Heavy Internet users unplugged by US cable company

reply to post by runetang


That's probably how it works in more developed nations, I can only assume. In my country there's basically only one monopolistic ISP, TM Net. Sure there are a couple of other ISPs, but they get their bandwidth from TM Net anyway, so the problem isn't solved.

Another point of note is the entertainment industry here is fledgling. Most studios are small operations, comprising between 4-10 people at most. Big labels like Warner, EMI and Sony Music are here too, but they outsource their productions to these small studios.

Last time when I was hanging out a lot with these studio people, indeed they got the best possible internet package they could get, and at the time, it was a 2Mbit package from TM Net. That was about 3 years ago. I think now the best package is a 4Mbit package, which is still poor based on what I've seen other people post here.

I'm so jealous, I'm using a 1Mbit package, which only actually gets to that speed at about 3 am...

Unlimited access usually means you don't pay for the TIME that you are on. It has no bearing on the amount you download or upload. There was a time you had to pay for the time you were connected. Bandwidth is where the money is at these days. Excessive usage will result in excess charge. I think this is stated in most contracts. And never has unlimited access been applied to bandwidth usage, at least not yet.

Originally posted by Beachcoma
I don't know about 80 gigs, but music studios and video production studios do transfer up to 50GB a month here. How does that happen? Simple. They create a draft for an audio track or a video scene, then send it over to the clients or another studio. It gets looked at, comments are given, maybe edits are made, it gets sent back. Then the whole process repeats until all parties with a vested interest are satisfied.

At least that's how it works here. And the pre-released versions are in the highest quality formats possible. So chalking up 50GB a month isn't that far-fetched. I guess 80 gigs is possible too, it's not that far a difference from 50.

Edit: grammar

Sorry, but that argument is flawed. If your a Studio, you're a business and as such, should be using a leased line or some such on a business contract. You'll get your full bandwidth then with no usage caps on DL/UL.

On a residential contract, you'll find in the small print that it is a breach of contract to use it for business purposes. That's how it is in the UK, anyway.

At the end of the day, if you want massive bandwidth to do what your describing, then you have no complaint whatsoever if you've tried to get your pipe on a residential contract then get throttled.

You'll also find that if you do use a residential line as a business line, should you lose service, that you will not be able to claim back compensation for your lost earnings if the service should be unavailable. Your only shooting yourself in the foot by trying to get something on the cheap for your business.

As for the matter at habd, whilst many ISP's, including my own, NTL, have Fair Usage Policies. Your free to do what you'd normally do, unless your regulary downloading excessive amounts.

ISP's provide the line on the basis of something called contention.

For example, in the UK, each Cable Box in the street is linked by an STM-1 connection to the network via a device similar, if not actually, to the Nortel TN-1P multiplexor. An STM-1 connection is 140 Mb/s (Megabits, not bytes). I get a "20Mb/s" link off them. There may be more than seven other's connected via that street, but not everyone will be utilising their full bandwidth all the time. If everyone is trying to use their full bandwidth all the time, then no one will get the speed promised.

Also, someone said that ISP's lease a 100Mb link and lease out to more users than the 100Mb/s will really allow to use.. Now, I'm sure you were probably doing that for the sake of illustration, but the only time you will see a 100Mb connection is Ethernet, which you won't find on the street as it is bugger all use over any meaningful distance.

Cable companies usually own their own network, so no leasing is done there. Also, Ethernet is naff all use for distance networking. All links from street cabinets will be done via standard SDH topology, so in the UK, this will be via an STM-1 (140Mb/s). It is different in the US as your network is slightly different in architecture. You even call SDH, SONET instead.

ADSL customer's will connect via a standard copper wire to the exchange. There all the customer lines get multiplexed up into the SDH network by the DSLAM. They will then get packaged into the basic SDH unit of STM-1 VC4 containers for transmission across the network.

reply to post by stumason


stumason, I'm disappointed in you. You skimmed.

See my post above. The system in my country is a bit messed up.

But thanks for detailing how it works in the UK, though

Originally posted by Fett Pinkus
BitTorrent traffic is generating somewhere between 25% and 65% of all Internet traffic.

wow, that's quite a range.

we'll I'm positive you are wrong, and I am right 0-100% of the time.

