Comcast Backtracks On Data Caps

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
You know that stuff one of Comcast's executives said the other day about data caps? It seems the company would like you to disregard what he said, and read this statement instead.

To be clear, we have no plans to announce a new data usage policy. In 2012, we suspended our 250 GB data cap in order to conduct a few pilot programs that were more customer friendly than a static cap. Since then, we’ve had no data caps for any of our customers anywhere in the country.
Click to expand...
 
Unfortunately I believe I'm in one of those pilot programs and I would REALLY love to not be in it.
 
What a liar. They're just backtracking to finalize the TWC deal. I know it's a much smaller scale but when the Dallas Morning News bought out the Dallas Time Herald years ago they said they wouldn't raise prices....well they did in about a year another 50% of the normal cost.

And then this statement: "To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners."

How is this not straight out lying when Netflix just got through paying for prioritization? Holy crap this guy is a sleazeball.
 
I assume this has to do with government regulators becoming very unsupportive of the Time Warner merger after Comcast's previous statement.. Oh how quickly they changed their mind!
 
Let's just hope if they ARE allowed to continue with the TWC merger, they have to sign something that says they are not allowed to flip-flop on this shit later on...
 
Just as long as Comcast gets off its arse and extends their coverage by 150 feet. I'm so sick of being on a WISP.
 
ravx25 said:
What a liar. They're just backtracking to finalize the TWC deal. I know it's a much smaller scale but when the Dallas Morning News bought out the Dallas Time Herald years ago they said they wouldn't raise prices....well they did in about a year another 50% of the normal cost.

And then this statement: "To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners."

How is this not straight out lying when Netflix just got through paying for prioritization? Holy crap this guy is a sleazeball.
Click to expand...


Because Netflix is paying to avoid getting de-prioritized/throttled....
 
"First, I expressed my support – and Comcast’s support, for legally enforceable Open Internet rules. The fact remains that no company has had a stronger commitment to openness of the Internet than Comcast."

Yeah, but if those rules change, are you going to complain, or celebrate?
 
in-response-to-hearing-about-comcast-placing-data-caps-on-internet-plans-soon-54902.png
 
What he said is EXACTLY what he meant. Data caps are 100 percent coming in the few years. Especially so if we don't push the FCC to start making rules that prevent ISP's from continuing this "Wild West" type activity with what the Internet will be molded into.

We must deny the merger between Comcrap and TWC , we need clear and well defined rules for how pathways can be used and we need eventually (probably won't happen) we need a Bill of rights for users on the Internet that includes privacy rights. We fail to at least do 2 of these then everything about the Internet and its access will be subsidized.
 
No cap in Chicago area this is normal usage house of 4 watching Netflix,youtube,amazon and purchased show content with fully embracing digital gaming on all consoles and this the usage I'm sure I'm not the only one I pay 85 a month just for internet. They can just drop this cap shit.
c3f3dfb8-5960-423e-bc23-e43229b08b42.png
 
Anyone who believes data caps and higher prices aren't coming is so naive. We should enjoy the few years (at best) of open Internet we have left.
 
ravx25 said:
What a liar. They're just backtracking to finalize the TWC deal. I know it's a much smaller scale but when the Dallas Morning News bought out the Dallas Time Herald years ago they said they wouldn't raise prices....well they did in about a year another 50% of the normal cost.

And then this statement: "To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners."

How is this not straight out lying when Netflix just got through paying for prioritization? Holy crap this guy is a sleazeball.
Click to expand...

Netflix didn't technically pay for a "fast lane." They paid for in network peering. Also known as putting Netflix servers in Comcast data centers.

What I really think will be the biggest pain in the ass for Comcast TW buyout isn't them being a ISP monopoly, it will be their documented slow down of Netflix bandwidth in favor of their own streaming service.
 
MavericK96 said:
Let's just hope if they ARE allowed to continue with the TWC merger, they have to sign something that says they are not allowed to flip-flop on this shit later on...
Click to expand...

