[ale] Comcast Caps Data at 250G/Month

Sat Sep 6 23:38:15 EDT 2008

While having a monopoly internet service provider like
Commiecast admit to their need for bandwidth limits
may cause some frustration for consumers, the simple
fact that they are finally being forced to take some
responsibility for their false advertising claims is a
tremendous leap forward. It was, of course,
Commiecast themselves who created their bandwidth
crisis by deceptively and aggressively oversubscribing
their services. Yet it is very telling that this monopoly
is now terrorizing their captured customers with
threats of long term service interruptions for using
the bandwidth that they were told they have available,
as if it were the victimized consumers who were
responsible for Commiecast's greed, corruption and
incompetence.

Commiecast's need for bandwidth limits isn't a revelation,
either. Prior to the recent FCC "slap on the wrist"
condemnation of their criminal bandwidth choking activities,
the limits were just being enforced using the kind of
corrupt and illegal methods that seem to be the hallmark
of every case of unregulated corporate monopoly and
privatization found in modern history. Commiecast chose
to implement bandwidth caps in an underhanded manner
that defrauded consumers. They secretly pirated their
customer's bandwidth by blockading and choking off
selected internet services using forged or falsified reply
packets. The caps were hammered down without the
knowledge or consent of the customers and the affected
services were chosen in secret by Commiecast without
any form of peer review or public input.  (Since these
methodologies are, BTW,  equivalent to those used by
the totalitarian Communist government of China to
suppress the free speech of 1.3 billion victims of political
monopoly, the "Commiecast" moniker seems justified).

I think that requiring internet service providers to clearly
state the costs and value of their products in a flat "total
Bytes per Dollar" form is a significant first step to providing
a fair, honest and competitive market for network access
services, but we can't ignore for a moment that almost
all last mile communications providers are still greed
driven corporate monopolies that require extensive
regulation in order to protect the public from their abuses.
Even as they are being forced to admit that it is their own
greed and fraud that has caused the need to establish
bandwidth caps, the Commiecast corporation is STILL
using their monopoly status to undermine network
neutrality by declaring that their own internet based
voice telephone services will be totally _exempt_ from
bandwith caps,  while any and all competing services
like Vonage will be restricted by those limits (and thus
made more costly).

To encourage fair market competition it is clear that
the regulation of these service provider monopolies
must be expanded. Experience has shown that simply
having a phone company monopoly offering DSL in
the same neighborhoods as a broadband cable
monopoly does not provide the market diversity needed
to stimulate improvements in service quality and pricing.
Thanks to regulatory requirements that competing
providers must be allowed equivalent access to DSL
phone line circuits there is at least some diversity in
provider choices and cross platform support for DSL,
though the phone line monopoly still controls the base
pricing for all access. If similar requirements for
competitive service provider access to cable broadband
circuits were in place, we might see this diversity more
positively reflected in pricing. 

In the end, acknowledging that there is not an infinite
amount of bandwidth available for these corporate
monopolies to sell you is a good thing. It will raise
awareness of the failings of our corporate welfare
state and expose the abuses of the communications
companies. I hope it will also encourage voters to
scrutinize candidates for State Public Service
Commission with a focus on how they will hold
the access monopolies accountable and investigate
the billions of dollars in tax exemptions granted
to phone companies over the past decade that were
supposed to be used to improve fiber infrastructure
thoughout the State. At the Federal level, we can
look for candidates who understand the urgent need
to pass and enforce net neutrality legislation and
who will work to restore competence and integrity
to the FCC.

peace
aaron

"In an age where the bulk of our human communications
are processed and delivered by computer programs,
Free, Open Source Software and Free, Open Protocol
Standards are essential to the survival of Free Speech."
								       Arxion Rush

On Friday 05 September 2008 13:38, James Sumners wrote:
> In August, I used 93.65GB of bandwidth total. So far this month I have
> used 37.75GB. I download quite a bit of material in excess of 4GBs at
> a time, I use Vonage for my home phone service, and I play a lot of
> online games. I'm really not sure how I feel about the 250GB cap.
> Based on my two stats, it seems like a lot of bandwidth. But if I had
> a connection with as much speed as Comcast offers, I don't know if it
> would be enough.
> 
> On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 12:47 PM,  <krwatson at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
> > Comcast's 250GB Data Caps Now Official, Starting in October
> >
> > 
http://gizmodo.com/5043253/comcasts-250gb-data-caps-now-official-starting-in-october
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/5uf9wj
> >
> > Bad news for Comcast folks-the 250GB caps that were once rumored 
<http://gizmodo.com/387901/comcast-considering-250gb-monthly-data-caps-disconnecting-repeat-pirates>  
are now officially official and will start October 1 for residential 
customers. But, instead of charging you for every GB you go beyond that in a 
month, Comcast is getting a bit more byzantine-if you blow the cap twice in 
six months, they may terminate your service altogether.
> >
> > Comcast tries to ameliorate the news by putting the cap in terms even 
grandma can understand: 250GB = 50 million emails! 250,000 hi-res photo 
uploads of the grand kids! But in reality, if you're sharing your connection 
with roommates and downloading legitimate VOD stuff from Apple or Vudu, yet 
alone your torrentz, hitting 250GB in a month is not that far from reality. 
And now that Comcast has thrown their hat into the cap ring, it's not 
unlikely to assume other biggies will follow. Guhhhh.
> >
> > keith
> 
> 
> -- 
> James Sumners
> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
> 
> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
> 
> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
> CH:D 59
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