Enter the noob

I'm not technical at all, and allow me to prove it to you intarweb savants:


Won't we eventually end up with metered service? Other utilities are metered, so why not internet service and data flow?


I'm ready, telly me now exactly how my idiocy is showing . . . .

I worked for a company back in the late 90's as a web engineer, it was not uncommon to put what we called a rate shaper at the data center for customers that did not have the full service plans and then charge as you say, metered fees beyond the limit also if they pay as contracted...I do not see how the provider can cut services though if they haven't put an upfront stipulation on usage though, but if you can get billed for water it won't be long before it happens to the internet bandwidth usage.

[edit on 10-9-2007 by phinubian]

OMG!

People pay for a service. Is it our fault other's don't take advantage of it as much as us? Provide more bandwidth. That's their JOB. Thats the service we pay for!

That's like me, as a grphic designer, saying, "Nope sorry, you wanted too many revisions on your logo. Other people were fine with their logo after 7 changes. You're already up to 12. You're hogging all my design time. You get the logo as is. I won't do anything more to it. ... I know you pay me to do this, but that's just tuff."

If they don't want to provide the service we want I'd suggest they get out of the service industry and develope a physical product.

Comcast is acompany ruled by moneyThe number of people running scams through the isp and the number causing havoc for nogood reason in other parts of the world should be pulled up not ignored. Yes, why not cause a hundred sites for alittle fun??????????

Originally posted by tyranny22
OMG!

People pay for a service. Is it our fault other's don't take advantage of it as much as us? Provide more bandwidth. That's their JOB. Thats the service we pay for!

Its not that easy. Apart from putting more fibre in, which is expensive as hell, the only way is new technology which is only coming to frution now.

Something called DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) cab fit more wavelengths down an existing fibre. This is about the only way that bandwidth is going to be increased on networks.

Remember the "internet bubble" which burst? It went because companies expanded networks rapidly, allowing what we have today, but at great cost.

It's not just that easy to "provide more bandwidth", I'm afraid.

im at work at comcast right now, and in reference to people getting their services shut off, no it doesnt happen alot, and customers are generally warned first before they just get cut off. anyways, read th acceptable use policy. ill post it since most people on the net like to complain and rant, but never do research. this is from the comcast.net website

Important Note: Comcast may revise this Acceptable Use Policy (the "Policy") from time to time without notice by posting a new version of this document on the Comcast Web site at www.comcast.net... (or any successor URL(s)). All revised copies of the Policy are effective immediately upon posting. Accordingly, customers and users of the Comcast High-Speed Internet Service should regularly visit our web site and review this Policy to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. In the event of a conflict between any subscriber or customer agreement and this Policy, the terms of this Policy will govern. Questions regarding this Policy and complaints of violations of it by Comcast customers and users can be directed to www.comcast.net...
It is Comcast's intent to provide our customers with the best cable Internet service possible. In order to accomplish this task, we have adopted this Acceptable Use Policy (the "AUP" or "Policy"). This Policy outlines acceptable use of the Comcast High-Speed Internet service (the "Service"), as well as permissible and prohibited conduct for using the Service to access the Internet. This Policy, including its customer use restrictions, is in addition to the restrictions contained in the Comcast High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement (the "Subscriber Agreement"). All capitalized terms used in this AUP that are not defined here have the meanings given to them in the Subscriber Agreement.

It is the responsibility of all Comcast High-Speed Internet customers and all others who have access to Comcast's network ("customer," "you," or "your"), to comply with this AUP and all Comcast policies. As a Service customer, it is your responsibility to secure your computer equipment so that it is not subject to external threats such as viruses, spam, and other methods of intrusion. Failure to comply with these or any other Comcast policies could result in the suspension or termination of your Service. If you do not agree to comply with all of these policies including the AUP, you must immediately stop use of the Service and notify Comcast so that your account may be closed.

Note: Comcast reserves the right to immediately terminate the Service and the Subscriber Agreement if you engage in any of the prohibited activities listed in this AUP or if you use the Comcast Equipment or Service in a way which is contrary to any Comcast policies or any of Comcast's suppliers' policies. You must strictly adhere to any policy set forth by another service provider accessed through the Service.

