Comcast: Data Caps Are “Mandated By Law”

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I've heard some whoppers before but this line of crap takes the cake. It makes you wonder how many time this customer service rep used this line on people that didn't know any better.

“This representative is wrong," a Comcast statement said. "There is no law requiring ISPs ‘to have data caps’ and Comcast discontinued having a cap in May 2012. We are currently conducting trials of a more flexible data usage plan in a small number of markets, and this representative’s statements are not consistent with the training and messaging we provide. We will work to retrain this representative and will reach out to the customer to clarify this information.”
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Well not much of a shocker, the representative's job is to lie for a living. If he told the truth, they wouldn't retain as many customers, or would actually see people band together to take action against them.
 
This is because there are some slimy, weasels that work for this company trying to come up with new ways to steal more money from us. "Data Usage" charges are the "Golden Easter Egg". If all ISP's impose such a plan on us it will be like what is happening with the cell phone providers (like Verizon). I have FIOS now and I know for a fact that they are trying vehemently to get this into their plans. If this happens be prepared for your internet usage bills to shoot through the roof with no extra cost for the ISP's. It's pure profit for nothing to them and we will all go over every month.
 
Doesn't comcast already technically monitor your usage for certain threshholds and then at least throttles you? I thought this started somewhere around 250 GB a month...
 
Dajinn said:
Doesn't comcast already technically monitor your usage for certain threshholds and then at least throttles you? I thought this started somewhere around 250 GB a month...
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It depends upon the area, area usage, and equipment installed. No matter, no ISP will make it such that the average persons speeds are highly degraded. If this means there happens to be a cluster of high users on a node...then they will get throttled. One thing I agree with ISP's on is the "up to X speed". A normal person expects to be able to get near those speeds more often than not but we do not expect them as a "constant gurantee". Now, if that speed is not being met I will complain. If it is not fixed, I will change provider. Now...if you are an ISP and you have dozens of PO'd customers because of one high user on a node...who do you think they are going to cater to...the linux ISO user?
 
Trepidati0n said:
It depends upon the area, area usage, and equipment installed. No matter, no ISP will make it such that the average persons speeds are highly degraded. If this means there happens to be a cluster of high users on a node...then they will get throttled. One thing I agree with ISP's on is the "up to X speed". A normal person expects to be able to get near those speeds more often than not but we do not expect them as a "constant gurantee". Now, if that speed is not being met I will complain. If it is not fixed, I will change provider. Now...if you are an ISP and you have dozens of PO'd customers because of one high user on a node...who do you think they are going to cater to...the linux ISO user?
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dont think they care if they have PO'd customers because chances are there is no other provider for people to switch to.

thats how frontier does it. everyone complains about the service but they don't care because who else are people going to use?
 
Bigbacon said:
dont think they care if they have PO'd customers because chances are there is no other provider for people to switch to.

thats how frontier does it. everyone complains about the service but they don't care because who else are people going to use?
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It is almost the definition of a monopoly....
 
Dajinn said:
Doesn't comcast already technically monitor your usage for certain threshholds and then at least throttles you? I thought this started somewhere around 250 GB a month...
Click to expand...

Not afaik. There are caps for the following cities: "Huntsville and Mobile, Alabama; Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah, Georgia; Central Kentucky; Maine; Jackson, Mississippi; Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; Tucson, Arizona." Source: http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-trials/

They also write that once you go over, you pay $10 per 50 GB added but "you will only be subject to overage charges if you exceed the data usage plan amount for a fourth time in a 12-month period. On the fourth time (and any subsequent occurrence), you will be notified that you have exceeded your data usage plan amount via an email and an in-browser notification, that an additional 50 GB has automatically been allocated to your account and that applicable charges will be applied to your bill. Once you have incurred charges for exceeding your data usage plan amount, you will automatically be charged $10 each time we provide you with up to an additional 50 GB of data." Source: http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-trials-exceed-usage

