[ale] Comcast Caps Data at 250G/Month

[Scott Castaline]

aaron wrote:
> While having a monopoly internet service provider like
> Commiecast admit to their need for bandwidth limits
> may cause some frustration for consumers, the simple
> fact that they are finally being forced to take some
> responsibility for their false advertising claims is a
> tremendous leap forward. It was, of course,
> Commiecast themselves who created their bandwidth
> crisis by deceptively and aggressively oversubscribing
> their services. Yet it is very telling that this monopoly
> is now terrorizing their captured customers with
> threats of long term service interruptions for using
> the bandwidth that they were told they have available,
> as if it were the victimized consumers who were
> responsible for Commiecast's greed, corruption and
> incompetence.
> 
> Commiecast's need for bandwidth limits isn't a revelation,
> either. Prior to the recent FCC "slap on the wrist"
> condemnation of their criminal bandwidth choking activities,
> the limits were just being enforced using the kind of
> corrupt and illegal methods that seem to be the hallmark
> of every case of unregulated corporate monopoly and
> privatization found in modern history. Commiecast chose
> to implement bandwidth caps in an underhanded manner
> that defrauded consumers. They secretly pirated their
> customer's bandwidth by blockading and choking off
> selected internet services using forged or falsified reply
> packets. The caps were hammered down without the
> knowledge or consent of the customers and the affected
> services were chosen in secret by Commiecast without
> any form of peer review or public input.  (Since these
> methodologies are, BTW,  equivalent to those used by
> the totalitarian Communist government of China to
> suppress the free speech of 1.3 billion victims of political
> monopoly, the "Commiecast" moniker seems justified).
> 
> I think that requiring internet service providers to clearly
> state the costs and value of their products in a flat "total
> Bytes per Dollar" form is a significant first step to providing
> a fair, honest and competitive market for network access
> services, but we can't ignore for a moment that almost
> all last mile communications providers are still greed
> driven corporate monopolies that require extensive
> regulation in order to protect the public from their abuses.
> Even as they are being forced to admit that it is their own
> greed and fraud that has caused the need to establish
> bandwidth caps, the Commiecast corporation is STILL
> using their monopoly status to undermine network
> neutrality by declaring that their own internet based
> voice telephone services will be totally _exempt_ from
> bandwith caps,  while any and all competing services
> like Vonage will be restricted by those limits (and thus
> made more costly).
Sort of like bait & switch, but more like bait & capture "Now we gatcha!"
> 

> To encourage fair market competition it is clear that
> the regulation of these service provider monopolies
> must be expanded. Experience has shown that simply
> having a phone company monopoly offering DSL in
> the same neighborhoods as a broadband cable
> monopoly does not provide the market diversity needed
> to stimulate improvements in service quality and pricing.
> Thanks to regulatory requirements that competing
> providers must be allowed equivalent access to DSL
> phone line circuits there is at least some diversity in
> provider choices and cross platform support for DSL,
> though the phone line monopoly still controls the base
> pricing for all access. If similar requirements for
> competitive service provider access to cable broadband
> circuits were in place, we might see this diversity more
> positively reflected in pricing. 
> 
> In the end, acknowledging that there is not an infinite
> amount of bandwidth available for these corporate
> monopolies to sell you is a good thing. It will raise
> awareness of the failings of our corporate welfare
> state and expose the abuses of the communications
> companies. I hope it will also encourage voters to
> scrutinize candidates for State Public Service
> Commission with a focus on how they will hold
> the access monopolies accountable and investigate
> the billions of dollars in tax exemptions granted
> to phone companies over the past decade that were
> supposed to be used to improve fiber infrastructure
> thoughout the State. At the Federal level, we can
> look for candidates who understand the urgent need
> to pass and enforce net neutrality legislation and
> who will work to restore competence and integrity
> to the FCC.
> 
> peace
> aaron
> 
> "In an age where the bulk of our human communications
> are processed and delivered by computer programs,
> Free, Open Source Software and Free, Open Protocol
> Standards are essential to the survival of Free Speech."
> 								       Arxion Rush
> 
> 
> On Friday 05 September 2008 13:38, James Sumners wrote:
>> In August, I used 93.65GB of bandwidth total. So far this month I have
>> used 37.75GB. I download quite a bit of material in excess of 4GBs at
>> a time, I use Vonage for my home phone service, and I play a lot of
>> online games. I'm really not sure how I feel about the 250GB cap.
>> Based on my two stats, it seems like a lot of bandwidth. But if I had
>> a connection with as much speed as Comcast offers, I don't know if it
>> would be enough.
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 12:47 PM,  <krwatson at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
>>> Comcast's 250GB Data Caps Now Official, Starting in October
>>>
>>>
> http://gizmodo.com/5043253/comcasts-250gb-data-caps-now-official-starting-in-october
>>> http://tinyurl.com/5uf9wj
>>>
>>> Bad news for Comcast folks-the 250GB caps that were once rumored 
> <http://gizmodo.com/387901/comcast-considering-250gb-monthly-data-caps-disconnecting-repeat-pirates>  
> are now officially official and will start October 1 for residential 
> customers. But, instead of charging you for every GB you go beyond that in a 
> month, Comcast is getting a bit more byzantine-if you blow the cap twice in 
> six months, they may terminate your service altogether.
>>> Comcast tries to ameliorate the news by putting the cap in terms even 
> grandma can understand: 250GB = 50 million emails! 250,000 hi-res photo 
> uploads of the grand kids! But in reality, if you're sharing your connection 
> with roommates and downloading legitimate VOD stuff from Apple or Vudu, yet 
> alone your torrentz, hitting 250GB in a month is not that far from reality. 
> And now that Comcast has thrown their hat into the cap ring, it's not 
> unlikely to assume other biggies will follow. Guhhhh.
>>> keith
>>
>> -- 
>> James Sumners
>> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>>
>> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
>> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
>> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
>> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>>
>> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
>> CH:D 59
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