The Devil Inside: Comcast

Comcast is the first ISP to start ramping up use of bandwidth caps. P2PNet has a fantastic write-up that completely details all of Comcast’s shady doings. The piece mentions how Comcast has developed a “disconnect user” option. That’s right. Use too much bandwidth for it’s liking and the big C might kill your connection for good. Even scarier are the recommendations for pirates, P2P users and movie buffs:

If you�re a Comcast user and you do P2P all day and all night, to avoid exceeding 250 GB in a month, users should budget their activity properly.

If users want to dedicate all 250 GB to P2P use, then they should limit their P2P clients to about 90 KB/s (perhaps dividing this into 30 KB/s upload and 60 KB/s download).

If they want to save 100 GB for non-P2P, then the budget should be about 55 KB/s (20 KB/s upload, 35 KB/s upload).

It keeps going on and on. I believe the largest issue on hand is the issue of monitoring. Other utility companies allow you to self-measure your usage. Comcast at least needs to have a tool where you login and view your total bandwidth amount for the month, much like that of a web hosting company. Read on if you’re in the mood for a great write up. Don’t do it if you’re already pulling your hair out over Comcast’s practices. It’ll hurt quite badly.

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