Prohibited Uses and Activities
Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, using the Service, Customer Equipment, or the Comcast Equipment to:



[edit on 10-9-2007 by jimmy1200]

Prohibited Uses and Activities
Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, using the Service, Customer Equipment, or the Comcast Equipment to:

undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose. This includes, but is not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening, defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or which in any way constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation;
post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or material which a reasonable person could deem to be objectionable, offensive, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening, embarrassing, distressing, vulgar, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful;
access any other person's computer or computer system, software, or data without their knowledge and consent; breach the security of another user; or attempt to circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or accounts;
use or distribute tools designed or used for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gatherers, unauthorized keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs. Network probing or port scanning tools are only permitted when used in conjunction with a residential home network, or if explicitly authorized by the destination host and/or network. Unauthorized port scanning, for any reason, is strictly prohibited;
upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works of, or distribute in any way information, software or other material obtained through the Service or otherwise that is protected by copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining permission of the owner;
copy, distribute, or sublicense any software provided in connection with the Service by Comcast or any third party, except that you may make one copy of each software program for back-up purposes only;
restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to use or enjoy the Service, including, without limitation, posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a worm, virus, or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others' ability to send or retrieve information;
restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a performance degradation, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to the Service or any Comcast (or Comcast supplier) host, server, backbone network, node or service, or otherwise cause a performance degradation to any Comcast (or Comcast supplier) facilities used to deliver the Service;

resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside the Premises the ability to use the Service (i.e. wi-fi, or other methods of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, or on a bundled or unbundled basis. The Service is for personal and non-commercial use only and you agree not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider or for any business enterprise or purpose, or as an end-point on a non-Comcast local area network or wide area network;
connect multiple computers behind the cable modem to set up a LAN (Local Area Network) that in any manner would result in a violation of the terms of this Policy or an applicable Service plan;
transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages or "spam." This includes, but is not limited to, unsolicited advertising, promotional materials or other solicitation material, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, chain mail, informational announcements, charity requests, and petitions for signatures;
send numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages, empty messages, or messages which contain no substantive content, or send very large messages or files to a recipient that disrupts a server, account, newsgroup, or chat service;
distribute programs that remove locks or time-outs built into software (cracks);
run programs, equipment, or servers from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises LAN (Local Area Network), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Examples of prohibited services and servers include, but are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers;
initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or other illegal soliciting scheme;
participate in the collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or other identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a practice sometimes known as spidering or harvesting, or participate in the use of software (including "spyware") designed to facilitate this activity;
collect responses from unsolicited messages;
impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender address falsification, forge anyone else's digital or manual signature, or perform any other similar fraudulent activity;
service, alter, modify, or tamper with the Comcast Equipment or Service or permit any other person to do the same who is not authorized by Comcast;
connect the Comcast Equipment to any computer outside of your Premises;
collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their consent;
interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges and attempts to "crash" a host; and
violate the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, or Web site that you access.

Security
You are responsible for any misuse of the Service, even if the misuse was committed by a friend, family member, or guest with access to your Service account. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not use your account to gain unauthorized access to the Service by, for example, strictly maintaining the confidentiality of your Service login and password. In all cases, you are solely responsible for the security of any device you choose to connect to the Service, including any data stored or shared on that device. Comcast recommends against enabling file or printer sharing unless you do so in strict compliance with all security recommendations and features provided by Comcast and the manufacturer of the applicable file or printer sharing devices. Any files or devices you choose to make available for shared access on a home LAN, for example, should be protected with a strong password or as otherwise appropriate.

there is more, but just go to comcast.net to find it.

comcast can turn you off for sharing porn with friends. thats epic. lol. they pretty much can do what they want. they say they are not obligated to monitor your traffic, but if THEY BELIEVE that you could be doing something that goes against their strict policies, then they can monitor everything you do on the net. great

[edit on 10-9-2007 by jimmy1200]

[edit on 10-9-2007 by jimmy1200]

amazing, and illegal. you cant advratise unlimited service and not provide unlimited service.

Someone downlaoded a 1.8g file and got shutoff? thats simply BS. I downloaded WOW LEGALLY this week and it was 2.2 gig. how sweet would that be if I subscribed to the service and then couldnt play because I used all my bandwidth.

What kills me is its all bad management. A local '.com bubble' company came back from near demise by simply applying better management. Capitolism only works if it is managed propperly. Comcast obviously isnt cpable of that.

reply to post by tyranny22


Okay, you do have a good point.

