer? Man, that guy is crazy!" - Mike Tyson

2	How is Verizon the good guy? port1080. Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 03:38:16 PM EST none

This still has me stumped. Their service generally is pretty bad, and they definitely don't deserve any love for their roll out policies (they very obviously favor high income areas at the expense of low income areas), but Verizon has made no attempts at all to cap or limit either their DSL or their FiOS lines. I've been a Verizon customer for about three years now and have had absolutely no issues with them on that account. Problems with billing, yes. Problems with poor service, yes. Problems with technical support, yes. Problems with being capped or blocked? Nope.

7 2	Re: How is Verizon the good guy? DEMachina. Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 04:12:09 PM EST 5.00 (informative)

I've been using Verizon DSL for about 4 months (no FiOS where I live, and I couldn't afford it right now even if it were offered), and have had good luck so far. They're much cheaper for stand-alone DSL than my old provider, which is why I switched (they also kinda screwed me on some billing stuff, although a BBB complaint got me a refund).

My old DSL company wanted $40/month for ~1.5mb/sec DSL as a stand-alone (i.e. without phone service). That's nuts, especially when I could turn around and pay the same thing to Comcast for 10mb/sec. Of course, that would involve giving money to Comcast, which I flat-out refuse to do.

I hope to get FiOS once I get a Real Job (and I move or they start offering it where I am), although I think I'm going to call an electrician to look over the install.

Q: What do you think of western civilization? Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.

3 2	Re: How is Verizon the good guy? pO157. Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 03:41:23 PM EST none

Could the capping be inherent in the DSL speeds themselves? I also use verizon, switched over from Cable. It is more than a bit slower, but fine for what I use it for. Plus I don't get the surly attitude from the cable company, which is nice. Of course if I want to download a... Linux ISO.... it takes me 12-30 hours, but I don't complain because I don't do it that often. So why cap when those types of users don't use Verizon?

If you are going to download gigs of porn or play video games all day then maybe cable is the way to go. Everybody else? Not so much.

4 3	Re: How is Verizon the good guy? port1080. Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 04:04:07 PM EST 5.00 (interesting)

Could the capping be inherent in the DSL speeds themselves?

It's not just that, because Verizon does offer higher speed options. Their standard DSL tops out at 3mpbs (which is about 1/3 of Comcast's normal offering, I think), but in some markets they offer 8mbps DSL, which is competitive with cable speeds, and with FiOS they offer speeds that dwarf what you can get with cable (up to 20mbps). The problem is that cable companies have historically oversold their capacity, while phone companies have been a lot better about that. Part of that is because DSL is generally slower, but I think a bigger part is that the phone companies (particularly the big ones like Verizon and Sprint and ATT) own a lot of Internet backbone capacity, while Comcast & the cable companies generally don't and hence have to pay more for bandwidth (this article seems to back that thought up, although the map it talks about is unfortunately now a dead link). But that's just a guess, I dunno.

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Capped Internet? That's Comcastic!

HidingFromGoro.

Posted to Diary on Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 02:04:15 PM EST. RSS.

Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic!

Lou.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 03:26:39 PM EST

none

1

Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic!

zyxwvutsr.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 06:44:20 PM EST

none

5

Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic!

Lou.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 06:55:20 PM EST

none

6

Re: Capped Internet? That's Comcastic!

delete me.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 05:54:40 PM EST

none

How is Verizon the good guy?

port1080.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 03:38:16 PM EST

none

2

Re: How is Verizon the good guy?

DEMachina.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 04:12:09 PM EST

5.00 (informative)

2

Re: How is Verizon the good guy?

pO157.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 03:41:23 PM EST

none

3

Re: How is Verizon the good guy?

port1080.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 04:04:07 PM EST

5.00 (interesting)