# Comcast broadband to suspend heavy users, but won't say how much you can use! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 22, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197 "2003-09-22T22:59:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/61 "2003-09-24T21:55:01Z")
And it’s different how? If a single user uses 70 GB of bandwidth a month, and Comcast tells them they’re using too much, next month they might use 65 GB. That’s STILL too much, so Comcast tells them off again. 60…55…and so on until the user finally hits a usage that Comcast can live with. He’s found the limit; again, assuming Comcast doesn’t just drop his service before then. But if the limit is 30 GB (PURELY hypothetical), and the user would willingly have restrained himself to that limit (I admit, another hypo), then what’s there to be gained by simply saying ‘it’s too much’ and letting the user interpret that to mean 5 GB too much when it’s really 40 GB too much? As for the suggestion that setting a limit will induce people to break it, well… that’s what the limit’s for. Comcast draws a line in the sand, saying “If you cross this, you’re out.” They’re then completely justified in dropping a user who insists on trying to get around that limit. While they may also be legally justified in tossing someone who they deem to be using “too much” without giving specifics, it can cause unrest and suspicion among their existing customers, possibly encouraging them to seek other broadband providers. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/62 "2003-09-24T22:48:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cheesesteak \* > \*\*They do price it that way, for businesses. That’s why business accounts are so much more expensive. For home users, they have to assume a lower AVERAGE usage, with each user going to the max infrequently. Or they could just artificially reduce your bandwidth, so that every time you go on the net it’s slower. > > If they cut out 5% of the top users (using 75% of the bandwith) they could add 3-4x as many customers to the same infrastructure. That’s a big cost savings for them and would trickle down to lower prices for you. \*\* Hell yes! That’s awesome! Because when companies save money, they ALWAYS pass it on to the customer. Remember Windows XP’s release? Wow, it had an awesome new feature (cough, cough) that made you activate it and associate the machine with a particular hardware setup. Besides the various ways that things screw up and cost the **customer** time/money…it doesn’t matter because it was all going to save people money. See, less piracy means more sales. More sales means more profit. More profit means lower prices for everyone! Wow! Thanks, Microsoft! What? Huh? XP is more expensive than 95, 98, and 2000? But that’s impossible! _I mean, hell, Microsoft is passing on the savings to us! That’s what companies do!_ Any other observations from your fantasy land? > [@](#): > > The thing is Revtim, to him, the Comcast guy, it’s not idiotic because he knows what he’s doing. You cant download or upload close to 300 Gigs a month and not know you way around a computer, or know that your bandwidth usage is above and beyond. This guy’s running some serious shit and he knows exactly what it is their after. To him, it’d be like throttling back server six, of ten. Or something. > > So it’s kinda stupid, in my opinion, to keep asking for the definitive limit when people like us, the true residencial user; that the plan is designed and priced out for, would probably be hurt most from that cap. Really? How? How are you true “residencial” users going to be hurt? And, again, what about the lowest-usage users? There some sort of rebate in the mail for them? You know how much my 300GB or so per month hurts TWC and all their users? So much that my speed recently went from 1.9Mb/s to 2.7Mb/s. -Joe, poor Comcast. If you’re going to come up with a fucking pricing plan, stick with it ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/63 "2003-09-25T00:02:12Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Merijeek_ > **How are you true “residencial” users going to be hurt?** Screw off jackass (There, did I get that right? Mr. Fucking Anal?) Pointing out a typo as means to somehow build credibility for your own argument is not only lame, it shows just how pathetic you are at creating any kind of solid argument on your own. Then again, your argument that everything should be free for everyone and anyone, so long as their not a big 'ol mean company, is pretty lame in its own right too. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Merijeek_ > **And, again, what about the lowest-usage users? There some sort of rebate in the mail for them?** Uh, yeah, there is. Dickweed. It’s worked into the equation. I, a RESIDENTIAL user, pay around forty bucks a month for a broadband connection. A small business owner probably pays four or five times that amount. Why? Presumably because they use more bandwidth than a single residence does. Or so the pricing set-up suggests. So, it’s essentially built in. I pay four or five times less for service that’s expected to fall within normal residential usage patterns. If it isn’t, then as Comcast has said, they will either try and curb their usage, or tell them to get a plan that’s more in line with their actually usage. Make any sense to ya? Or is your only ammunition your ability to parse and pick apart sentences? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/64 "2003-09-25T00:32:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Merijeek \* > \*\*Hell yes! That’s awesome! Because when companies save money, they ALWAYS pass it on to the customer. > > \ > > Any other observations from your fantasy land? \*\* Sure, I have lots of observations! 🆒 From my vantage point as a _Verizon DSL customer_, I got to _observe_ my bill drop from $50 per month to $35 per month this year due to (presumably) competition from Cablevision. Think they’d have done that if their costs were $40? From my vantage point as a _pricer_ for computer services (not connectivity, but maintenance) I _observe_ that we are very concerned with the prices our competition offers. If we have enough _profit margin_ in our prices we can lower them to be more competitive. No profit margin, no lower prices. Successfully running a business these days requires constant vigilance with respect to your costs. The companies that can get away with lax cost controls are few and far between. You let yourself get fat, someone will come along, kick your ass, and leave you in a heap on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/65 "2003-09-25T00:37:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > **But OK, just to argue along. Say they do say, ‘Well alright, the limit is six entrees per person, per visit’. Now everyone and their brother are going to find ways to get to that limit, or at least encourage others to get there themselves. You’re kind of encouraging it, in a way.** Well, so what? As long as you set a limit that everyone can use without ruining your service, it doesn’t matter if everyone does use that much. If your kitchen can only make three entrees per person, you don’t set the limit at six unless you’re looking for trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/66 "2003-09-25T01:29:11Z")