I've been using Comcast for nearly a year in the Boston area. I pay for 105/10 and get 120/12 and have never been throttled. Even when I use 2+ TB bandwidth a month, I've never seen the speed slow down. I've also found their online bandwidth meter to be totally inaccurate. I use about 2x the bandwidth they say I use (and that's only going off of what my Usenet client tells me I've done for the month) which I find funny considering there's so many people complaining that it says they use more than they think they do. So far, their Internet service has been great but their customer service is awful. I pray that they won't ever screw up a bill or anything like that (bound to happen with them) because calling them is a damn nightmare. Seriously, Stephen King could write a best seller about their customer service.
 
I'll be pissed if they start enforcing a data cap...right now I regularly go over 250 GB, and 90% of my usage is just streaming media, online gaming and Steam downloads.

The old line of "250 GB is enough for 99% of users" is horseshit with HD streaming and digital content delivery these days.
 
XxDaRkReAp3rxXdOtCoM said:
Not afaik. There are caps for the following cities: "Huntsville and Mobile, Alabama; Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah, Georgia; Central Kentucky; Maine; Jackson, Mississippi; Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; Tucson, Arizona." Source: http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-trials/

They also write that once you go over, you pay $10 per 50 GB added but "you will only be subject to overage charges if you exceed the data usage plan amount for a fourth time in a 12-month period. On the fourth time (and any subsequent occurrence), you will be notified that you have exceeded your data usage plan amount via an email and an in-browser notification, that an additional 50 GB has automatically been allocated to your account and that applicable charges will be applied to your bill. Once you have incurred charges for exceeding your data usage plan amount, you will automatically be charged $10 each time we provide you with up to an additional 50 GB of data." Source: http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-trials-exceed-usage

I've been using Comcast for nearly a year in the Boston area. I pay for 105/10 and get 120/12 and have never been throttled. Even when I use 2+ TB bandwidth a month, I've never seen the speed slow down. I've also found their online bandwidth meter to be totally inaccurate. I use about 2x the bandwidth they say I use (and that's only going off of what my Usenet client tells me I've done for the month) which I find funny considering there's so many people complaining that it says they use more than they think they do. So far, their Internet service has been great but their customer service is awful. I pray that they won't ever screw up a bill or anything like that (bound to happen with them) because calling them is a damn nightmare. Seriously, Stephen King could write a best seller about their customer service.
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Interesting. And yes, their CS is absolute garbage. I never set up my account for auto bill pay with them because they have a really BAD history of adding charges to my account that they said they were going to waive and hope I don't say anything. Little sketchy sh!t like that.
 
I switched over to FIOS, I feel at least Verizon is the lesser of the 2 evils but goddamn this is on a whole nother level of wtf.
 
It boggles my mind how they want to push streaming services, cloud storage and everything else that uses your data line, then want to monitor/throttle/cap that usage.
 
Kelvarr said:
It boggles my mind how they want to push streaming services, cloud storage and everything else that uses your data line, then want to monitor/throttle/cap that usage.
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Why should it boggle anyone? Its in their best interest to get everyone hooked on streaming and digital software downloads and then impose low caps and high overage charges. Better yet, toss the caps and just bill by the byte.... then they'll make even more money.
 
bandwidth caps are retarded in this age.

telecoms and ISPs need to adapt or fuck off.

In so many ways, they're doing shit backwards. Did we have bw caps in 2001 on cable internet? You could download 24 hours a day on a 3mbit connection and download 1TB per month.
 
dr.kevin said:
bandwidth caps are retarded in this age.

telecoms and ISPs need to adapt or fuck off.