But the amount of bandwidth usually offered is way more than adequate for most users, at least in the United States and countries considered integral parts of the "Western World" I assume.

I know in my country, America, the only people who max out their cable internet connection to the point of it becoming a problem for other users and a loss to the provider company in profit are those people that, as I've said before, have their computer or "a computer" set to download twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with the provider restart times and dates for each week written into their automatic script of "download this this and this forever!!!"

im talking DVD movies
im talking DVD porns
im talking Computer Games, bigger than DVD movies
im talking mp3 music, and mp4 music, and wav form musc
im talking pirated utilities that are sposed to cost money but have been cracked
im talking about shareware programs that you can get on the makers' respective website, yet are being tossed around on the peer 2 peer networks.
im talking about ... tons and tons of pirated multi-gig software. whole versions of windows, even XP, yes cracked!
im talking about even more tons of pirated multi-gig office software, like MS Office XP Suite?
And many many more.

I'm not talking about the semi-occasional doing of the things listed up above. Yes, even the illegal ones! Great!
I'm not saying that people who download mp3 albums of the newest CDs should be penalized. No, I download those too.
Nor should the porno downloaders be penalized, or the movie downloaders.
Nor the PC Gamers, with their 50gig torrents. Been there.

No, what I'm talking about is pure an unadultered automation of tasks, scripting. But not just any automation of tasks, automation of the tasks listed above. Why? So they can be performed at a constant rate, not just when the user wants to do it. Even if the user wanted to do it constantly and live with no sleep or food like South Korean MMORPG players, he wouldnt be able to replicate the speed of scripting.

Scripting in this case is like .. how to MAX OUT my download ability so that its a never ending stream of worthless crap. Now imagine multiple computers set to the same tasks .. its all being done right now. Spammers and phishers especially.

The problem in "maxing out" is incompatible by its very nature with the "shared internet connections" like Cable modems. You can't really max out a cable modem's true potential because theres enough bandwidth for the whole neighborhood. But you can suck up more of that neighborhood bandwidth than 10 other users at once by doing these very activities with your PC i've discussed in this post. If the line is a closed line, such as DSL, a popular alternative to Cable, it is perfectly FINE to max out your connection by downloading the encylopedia britannica in every language known to mankind, in abode photoshop format as well as word document format, okay people? Go and do that .. DSL and Cable are priced competitively, lets not cause conflict where none should be.

Let the communal users have a responsible communal line of data, the neighborhood cable.

And let the hardcore users and automated users have their own dedicated line, for a similar price, maybe cheaper, via the DSL technology.

Everyone wins.

This is like a fat man trying to stuff himself into a shoebox when his casket is only a few feet away.

I know you're thinking. . WTF?

[edit on 9/10/2007 by runetang]

Originally posted by runetang
... by downloading the encylopedia britannica in every language known to mankind, in abode photoshop format ...

I know you're thinking. . WTF?

LMAO. No, actaully I'm still laughing over the .psd reference. I'm not sure that would fit on my computer in just 1 language. LOL.

I see your point and though I'm pro-pirate to some degree I do agree with you. These vultures should not be allowed to continuously download material.

On the piracy issue: I support paying for the media one uses (I'm still a big fan of buying the CD and/or movie). BUT, I'm totally against "Planned Release" of technology and "Outdatting" exsisting technology. This is often controlled by corporate entities for manipulation of annual and quarterly earning reports. It's more of a money thing than it is a technology or deveopement issue.

EDIT: More of a note on the reference of "outdatted technology". When making this statement, I was speaking mostly in terms of software. Anyone who's familiar with the whole Quark/Freehand > Indesign or the OS9 > OSX debacle knows of what I speak. If you weren't on the cutting edge, you were left out in cyberspace on some functions of the internet. Some small-time printers I know are still struggling on keeping up in order to maintain their business. Not everyone can switch operating systems and train employees on new software right away.

[edit on 10-9-2007 by tyranny22]

reply to post by runetang

i could sustain legal downloads indefinetly starting now. If i have an internet provider that advratises unlimited downloads and shuts me off thats serious breach of contract.

oh, and im sure that they reserve the right to cancel anytime so that its a non issue to them.

there is a fine print in the comcast contracts that say if you are limited to half a trabyte per month. [500gb of download]

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt the contracts just say unlimited access? They forgot to mention they can regulate your speed.