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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

#131

Post by someone13 »

jseliger wrote: post #45
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 Qwes…

See, the worst part is that, in some places, there is no choice at all. A 1.5Mb connection is enough for email and basic internet usage - in some places, you have Comcast, or you hook up a modem and use dial-up.

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

#132

Post by younata »

forensic wrote: post #103
joelhaus wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Combined with the power of local carrier monopolies, it's exactly the reason we need net neutrality.

I appreciate your opinion but I downvoted you because you said "This." The "This." meme contributes nothing to the post and is the worst kind of contentless bandwagonism. "This." is lazy and degrades the quality of the site in general.

I'm not going to downvote you, but that's an incredibly stupid reason to downvote someone.

"Oh, I don't like your word choice, so I'm going to downvote you regardless of the content."

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

#133

Post by meow »

Indian ISPs found a curious way of tackling these situations. Since they sell their plans as unlimited, they can't fully cut off the internet access. So as soon as the fair use limit is crossed, the speed drops to punishing 256kbps till the month gets over :|.

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

#134

Post by Goronmon »

chopsueyar wrote: post #49
Goronmon wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

A fair criticism, and no, that comment definitely does not help matters.

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

#136

Post by mikeash »

blahedo wrote: post #115
peapicker wrote: post #32

Seriously, this is a technology company? If they mean to cap at 250GB per month, just halt service during the month when 250GB is hit. Don't let the customer go over, warn, go over, and then suspend them for a year. Seriously, if they are metering it, they can implement a technology solution to halt when the cap is hit that month and not even have this ridiculous abuse of customers having to 'self monitor' the behavi…

Or at least choke you way way down. But even more important than the "cut off at cutoff point" solution is the "let me know my usage" solution. They couldn't (or wouldn't) tell him anything about the shape of his bandwidth usage, or how much he was actually consuming, and there is no way (!) to find out how much has been consumed "so far this month". Even if that way to check was to phone Comcast, but especially if t…

I've used 40GB so far this month. Last month, my usage was 117GB. This is all pretty easy to view on comcast.com.

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

#137

Post by ScottBurson »

Splines wrote: post #58
peapicker wrote: post #32

Seriously, this is a technology company? If they mean to cap at 250GB per month, just halt service during the month when 250GB is hit. Don't let the customer go over, warn, go over, and then suspend them for a year. Seriously, if they are metering it, they can implement a technology solution to halt when the cap is hit that month and not even have this ridiculous abuse of customers having to 'self monitor' the behavi…

I completely agree. Use over 250GB? Your internet gets slowed down to molasses until the start of the next month. Customers will notice and adjust. Here, Comcast is saying "we don't want you as a customer", which they're allowed to do, but doesn't generate very much goodwill. Having a clear cap and predictable consequences would be much preferred. I don't know why they also couldn't put a little meter on your comcast…

There is a meter, but it takes some poking around to find it. Go to your account page and click on "Users and Settings".

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

#138

Post by ctide »

mxavier wrote: post #122
ctide wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter if they don't? I'm sure you can find clauses in most ISP contracts that enable them to terminate you more or less at will, it doesn't matter much if they don't enforce them.

Surely you see how there may be a problem when the solution to a local monopoly cutting off service for overuse is to throw more money at the same company with absolutely no guarantee that service won't be terminated again.

It's obviously not an ideal situation, but I'm just pointing out (like the person I originally replied to who suggested a business connection [which is more expensive and slower]) that there are ways to work around these restrictions.

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

#139

Post by ryannielsen »

wccrawford wrote: post #63
ryannielsen wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Most companies have overage charges you can elect to pay, instead of canceling your account. That would have been a good start. Others mentioned not pretending to be unlimited. Actually charge for usage, instead. (I actually hope companies don't do this, as I'm WAY above the norm for usage.) Another thing that some companies do is limit your speed once you hit the cap. That makes sure that you can do anything you -ne…

Returning to a pay for usage model is a fine suggestion, and would make internet service much more like electric service.

It is amusing to remember how people disparaged pay for usage models just over a decade ago, though. :-)

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

#140

Post by EdwardMSmith »

kenjackson wrote: post #93
evan_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend had some kind of washer hose burst in his house when he was away for the weekend. The damage was minimal (it was in his unfinished basement) but the water company, detecting a large amount of water being used, came by and shut his water off. "Oh but that's different" - not really. Same thing would have happened if my friend was intentionally trying to fill his basement with water.

What about a pool?

(not relevant to the article, but...) when you fill a pool, generally you call the water company and they'll hook a meter to a fire hydrant. This will fill a lot faster then a 1" home service, and you also won't be charged for sewer as well as the water. This can save significant money, since, at least where I live, sewer fees are about 8x the actual water cost.
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