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Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

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Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#41

Post by chopsueyar »

megaman821 wrote: post #34
bradleyland wrote: post #24

The author had me up until the moment he claimed that internet access is a "right". Ok, so let's say internet access is a "right". Rights often come within a framework. You have many rights that are yours for the losing. Your freedom to come and go freely, for example. If you break a law, you lose your freedom by being put in jail. To say something is a "right" is to say that it ought to be available, or that the gov…

Your water and electricity utilities most likely also have caps on how much water or electricity you can use before they cut you off. Except if you go over a few times they won't ban you from their service for a year. They just want you to curb your use, which is exactly what this guy was willing to do.

My water and electricity utilities charge per gallon and kilowatt-hours, respectively.

Comcast does not charge by the megabyte.

Instead, it is all you can eat, until Comcast says that is all you can eat.

This guy was actually using his residential account for business purposes.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#42

Post by zcid »

wccrawford wrote: post #19
ams6110 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's satellite, but bandwidth and limits are worse there. He was exceeding his limits, and received a couple of warnings. I'm not a fan of Comcast by any means, but it seems to me that in this case he should have upgraded to a plan that would accommodate his needs. Uploading terabytes of AV data to Carbonite isn't going to work very well over standard residential uplink speeds anyway.

But is there a plan that would meet his needs? 15/3 is top tier in a lot of places, and they often won't sell commercial lines to residences. He may have had no choice but to just use less bandwidth. Or pay for a second line. It sounds like he and all his friends and random guests were all using a single line. That's not how Comcast envisioned its usage, and their usage caps reflect that. Don't get me wrong. I think…

I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago with Comcast. I upgraded to their business package and haven't heard a word since. As far as I know, business lines are available everywhere residential one are.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#43

Post by jarrettcoggin »

naner wrote: post #18
Dylan16807 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't comcast's policies themselves, it's the monopoly situation. And that seems like an FCC situation to me.

Assuming Comcast is the only ISP in his area, can he sign up for a Comcast business account? It appears he doesn't just want his account reinstated but he expects unlimited data use.

I was in the exact same situation this guy was in (except they hadn't cut my service yet), and this is exactly what I did. There is no cap for Business Class Internet and the Customer Service is MUCH better. On top of that, you can get Static IPs that you cannot get with a residential account.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#44

Post by chopsueyar »

crs wrote: post #17
naner wrote: post #6

I listened to him read his canned warning that if I exceeded their cap again I'd be cut off again. Ok. Sure, the data cap sucks, but this guy broke a Comcast policy, got a warning, and then broke the policy again. I'm not surprised he got cut off. I do not recall details on how long the cut off would be, likely because I spent the next few minutes working with the service agent to add notes to my record about my deta…

Actually if you read his post from a day ago, you will see him state he stopped the open access point. He took steps to stop what he thought was the issue. It was not until the cap was broken a second time that he realized it was his backup system uploading to a 3rd party service. That is not entitlement at all. If anything it was ignorance of the fact that your upload data is also measured against the cap. I agree w…

My question would be is does the 250g data cap apply when they are watching TV/Movies online via Comcast (XFinity) provided services?

Of course not, nor Comcast's VOIP service.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#45

Post by jseliger »

VonGuard wrote: post #2

The worst thing about this is not the cutting off of the service, but the fact that this guy has no reasonable alternative to Comcast in his area. Tyranny of the last mile still exists, and isn't going away any time soon.

This is true of Tucson, AZ where I live. I can get Comcast for 12mb up / 2mb down for an absurd $60 / mo. Or I can get Qwest for 1.5mb up / 768 kb (kilobits!) down, which is basically like not having a choice.

I was actually so annoyed by this (and by Qwest's advertising around town about their high-speed Internet options) that I sent a letter and e-mail to the president of Qwest Arizona, Jim Campbell, asking if Qwest would roll out real broadband to my apartment complex any time soon. To Qwest's credit, his assistant replied (this was back in Jan. 2010) to say no. She's sent an e-mail every six months or so with an update on the situation.

The upshot: Comcast or fuck off.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#46

Post by dvdhsu »

shareme wrote: post #21
VonGuard wrote: post #2

The worst thing about this is not the cutting off of the service, but the fact that this guy has no reasonable alternative to Comcast in his area. Tyranny of the last mile still exists, and isn't going away any time soon.

Wrong... 1. Satellite Broadband 2. Wireless Broadband(most wireless co's slow bandwidth by 15% after bandwidth cap is exceeded and do not cut off) In building use buy a $200 Wilson Wireless amplifier

Both have terrible latency. Furthermore, they both have bandwidth caps. While the provider will not cut you off for going above, they will start charging you absurd prices for it.

The only wireless broadband provider now who doesn't chargis for over usage is Sprint. If he is cut off from that, the situation repeats itself. There is no competition, and that is the main problem.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#47

Post by bryanlarsen »

megaman821 wrote: post #34
bradleyland wrote: post #24

The author had me up until the moment he claimed that internet access is a "right". Ok, so let's say internet access is a "right". Rights often come within a framework. You have many rights that are yours for the losing. Your freedom to come and go freely, for example. If you break a law, you lose your freedom by being put in jail. To say something is a "right" is to say that it ought to be available, or that the gov…

Your water and electricity utilities most likely also have caps on how much water or electricity you can use before they cut you off. Except if you go over a few times they won't ban you from their service for a year. They just want you to curb your use, which is exactly what this guy was willing to do.

At least in Canada, there are rules governing when the electricity company can cut you off. To oversimplify, you cannot be cut off during winter.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#48

Post by simcop2387 »

naner wrote: post #18
Dylan16807 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't comcast's policies themselves, it's the monopoly situation. And that seems like an FCC situation to me.

Assuming Comcast is the only ISP in his area, can he sign up for a Comcast business account? It appears he doesn't just want his account reinstated but he expects unlimited data use.

The problem may also be that Comcast (and a few other cable ISPs) may refuse to give someone in a residential area a Business account. In my area they refuse to do it ostensibly for zoning issues (which really have nothing to do with it). It's one of the big reasons that I do not use any of the online backup places.

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#49

Post by chopsueyar »

Goronmon wrote: post #23
rudle wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I was turned off by the American view point of this post. I can't even stream Netflix in my country, and this guy is complaining that he can't watch 250GB of it?!

Two main reasons. 1. Your response is a solid way to avoid having an intelligent discussion. As you start out with the equivalent of "stop bitching". What good does that to other than antagonize people? 2. The whole "first world problems" thing is a huge pet peeve of mine. Firstly, following that logic, the only person allowed to complain about anything is literally the one person with the most miserable existence on…

So threatening to "slap" him is elevating the level of discourse?

Re: Comcast cuts off customer for going over 250GB of legitimate use

#50

Post by fr0sty »

ryannielsen wrote: post #31
wccrawford wrote: post #15

I totally disagree about broadband being a right. And neither is electricity, insurance, or clean water. However, I do agree that it's a necessity for modern living, just like the rest of the above. As such, I think it should be protected in the same ways.

Presumably you're also paying a fixed monthly fee for "unlimited" broadband. It's likely you're paying per amount used for electricity and water. I'd bet your insurance is a fixed periodic fee with coverage capped at a certain amount. If my assumptions are correct, then your broadband services is already treated very much like your insurance service. How do you propose things change?

The analogy only holds if there was only one insurance company you could buy from who only offered a very small range of policies (none of which fits your needs).
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