I'm on TWC and I am not in the camp of hoping this merger goes through..I don't stand to gain anything and stand to lose a ton.
 
Data caps are common. They aren't that bad really being that they affect a marginal amount of customers. The affected customers are usually the very vocal minority. We can't really bitch all that much. If you think about where we were 15 years ago waiting 20 min for a picture do download line by line trying not to finish before it got to the chest region. We are pretty damn lucky these days.
 
In other words, everyone is in the beta program without their knowledge.
 
Whether we like it or not these companies are in business to make profit ... just like the airlines now charge for almost everything (and it increases everyday) we will see companies play with a variety of pricing models ... long term I think the cable companies will find other sources of revenue to offset their cable business (other than usage based internet), perhaps they will eventually form competitors to Netflix and Redbox (Google is an ISP and a content provider through YouTube ... and I suspect that Amazon might feel the pull to become an ISP one of these days as well) ... ultimately the vertical model is where they need to be to avoid the pull of usage fees ... the sooner they get there, the sooner they should back off the fees (in my opinion) ;)
 
m heisty said:
Data caps are common. They aren't that bad really being that they affect a marginal amount of customers. The affected customers are usually the very vocal minority. We can't really bitch all that much. If you think about where we were 15 years ago waiting 20 min for a picture do download line by line trying not to finish before it got to the chest region. We are pretty damn lucky these days.
Click to expand...
What you wrote just continues to make me think of the stereotypical republican weaseling in that they think it's not a problem until it affects them.
 
m heisty said:
Data caps are common. They aren't that bad really being that they affect a marginal amount of customers. The affected customers are usually the very vocal minority. We can't really bitch all that much. If you think about where we were 15 years ago waiting 20 min for a picture do download line by line trying not to finish before it got to the chest region. We are pretty damn lucky these days.
Click to expand...

Sure, speeds were slower, but I don't remember any sort of cap on bandwidth back in those days. Just sayin'.
 
ravx25 said:
What a liar. They're just backtracking to finalize the TWC deal. I know it's a much smaller scale but when the Dallas Morning News bought out the Dallas Time Herald years ago they said they wouldn't raise prices....well they did in about a year another 50% of the normal cost.

And then this statement: "To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners."

How is this not straight out lying when Netflix just got through paying for prioritization? Holy crap this guy is a sleazeball.
Click to expand...

Comcast treats all data equally but only if you are measuring from comcast to your house. What happens between cogent, netflix, amazon, etc and comcast... that is another story entirely. He is not actually lying. Because of the CMCSK merger with NBC, they have been on a bound by a kind of net neutrality agreement but it technically only covers the line between you and comcast, not between you and the rest of the internet.

Essentially it's like me saying "I will never put a speed bump in your driveway, you can go as fast as you want on your driveway. What happens on the streets and freeways, who fucking knows, but feel free to use the toll road"
 
m heisty said:
Data caps are common. They aren't that bad really being that they affect a marginal amount of customers. The affected customers are usually the very vocal minority. We can't really bitch all that much. If you think about where we were 15 years ago waiting 20 min for a picture do download line by line trying not to finish before it got to the chest region. We are pretty damn lucky these days.
Click to expand...

Wow, blame the customer for complaining about not getting the service we pay for?!

Did you not see the news about how US has the highest prices for Internet and carriers are involved in illegal price gouging?
 
MavericK96 said:
Sure, speeds were slower, but I don't remember any sort of cap on bandwidth back in those days. Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

Actually I had internet connections in Malaysia and Thailand in the 90s (dial-up) and they were bandwidth limited (usually hours, not MBs) ... however, once companies jumped to DSL it became far less common ... I view the hard wire caps as a bridge to a more vertical model where the ISPs won't lose so much money on content (they can either go the Google route and use Metadata on the clients and advertising to make money, or they can establish their own competing vertical solutions to Netflix and Steam) ... now, wireless on the other hand is a different animal completely and I don't see caps disappearing there anytime soon
 
Seventyfive said:
Comcast treats all data equally but only if you are measuring from comcast to your house. What happens between cogent, netflix, amazon, etc and comcast... that is another story entirely. He is not actually lying. Because of the CMCSK merger with NBC, they have been on a bound by a kind of net neutrality agreement but it technically only covers the line between you and comcast, not between you and the rest of the internet.

