Comcast to Cap Broadband Use Starting in October

[RLJSlick]

It's official, Comcast totally suck.

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/08/29.3.shtml

[basshive]

I REALLY hope we do not see a case of monkey see monkey do here with TWC following them... That will blow.. goodbye slingbox and everything else I enjoy paying for online.

[RLJSlick]

No kidding, I would drop Road Runner like a ton of bricks!

I REALLY hope we do not see a case of monkey see monkey do here with TWC following them... That will blow.. goodbye slingbox and everything else I enjoy paying for online.

[TPK]

No kidding, I would drop Road Runner like a ton of bricks!

Drop Road Runner and go where???

They're all gonna be doing this soon....

[brewtownska]

Am I the only one wondering what you guys are downloading that you're worried about going over the 250GB per month limit???

[duncantuna]

250gb is very huge.    Checking my router .. I used 15gb this month, and that's with sharing my wireless with two neighbors.

Even if you were pirating the standard shrunken movie DVD at 4gb a pop, that's 50+ each month.  

Although I'd be curious about things like HD streaming to your TV over IP.

[TPK]

Am I the only one wondering what you guys are downloading that you're worried about going over the 250GB per month limit???

Im not worried about going over 250GB/mo today....  But as these things go, "large" bandwitdh usage today becomes "normal" bandwidth usage tomrrow...    Once we are metered on our bandwith usage, and we accept that as the norm, it changes the way we use the internet....

Im sure that this 250GB limit (or whatever) will be an introduction, which willl eventually be used as the "top-tier" as they raise the prices on that tier while they introduce lower tiers...  So now we have to pay not only for bandwidth speed but also total bandwidth usage...

[bradsmainsite]

Im not worried about going over 250GB/mo today....  But as these things go, "large" bandwitdh usage today becomes "normal" bandwidth usage tomrrow...    Once we are metered on our bandwith usage, and we accept that as the norm, it changes the way we use the internet....

Im sure that this 250GB limit (or whatever) will be an introduction, which willl eventually be used as the "top-tier" as they raise the prices on that tier while they introduce lower tiers...  So now we have to pay not only for bandwidth speed but also total bandwidth usage...

Huh!  There is a novel idea paying for what we use.  Wonder if that should carry over to pay tv services (pay for only what you watch).  Seems like they can do that for their internet services then why not for the rest of their services.  Just a thought.

[TPK]

Huh!  There is a novel idea paying for what we use.  Wonder if that should carry over to pay tv services (pay for only what you watch).  Seems like they can do that for their internet services then why not for the rest of their services.  Just a thought.

I suppose this will be how the ISPs will make this change palatable to the consumer base....

They will claim that this change in the pricing strucutre is necessary, and that it will make things more fair for everyone..

So I suppose this means that if I am a "light user" (i.e. I use the internet less than the average users) then I would pay for the internet less than what I am paying now, right???

What if I dont use the internet at all this month??  Does that mean I dont pay anything at all??  In a true "pay-per-use" pricing strucutre, I shouldnt have to pay anything at all if I dont use the internet at all, right???

I suspect that this new way to price the internet from ISPs will be used to generate more revenue for the ISPs, as opposed to making the internet usage fair for everyone...

It will start with the introduction of huge bandwidth caps that hardly anyone would ever reach with little or no surcharge for going over the limit...   This is done to put the caps in place without much protest from the users at their introduction...  But over time, the bandwidth caps will keep getting tighter while the surcharges for going over the limit (or for higher tiers of service) become greater...

Ordinarily, all things being equal, I wouldn't have a problem with this...  After all, in a free, fair, and open market, consumers would have a lot of choices from whom to purchase services from and have the ability to choose services based on the pricing structure that gives them the best value...

Of course when it comes to broadband ISP providers, this is not quite in a free, fair, and open market...

Most folks in Milwaukeeland are limited to just two choices: Either Time Warner (cable), or AT&T (DSL)....   Some folks don't even have that many choices, while a handful still dont have any choice at all...

Given the limits of consumer choice when it comes to broadband internet, I do not perceive that this new pricing structure will benefit consumers at all (even though it will be presented as such)..

I believe it is far more likely that this new pricing structure will benefit the cable and telcos instead....