Comcast clamping down on "excessive" downloaders

Posted 09/22/2003 @ 12:58 PM
by Eric Bangeman

It's one thing to use more than your allotted bandwidth. It is another, entirely-different thing to not know what your allotment is. Comcast has warned one of its subscribers that his bandwidth usage was excessive, while refusing to inform him how much he is allowed.

    Keith, who asked to keep his full name private, said he'd subscribed to the service for four years and never had a complaint before. Now he was being labeled a network "abuser."

    Worse, he said, Comcast refused to tell him how much downloading was allowed under his contract. A customer service representative had told him there was no specific cap, he said, adding that he might avoid being suspended if he cut his bandwidth usage in half. But even then, the lack of a hard number gave Keith no guarantee.

While Comcast's concerns about excessive bandwidth usage may be justified, not communicating to their subscribers what constitutes excessive usage is not. ISPs are taking differing approaches to capping usage, with some such as Cox opting for clearly-defined download limits, and others are being more nebulous.

    Comcast's policy has proven most controversial. The company's terms of service say only that users cannot "represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast) an unusually large burden on the network." According to a spokeswoman, the company began sending notes about two months ago to the top 1 percent of the heaviest users--people who collectively use about 28 percent of the company's bandwidth--telling them they were violating their terms of service.

    [Comcast spokeswoman Sarah] Eder said there was no specific line crossed by these subscribers, but she added that some of those people were downloading the equivalent of 90 movies in a given month.

Broadband ISPs all over the U.S. are in a dogfight for market share, and bandwidth (along with price) is a key element of the broadband value proposition. Thus -- at least for cable ISPs in which customers share bandwidth with others in their immediate areas -- some regulation of bandwidth usage may be necessary until DOCSIS 2.0 is widely implemented.

Two tough questions remain: will video-on-demand and other future broadband-dependent applications be able to grow to their full potential if downloading is capped by the ISP? Also, what is the best way for the ISPs who choose to implement caps when their competitors (e.g., U.S. DSL providers) do not cap usage? Comcast needs better answers.

What doesn't make sense is that thier telling people to cut back on thier bandwidth usage, yet they won't tell you how much you can use in 1 month.    I've looked in the TOS and all it says is they will suspend your account for "excessive bandwidth use".