Essentially it's like me saying "I will never put a speed bump in your driveway, you can go as fast as you want on your driveway. What happens on the streets and freeways, who fucking knows, but feel free to use the toll road"
Click to expand...

What they want to do is limit access to services that don't help them financially, or doesn't line up their ideology/censorship. They can legally block any website or throttle/DDOS them out of existence, all the while using public Internet pipes which they convinced the corrupt govt to give them a monopoly on.
 
ravx25 said:
What a liar. They're just backtracking to finalize the TWC deal. I know it's a much smaller scale but when the Dallas Morning News bought out the Dallas Time Herald years ago they said they wouldn't raise prices....well they did in about a year another 50% of the normal cost.

And then this statement: "To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners."

How is this not straight out lying when Netflix just got through paying for prioritization? Holy crap this guy is a sleazeball.
Click to expand...

This.^
 
To be clear, we have no plans to announce a new data usage policy. In 2012, we suspended our 250 GB data cap in order to conduct a few pilot programs that were more customer friendly than a static cap. Since then, we’ve had no data caps for any of our customers anywhere in the country.
Click to expand...

Then explain why in the Atlanta, GA area there is a 300GB data cap being enforced. And for those that didn't know this includes both upload and download usage.

With today’s FCC announcement issuing a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on the Open Internet, there has been a lot of discussion about net neutrality, fast lanes, and paid prioritization. To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners.
Click to expand...

Sure you don't offer it, but you pretty much forced Netflix into a deal where they have to pay you to deliver content to the end users
 
We're living in a transitional stage. Companies are dieing because they're trying to cling to their outdated business models, and technology is forcing them to change.

Pre-Netflix, Steam, and iTunes, there was practically no cap in sight (minus cellular) because the content providers were all selling in their own niche, specifically Cable/Satellite companies, Game stores, and Record stores respectively, but now that everything's going digital there's a huge clusterfuck over who can screw over who to get the most $$$.

Eventually this will all sort out, in the meantime everyone gets boned...
 
ravx25 said:
And then this statement: "To be clear, Comcast has never offered paid prioritization, we are not offering it today, and we’re not considering entering into any paid prioritization creating fast lane deals with content owners."

How is this not straight out lying when Netflix just got through paying for prioritization? Holy crap this guy is a sleazeball.
Click to expand...
AIUI netflix paid to interconnect directly with comcasts network and to be able to operate servers within comcasts network. Not for prioritisation.

Do you have any sources to the contary?
 
They had to pay for servers because Comcast was illegaly throttling traffic and it was affecting Netflix customers. Its just another way to exert control.
 
kbrickley said:
Whether we like it or not these companies are in business to make profit ...
Click to expand...

I get tired of the "companies are there to make a profit" BS. Yeah, we all know that. And no one is saying they shouldn't. But there is a difference between making a profit by providing a quality service at a reasonable price that keeps happy customers coming back, and trying to screw your customers (who usually don't have a choice in providers) out of every penny just because the company can get away with it.

Too many companies seem to be adopting a policy of short term gain at the expense of any longevity. I guess in the hope that they will be bought up by some other company or bailed out by the tax payers before they lose all their customers or lay off all their workers. And all while the directors are giving themselves multi-million dollars bonus for running the company into the ground.
 
MrCrispy said:
Anyone who believes data caps and higher prices aren't coming is so naive. We should enjoy the few years (at best) of open Internet we have left.
Click to expand...

People like me with cable and FIOS choices aren't going to see data caps. They are so fiercely fighting each other, the first to introduce a cap will see all their subscriptions lost.