In so many ways, they're doing shit backwards. Did we have bw caps in 2001 on cable internet? You could download 24 hours a day on a 3mbit connection and download 1TB per month.
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The justification is that there are millions more users on broadband than there were in 2001 (which is true). The reality is that none of these ISP's have invested the capital in upgrading their networks to handle the extra load and stay ahead of the curve. The hardware side of the infrastructure is stagnant.
 
cvinh said:
I switched over to FIOS, I feel at least Verizon is the lesser of the 2 evils but goddamn this is on a whole nother level of wtf.
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So you've chosen between being ass raped by the devil with a razor wire dildo and being ass raped by the devil with chainsaw.

Not much of a choice.
 
SRTie4k said:
The justification is that there are millions more users on broadband than there were in 2001 (which is true). The reality is that none of these ISP's have invested the capital in upgrading their networks to handle the extra load and stay ahead of the curve. The hardware side of the infrastructure is stagnant.
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With their profit marain (Over 75%) they should upgrade their inferstructure, but they want to keep their margins high.
 
Is it any wonder this story came from Comcast? That company is a veritable black hole of stupid.
 
I like the way teksavvy handles caps in Canada, they have plans that are capped during day but unlimited at night (something like between midnight and 8am) so they encourage people that do heavy downloading to try and do it at night time so it's not hammering network for other users, Seems fair to me.
 
Trepidati0n said:
It depends upon the area, area usage, and equipment installed. No matter, no ISP will make it such that the average persons speeds are highly degraded. If this means there happens to be a cluster of high users on a node...then they will get throttled. One thing I agree with ISP's on is the "up to X speed". A normal person expects to be able to get near those speeds more often than not but we do not expect them as a "constant gurantee". Now, if that speed is not being met I will complain. If it is not fixed, I will change provider. Now...if you are an ISP and you have dozens of PO'd customers because of one high user on a node...who do you think they are going to cater to...the linux ISO user?
Click to expand...

I paid for speed "upto X" so i have every right to use those advertised speeds 24/7 if that is my desire, if that is affecting other users why should i then be throttled because the ISP is too cheap to upgrade their infrastructure to support the speeds THEY offered and noted in the contract i signed.
 
cvinh said:
I switched over to FIOS, I feel at least Verizon is the lesser of the 2 evils but goddamn this is on a whole nother level of wtf.
Click to expand...
I had Comcast for over 10 years. Constant service outages for long periods of time, massively throttled speeds, horrendous customer service. Switched to FiOS a couple years ago. Much faster speeds, lower monthly bill, speed that is always above what I am paying for (I pay for 75 Mbp down, it has not once dropped below 80 Mbps, and most of the time I'm hitting 90 Mbps), and not a single gawd-damn service outage thus far. Verizon has its problems, but definitely the lesser of two evils, by far. I'm on the east coast, btw. Not sure how Verizon is in other areas of the US.
 
Fire488 said:
This is because there are some slimy, weasels that work for this company trying to come up with new ways to steal more money from us. "Data Usage" charges are the "Golden Easter Egg". If all ISP's impose such a plan on us it will be like what is happening with the cell phone providers (like Verizon). I have FIOS now and I know for a fact that they are trying vehemently to get this into their plans. If this happens be prepared for your internet usage bills to shoot through the roof with no extra cost for the ISP's. It's pure profit for nothing to them and we will all go over every month.
Click to expand...

While I agree these ISPs will exaggerate the costs etc to increase profit margins (instead of be honest and just saying they do it to make more money), it is just as wrong to state that metering "It's pure profit for nothing..."

Fact of the matter is more users on a node, more bandwidth being used per user will cost more money. Obviously the company will try and overstate how much... but more of anything is generally more expensive.

As everyone has stated already lack of comparable choices is mostly to blame... Cable vs DSL just doesn't seem like proper competition in most of these markets.
 
MrGuvernment said:
I paid for speed "upto X" so i have every right to use those advertised speeds 24/7 if that is my desire, if that is affecting other users why should i then be throttled because the ISP is too cheap to upgrade their infrastructure to support the speeds THEY offered and noted in the contract i signed.
Click to expand...

