# Fellow Adelphia Power Link subscribers: How strict are they about throughput limits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-adelphia-power-link-subscribers-how-strict-are-they-about-throughput-limits/105504 "2002-04-25T05:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-adelphia-power-link-subscribers-how-strict-are-they-about-throughput-limits/105504/1 "2002-04-25T05:58:24Z")
I ask because, after having had the service for two months, I was recently perusing their website and read through the Power Link TOS. And I came across something that made my jaw drop: > [@](#): > > 1. Generally Prohibited Conduct. > (a) You agree not to use the Service or any equipment or software provided by Adelphia: > … > (iv) so as to improperly interfere with, inhibit, degrade or restrict the use and enjoyment of the Service by others… > > (A) excessive use of bandwidth (e.g. exceeding 2.5GB of traffic in a given month); :eek: I say again, :eek: My jaw dropped because in the time I have had this service I have exceeded this limit by several orders of magnitude, easily. And I haven’t heard a peep out of them about it. My best theory here is that because I was an early adopter of this service in my area, there aren’t yet enough nearby subscribers such that my activities are “improperly interfering” with them. Does anyone else have any ideas about this? The same TOS also forbids downloading usenet newsgroups “in bulk”. I’m not sure how they define that, but I have gotten an awful lot from newsgroups. It also forbids running a server, something I’ve been wanting to try. I wonder if I could get away with that too? I should also mention that I consider myself off the hook here ethically, as I _very specifically_ asked the nice Adelphia saleslady, when I was calling to inquire about the service, if there were any kinds of throughput limitations, and she said no. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-adelphia-power-link-subscribers-how-strict-are-they-about-throughput-limits/105504/2 "2002-04-25T06:27:24Z")
Well, I’ve had Adelphia for over a year and a half now and I doubt there’s been a month when I didn’t at least _quadruple_ their bandwidth limit (although I must say this is the first I’ve heard of it.) Hell, when my Russian friend was staying here last summer he easily doubled that almost every single day from June until November. I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you. They’ve never said a word to me about it and they would promptly lose a customer if they did. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-adelphia-power-link-subscribers-how-strict-are-they-about-throughput-limits/105504/3 "2002-04-25T10:53:34Z")
My wag is it will only be enforced if someone complains ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fellow-adelphia-power-link-subscribers-how-strict-are-they-about-throughput-limits/105504/4 "2002-04-25T17:41:25Z")
Having worked in the online department for Adelphia (this was about a year and half ago), I can tell you they are somewhat random about enforcing this (and any other) policy. People who call and complain a lot were far more likely to have their account looked into in great detail than those who never called. It was an extaordinarily disorganized office I worked for (don’t know if this applied to the whole company–my office was in New Jersey, but Adelphia no longer has a presence in New Jersey.) Some other cable companies I know of are far more strict, or at least more uniform, in enforcing their policies.