ignition
join:2003-02-13
San Francisco, CA
 ·Comcast
| Invisible Cap Would Comcast suspend account without warning?
Moved from DSL to Comcast and impressed with speeds, but recognize tht I no longer have unlimited download.
Installed DU Meter to monitor but have read several horror stories wherein Comcast allegedly cancelled or suspended accounts for invisible cap abuse without any prior warning.
Does Comcast actually do this? What is powerboost and do I need it? |
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swhitney2003
I can't drive 55.
Premium
join:2003-06-13
NH
clubs: 
 ·Skype
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
·Comcast
| Usually you get a warning letter. Only the top 5% of bandwidth users are really affected. Do you download mass amounts of 'stuff'? For most of us these invisible bandwidth caps are nothing to worry about.
Powerboost is just a temporary boost in download/upload speed for a few seconds. Do you need it... no, but you either get it or don't, and it doesn't hurt to have it. |
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ignition
join:2003-02-13
San Francisco, CA
·Comcast
| Thanks swhitney.....I do like to download websites for offline browsing and also use USENET sometimes, but rarely exceeded 60Gigs per month. Hopefully I'll never reach that with Comcast.
But there are so many rumors on Comcast policies, and I was worried that they would summarily cancel or suspend without any warning or notice as I have the TVcable/digital voice/HSI package and don't want to have my land line phone service affected. |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA | 60GB per month?
You have nothing to worry about.
Push that up to ~200GB or higher... they might notice.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera |
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lagphoenix
join:2007-06-06
Essex, MD
| reply to ignition
You shouldn't have any problems as long as you're not hogging bandwidth extremely, 60gigs per month is nothing to be worried about ,when you start going over 150gigs and more then you wanna kinda start worrying and also look at what the hell you're downloading.
FYI: DSL does have a cap ,every ISP has one ,stated or unstated. |
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | AT&T/SBC has never kicked anyone off. Alot of DSL companies to put caps on the lines. Remember DSL works a bit differently then cable with respect to the node.
There are folks doing 500 gigs or more and AT&T hasn't said boo to them. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to lagphoenix
said by lagphoenix  :FYI: DSL does have a cap ,every ISP has one ,stated or unstated. It is probably harder to hit the cap with 1536kbps down (most common D/L speed for DSL) than with 8-10Mbps down.
I just finished a D/L spree that lasted about 30 days. I don't have any fancy software, just the numbers from my HDD. Went from 202GBytes used to 269GB used. But I wasn't stressing my 3MBps connection at all. In fact a couple of poorly seeded torrents took nearly a week to complete; and I was at 6 or 7 to one ratio when I got the "Download Succeeded" notice. On a well seeded torrent I can get to "Download Succeeded" in about 20 minutes, with barely a .2 ratio.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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lagphoenix
join:2007-06-06
Essex, MD | reply to gdm
Try to get a hold of an ATT/SBC End User License Agreement and you'll definately see a cap on there. DSL is too slow to hit a cap though , you must be an extremely patient fellow to be using DSL. |
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
| I don't use DSL. DSL is at 6megs if your close enough. Sorry but I don't need to look at the TOS because it was never put in their at least a number wasn't.
You can go search the AT&T forums but this is some thing that has been stated since it was ameritech here then sbc then att. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to lagphoenix
said by lagphoenix :Try to get a hold of an ATT/SBC End User License Agreement and you'll definately see a cap on there. DSL is too slow to hit a cap though , you must be an extremely patient fellow to be using DSL. I don't see a specific cap listed. Just the usual generic "degradation of service" warning.
Acceptable Use Policy (at&t Yahoo! HSI):
»helpme.att.net/article.php?item=441&
Terms of Service (at&t Yahoo! HSI):
»edit.client.yahoo.com/cspcommon/···page=tos
And don't throw the AT&T Worldnet DSL TOS at any at&t Yahoo! HSI subscriber; we aren't bound by the AT&T Worldnet agreement.
As for "too slow to hit a cap"; I can download a wad of stuff on my 3M connection. Probably 10x as much as I actually did in the last 30 days. I estimate my actual download to be about 60GBytes in the last 30 days.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
| reply to swhitney2003
said by swhitney2003 :Only the top 5% of bandwidth users are really affected. 0.01%, actually (that's 1/100th of a percent).