Well, to play devil's advocate here, if you paid for speed "upto X" then as long as you can achieve that speed sometimes you are getting what you paid for since you didn't pay for X speed, 24/7."
 
Trepidati0n said:
It depends upon the area, area usage, and equipment installed. No matter, no ISP will make it such that the average persons speeds are highly degraded. If this means there happens to be a cluster of high users on a node...then they will get throttled. One thing I agree with ISP's on is the "up to X speed". A normal person expects to be able to get near those speeds more often than not but we do not expect them as a "constant gurantee". Now, if that speed is not being met I will complain. If it is not fixed, I will change provider. Now...if you are an ISP and you have dozens of PO'd customers because of one high user on a node...who do you think they are going to cater to...the linux ISO user?
Click to expand...

The problem with your reasoning in general is netflix and things like it.

The cable companies want to make it hard or impossible to use these services without paying them a premium to supplement people walking away form the sweetest slice of the pie that is their cable subscription base.

At this point, this does not represent a small number of users, nor does it represent a particularly fringe method of use.
 
I tried to leave Comcast, switched to another provider (WoW) for 10 days, before my fiance had enough of not being able to watch Real Housewives and record three other shows at once. Now I'm back with Comcast and their horrible data caps... Two people in the house, both who work full-time jobs, and have exceeded the 300GB data cap four times in less than a year from watching Netflix and Youtube in the evenings (ranging from 301GB to 340GB, how convenient).
This idea of the all-streaming, all-dancing crap of the world just won't fly with these data caps. What's even more ludicrous is that streaming Xfinity shows via Xbox Live does not count against my data usage, but streaming off of the Xfinity web site does.
 
My area only has Comcast and Uverse. Figure out who we're with! Comcast has been nothing but trouble , but there isn't a choice. I had Fios when I lived in FL and it was great. How I miss that.

A good friend recently worked at Comcast for a few months. He said the training and culture seemed great, but once he was on the floor (tech support) it was a nightmare. He said they force tech support to try and sell so bad it's awful. What's worse is how he witnessed some people training him lie to customers about their name and and what their product can and cannot do.
 
According to my usage meter, I haven't used any bandwidth at all for the past three months. Which is a complete lie. Hell, I soaked up some 60 GBs of data just yesterday according to the Steam download manager and qbittorent.

I wonder if my usage meter isn't registering any used bandwidth due to the data cap threshold being suspended, as it states on the page. Or perhaps Comcast is just dumb?
 
Stuck with Comcast's crap as well sitting at 265GB/300GB at the moment with 10 days left. Uverse is a choice but their cap is 250GB for nearly the same price and a reduction in speed. Trying to back up to crashplan is taking forever then again 5TB is nothing to sneeze at but still, been going for over a year and still haven't hit 50% yet. Well just have to spread but it will all get up there either way caps are just stupid, plus if f you upgrade to their higher tiers it's the same damn cap.
 
I'm in the Memphis area and the only choice I have is either Comcast or AT&T (non U-Verse which tops out at 6mbit). I am actually happy with their service given that I pay $29.99/mo total for 25mbit service (renewing on promo rates / have have my own modem) but the 300gb cap does suck. I've gone over twice, and have 1 more "allowance" until they charge me $10 for 50gb. This is with me being proactive with downloads and having netflix set on the "low" setting. I hate that I have no other reasonable choice, but there is nothing that can really be done other than hoping that their "test market policies" will eventually go away rather than expand nationwide... What else can I say it sucks.
 
I am in one of their "test markets" a.k.a. rape simulator for data caps.
 
I remember one day at Target waiting in the return merchandise line. A lady in front of me was trying to return an open Xbox game. The CS rep said they could not accept the return. Lady in front upset insists the disk is defective and CS rep says "sorry it's against federal law to return opened games and DVDs. She walks off pissed off and I ask the CS rep why she said that when it's simply not true. It's company policy, not illegal. CS rep just ignored me and moved on.
 
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