Nice arguments here. But you know you is really paying the price for this guy’s usage. His next door neighbor, also shelling out $50 a month for cable internet, who is getting killed by the bandwidth hog. I’m only partially defending Comcast; they stink. I recently returned to Denver to find they have taken over. When they installed my digital cable, there was no channel lineup card available. When I called to talk set up the installation, I asked if there was a website that I could follow along as the lady explained the digital options. “Well, yes, we have a website, but it doesn’t have the channel lineup.” I wound up ordering what I thought was “everything”. Almost $100 a month including tax. When I was home sick on Friday, I channel flipped through everything for the first time. Not counting PPV, sports, etc., there are over 20 channels I am “not authorized” to receive. News channels, mtv clone channels, movie channels. So Comcast sucks. Agreed? Nevertheless, the **only** thing they are doing wrong here is not setting a hard and fast limit, clearly spelling it out. If 1% of their subscribers are using 28%, and the next 5% are using another 50%, they have a problem. And everyone else that has digital cable or digital internet that lives on the same service line as those people also has a problem. Comcast just needs to suck it up, bite the bullet, and state plainly what the limit is. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/67 "2003-09-25T01:49:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\*Screw off jackass (There, did I get that right? Mr. Fucking Anal?) > > Pointing out a typo as means to somehow build credibility for your own argument is not only lame, it shows just how pathetic you are at creating any kind of solid argument on your own. > > Then again, your argument that everything should be free for everyone and anyone, so long as their not a big 'ol mean company, is pretty lame in its own right too. > \*\* Well, since I’m not the anal type, I guess I won’t explain the difference between “there”, “their”, and “they’re”. Anyways, where did I say that everything should be free for everyone? Anywhere you want to point that out, feel free. Someone pays a certain amount of money for their access. That access is sold by speeds, not quantities. If they wanted to limit people to a certain amount of usage, there’s nothing wrong with that - as long as they make it clear. They don’t. \*\* > [@](#): > > Make any sense to ya? Or is your only ammunition your ability to parse and pick apart sentences? \*\* For a guy with a broadband connection, you sure have a thin skin. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by This Year’s Model \*Nice arguments here. > > But you know you is really paying the price for this guy’s usage. His next door neighbor, also shelling out $50 a month for cable internet, who is getting killed by the bandwidth hog. Really? I kind of think that the people who use 50 meg a day are the ones paying for it. Their service isn’t suffering. And they’re paying quite a hefty chunk of change for such a small bit of downloading, don’t you think? I thought the whole point was that they’d lose on some, make it up on others. Isn’t that the whole reason monthly plans are offered? Let’s look at it this way… If it were more profitable for Comcast (TWC, whichever) to charge $1.00 per gigabyte downloaded, don’t you think they’d do it? I think they’d change their service plan so quickly it’d give their lawyers whiplash. Power companies don’t charge a flat fee for electricity. Their business model obviously shows them that is a very bad idea. Either Comcast didn’t realize that and are now being inconvenienced by the Bad Downloaders, or they just plain screwed up. Either way, maybe it’s time to suck it up? -Joe, like a Rhino ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/68 "2003-09-25T02:12:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Merijeek \* > \*\*Really? I kind of think that the people who use 50 meg a day are the ones paying for it. Their service isn’t suffering. Umm, wrong. If you insist, I will dig up cites when I have time, but it is a fact that heavy usage degrades service. I can speak from personal experience that cable internet affects my TV when somebody (or many somebodies) on the same line as mine are hogging the line. > [@](#): > > And they’re paying quite a hefty chunk of change for such a small bit of downloading, don’t you think? Well, I choose to pay the money for speed. I download very little, and I don’t spend a lot of time online, but my bank, my news, my singles service, and so on have all chosen to use very heavy web sites. I prefer to have them come up quickly, do what I want, and be done. My choice. I’m perfectly entitled to complain to my provider when a bandwidth hog slows me down. > [@](#): > > If it were more profitable for Comcast (TWC, whichever) to charge $1.00 per gigabyte downloaded, don’t you think they’d do it? I think they’d change their service plan so quickly it’d give their lawyers whiplash. > Power companies don’t charge a flat fee for electricity. Their business model obviously shows them that is a very bad idea. The business model for broadband is still in flux. Obviously Comcast has realized that they are not doing it right. I would be delighted to see broadband charge by usage, as I believe that is where the cycle is right now. Remember Compuserve and AOL and Prodigy all charging by time online? Once it became cheaper to charge a flat rate, they did. Now we’re back at the other end of the swing, at least for now. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197/69 "2003-09-25T03:59:38Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mr2001_ > **As long as you set a limit that everyone can use without ruining your service, it doesn’t matter if everyone does use that much.** Yes it does. Comcast itself doesn’t have unlimited access. They buy it from someone else. And from what I understand, they buy in advance what they think they’ll need for a set period down the road, sometime in the future. Kinda like the weird world of the power biz; where a company buys what it thinks its customers needs, and if it exceeds that guesstimated usage, then they pay out the ear for the extra energy from someone else. So by keeping these bandwidth hogs around, on a RESIDENTIAL account, they’re needs are going to cost everyone in the long run as the provider starts upping _their_ rates to compensate for the higher than anticipated usage. You’re basically arguing for subsidizing this guys usage… when he full well knows, or should fucking know, that his needs aren’t meant for the typical residential user… it’s small business territory he’s dealing with. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Merijeek_ > **Well, since I’m not the anal type, I guess I won’t explain the difference between “there”, “their”, and “they’re”.** You just can’t help yourself, can you? That, or you’re not very funny. Whatever the case, it’s been fun chattin’ with you. Bye. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-broadband-to-suspend-heavy-users-but-wont-say-how-much-you-can-use/203197.md?page=3)