--
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru? |
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axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to ignition
Back when I had more time to spend on the internet, I did about 50GB/month. They don't have a hard cap, they just send letters to the top percent in areas where they don't have competition, or if you really are abusing their network... to hit that your machine would have to be infected with something or used as a full-time file server. I think they care more about your uploads than your downloads. |
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dentman42
join:2001-10-02
Columbus, OH
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Cabal
I'm close enough to my RT to get 6/768 on ATT. Effective speeds are about 5.1/650. That's enough to get theoretically 637KB/sec. 600 is definitely possible. 600KB/sec * 10 sec = 6MB * 6 = 36MB/min * 60 = 2160MB/hr * 24 = 51,840MB/day * 30 days = 1,555,280MB/month - 1.5 TB per month! So yes, DSL could hit any of the "caps" I've heard of. And yet, ATT has never complained about anybody using too much bandwidth.
I seed at about 75-80KB/sec 24/7 and have had no complaints. I seed at about 50-58KB/sec on my RR and have had no complaints and seen no evidence of saturation on the connection (I appear to be on the mythical undersold node!), though it seems the complaints have been about download rather than upload. I have occasionally downloaded 200-300GB/month on both connections and received no complaints. Of course, in the real world, it's not likely to max out your download on a single file (though I have gotten about 600KB once or twice on a single torrent). |
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Mactron
el camino Real
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv
| reply to lagphoenix
said by lagphoenix :FYI: DSL does have a cap ,every ISP has one ,stated or unstated. Which DSL CO?.. Ma n Pa Kettle DSL CO? 
One of the few things I love about Verizon DSL is that I have NEVER heard about, read about, or experienced "Caps" 
To the OP: As stated above. If your not downloading 24/7 or on heavily over loaded node you'll be fine. Not to worry.
Enjoy the speed. 
--
If only the Verizon CSRs worked this well. |
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eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Princeton, NJ | I got a call when I hit 250GB one month. Since then I've been hitting around 150GB a month with no issues. |
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Hashmap
Premium
join:2004-05-02
Broomfield, CO
| reply to ignition
They should call you first. They called me to let me know I used too much bandwidth last month and if I ever do it again, I'm terminated for a year.
I asked them what "too much" is and they didn't know. I asked them how much I need to reduce it by and they didn't know. I asked them how much I need to keep it under and they didn't know. They just said if I ever use "too much" again, I'm screwed.
My question is - if I use a certain amount this month and it doesn't cause a problem, but I use the same amount next month and everyone else on this node is on vacation - I'm suddenly going to be the highest bandwidth user... even though I'm using the same amount both months.
It seems really vague. I don't want to abuse my account, but I don't want to go around thinking "oh gee, I can't download this ISO today because it might take me over whatever unknown limit they have for me". I wish I could at least get some sort of notification at some point in the month that said "please reduce your use". I've used comcast for seven years and this was never a problem until this past month.
I do download a ton of stuff. But averaged out over the entire month, it's probably less than 15% of my total available bandwidth. How is that significantly affecting all the other users on my network? Just because I'm using a lot of bandwidth doesn't mean I'm ruining everyone else's experience. What if I'm using that bandwidth almost entirely while everyone else is sleeping? And if 15% of my bandwidth is enough to ruin the experience for someone else, don't you have a HUGE problem with your infrastructure?
Also, has anyone tried buying two comcast accounts? I'd be willing to pay twice as much if they'd just leave me the hell alone and let me use more of my bandwidth. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by Hashmap :Also, has anyone tried buying two comcast accounts? I'd be willing to pay twice as much if they'd just leave me the hell alone and let me use more of my bandwidth. It isn't "your" bandwidth. You are paying for speed, nothing else.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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ignition
join:2003-02-13
San Francisco, CA | reply to dadkins
That's reassuring lagphoenix. I sure don't intend to hog excessive bandwidth...just a bit concerned that their figures don't match my meter.
I pretty much decided to always make sure I never go over 50 gig a month per my DU Meter. |
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ignition
join:2003-02-13
San Francisco, CA
·Comcast
| reply to Hashmap
I guess the 200GB invisible cap mentioned by dadkins and others is a good redline to stay away from. I've now checked out some Broadband reports posts here and also googled. From forums and pod-casts I've found out that there are so many opinions,but like many have said here, it depends on how I would look compared to others on the
node.
At high Comcast speeds I can see how it could be easy to get carried away. And like you, since getting Comcast installed for the first time, it is pretty hard not to really test out its potential.
I don't upload very much at all, but I wonder if the invisible cap includes both download and upload. |
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ignition
join:2003-02-13
San Francisco, CA
·Comcast
| reply to eric87m
150 GB a month Eric? That again is reassuring to me. I'm getting the message that Comcast is not really a nasty big bad ISP who cuts people off without warnings or pushed caps.
I'm also thinking some of the "horror" story tellers either are not telling the full story, or have another agenda. |
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