But not many people have those choices, now do they? Something tells me that Google is waiting for such an occasion, to suddenly roll out their Fiber service across the US. They clearly have no interest in areas like NYC which already have cable and FIOS competition. They want places with only cable.

m heisty said:
Data caps are common. They aren't that bad really being that they affect a marginal amount of customers. The affected customers are usually the very vocal minority. We can't really bitch all that much. If you think about where we were 15 years ago waiting 20 min for a picture do download line by line trying not to finish before it got to the chest region. We are pretty damn lucky these days.
Click to expand...
By your logic then anal sex isn't isn't all that bad. Sure it'll hurt at first, but the bleeding will eventually stop. You should be happy, cause I wouldn't be doing it any other way.
 
I think some people don't know the difference between floating an idea and making plans, then their heads a-splode when faced with a confirmation that it wasn't a plan.

Ah, Internet, you never cease to disappoint.
 
pxc said:
I think some people don't know the difference between floating an idea and making plans, then their heads a-splode when faced with a confirmation that it wasn't a plan.

Ah, Internet, you never cease to disappoint.
Click to expand...

Ah, welcome bridge buyer.
 
m heisty said:
Data caps are common. They aren't that bad really being that they affect a marginal amount of customers. The affected customers are usually the very vocal minority. We can't really bitch all that much. If you think about where we were 15 years ago waiting 20 min for a picture do download line by line trying not to finish before it got to the chest region. We are pretty damn lucky these days.
Click to expand...

Wow, this comment really brought back memories. Back in the days when you hoped the gifs were interlaced, just so that you could see the outline of the picture faster. Where you had to calculate how many HOURS it would take to download a single MP3.

When you put it in those terms, we have it really nice. The only problem is that the grass definitely greener everywhere except the US, so as nice as it is now, it could be a lot better, a lot sooner.
 
MrCrispy said:
They had to pay for servers because Comcast was illegaly throttling traffic and it was affecting Netflix customers. Its just another way to exert control.
Click to expand...

Again, proof of this throttling?

You know what's probably is happening, which is pretty much what Netflix's former CDNs to comcast has said is happening? Comcast is refusing to upgrade the links between them and the CDN. Similar result, but it isn't throttling. They can simply say they cant afford the costs, and it would likely stand up in court.
 
Steve said:
You know that stuff one of Comcast's executives said the other day about data caps? It seems the company would like you to disregard what he said, and read this statement instead.
Click to expand...

I don't know what the other pilot programs are, but the their policy for my area is if you go over the cap, 3x you pay something like $10 for each 10GB over the cap. You get 3 warnings then they start charging. That sure sounds like a cap.
 
My father in law is a high level network engineer at Time Warner. He said he thought the merger was a done deal at first, but now he's not sure about that anymore. Sounds like this merger is getting a lot of pushback from the Tier 1 (backbone) ISPs. They're complaining that their networks have been ready to take on the load for quite a long time, and that these last mile providers like Comcast are just too lazy to upgrade their networks. If the bureaucrats and elected officials won't listen to us lowly peons, then maybe they will listen more to the Tier 1 providers.

m heisty said:
Netflix didn't technically pay for a "fast lane." They paid for in network peering. Also known as putting Netflix servers in Comcast data centers.

What I really think will be the biggest pain in the ass for Comcast TW buyout isn't them being a ISP monopoly, it will be their documented slow down of Netflix bandwidth in favor of their own streaming service.
Click to expand...

Technicality, Netflix is paying for the fast lane. Playing network tricks to slow things down is just a game Comcast played and won. Caching data within the ISP is nothing new. A lot of networks cache for free because it saves them money.
 
Oh, and this CEO seems to really feel comfortable speaking out both sides of his mouth. Does he really think his message to investors won't reach everyone else? If anyone is naive, it's government. "We aren't doing anything greedy right now" will be heard as "we won't do anything greedy after the merger".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top