Comcast fesses up to traffic delays

Following AP reports published last week that painted Comcast in a less-than-positive light for apparently stifling BitTorrent uploads, the company has come clean (somewhat, that is). Reportedly, the firm did admit to "delaying" some subscriber internet traffic, but stated that any hiccups were "temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users." More specifically, Mitch Bowling, senior vice president of Comcast Online Services, was quoted as saying that Comcast utilized "several network management technologies that, when necessary, enabled it to delay -- not block -- some peer-to-peer traffic," but that doesn't exactly jive with the AP's findings. Nevertheless, Mr. Bowling also stated that the problem was "unintentional and due to a software bug [saywha?] that had been fixed." So with that being said, are any of the afflicted users out there still seeing issues, or has all this negative attention really resulted in a change of heart?

[Jason @ Oct 24th 2007 1:18AM]

Ever since the latest news articles about how terrible Comcast is and how they block most P2P traffic, I've actually noticed my connection on Comcast get WORSE. If that was possible...I wish i had Optimum again...at least I had a decent upload and no problems with P2P...

[Wesburl @ Oct 24th 2007 12:34PM]

No, I have not seen any improvement in performance as of lately. Although I am not having any problems currently with Comcraptic... This is probably due to my ability to circumvent their defense (which is meager at best).

Here is a guide for all that are currently plagued by the Comcatastrophe.

1. Use an encryption method (not the programs encryption {Like Azureus built in obfuscation aka encryption})

2. VPN's (Virtual Private Network)
Paid, or unpaid will work fine because it encrypts the data from your computer to the Private network, and then is forwarded to do its work.

3. Accidentally performing wireless penetration testing on the wrong network (not yours) might yield unintended rewards X D. This requires a little Linux knowledge.

4. This falls under the VPN method technically, but is really easy. Pay 5 Euro for a month of Swedish VPN fun with no limitations... Service called Relakks that is accessible anywhere.


If anyone has any questions please feel free to let me know : )

[QUOW @ Oct 24th 2007 1:18AM]

Nope, still blocked. Can't seed, dammit. What does Comcast have against Suiseiseki?

DESU DESU

And it's obviously not "delayed," but "blocked entirely." Comcast is just trying to spin things in a more favorable light, and ultimately confuse congressmen if the situation comes to that. Kind of like what some New Jersey ad campaigns tried to do with "net neutrality," changing it's definition to mean the RESTRICTION of net traffic, when we all (ie: the rest of us) know it means the EQUAL FREEDOM of traffic.

"block" shall now become "delay" in all official news on the matter. Mark my terrifying words.

[Kyle @ Oct 24th 2007 2:37AM]

You're absolutely right...I have learned alot about Public Relations, and this is simply a tactic. If you EVER EVER EVER want to know what a company is really doing, the last place you should seek information is from the company itself. They have everything to gain or lose, depending on how they relay their news to the public.

[Rocko @ Oct 24th 2007 1:20AM]

well my internet speed has been significantly low compared to other providers, despite comcast touting their high upload/download speed.

oh wait, that's the way it's always been.

[Warhorse @ Oct 24th 2007 2:05PM]

What I think is crazy is that I have Comcast and my connection is slower than my down stairs neighbors DSL. Not just sometimes but always! How is that supposed to happen?

[Daniel @ Oct 24th 2007 1:26AM]

when downloading a torrent file AND using a browser or chat program, the whole modem/router stops working (flashing lights), and must be powered off and then back on to start working again...only to stop working if i continue multi-internet-tasking. this has made me download torrents only overnight when no one is using any internet program.

i guess this might be the issue causing these things.

[Artaxiad @ Oct 24th 2007 1:40AM]

Just like the above comments: my connection is still throttled. Nothing has changed; not that I'm shocked .

[Zorque @ Oct 24th 2007 1:47AM]

So there's a reason for doing it, but it's a software bug and entirely unintentional. They should have tested high-speed first to see if abusing it to do dishes and fetch Colombian nationals could cause brain damage.

[lankysob @ Oct 24th 2007 1:49AM]

my downloading/seeding was as fast as could be at my apartment building (which i moved out of at the beginning of september). i could download quickly and seed all i wanted. i'm guessing that was due to living in a conglomeration of many other people having connections in the same building/adjacent buildings.

now that i've moved into my own house, downloading takes forever (i'm looking at 1.5 weeks to get a 63MB file) and seeding is basically impossible. not to mention my slowly deteriorating seed-to-download-ratio. resetting my router is a semi-regular occurrence, and don't even think about getting onto Xbox Live for Halo 3 at the same time. guaranteed lag-fest.

*sigh*

[Dean @ Oct 24th 2007 1:54AM]

It was unintentional, but the intention was to improve the experience for other users.

How can you possibly have both?

[Darkest Daze @ Oct 24th 2007 2:08AM]

I think these are the types of questions you're not supposed to ask. What you're supposed to do is take either one answer or the other, depending on what offends you less.

[johnzilla @ Oct 24th 2007 9:16AM]

Easy.

Manager: "Make this change to improve bandwidth for everyone equally."
Technician: "OK, change made."

A couple hundred angry support calls later....

Technician: "Ooops, looks like I screwed up that change....everyone is screwed now, some more than others, until I can fix it."

[cherie22984 @ Oct 24th 2007 2:43AM]

This just makes me more angry at Comcrap! Specially after reading all the great news coming for the Fios users http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/23/verizon-rolls-out-super-fast-20-20-fios-internet-service/
Knowing that I have no other choice makes me feel even worst. I live in Atlanta GA and uploading at a steady 40kb/s sucks.

[Michael La Framboise @ Oct 24th 2007 2:36AM]

Well, I don't know what the hell is going on w/ them but lately I'm getting more and more random lags.

Just a year ago all was jolly- everything loaded fast, downloads were fast, everything worked w/ no problem...

Now, living in same place I'm getting random lags when browsing anything more then 1 site at a time, constantly getting timeouts on servers when playing FPS games online - and even the torrents w/ thousands of seeds take weeks to download...

But hell, screw them, just a bit more till I'm moving to Sweden.

[Kyle Simmons @ Oct 24th 2007 2:44AM]

Comcast service has been HORRIBLE this last week. I'm THIS CLOSE to switching to DSL.

[Ian @ Oct 24th 2007 3:09AM]

wow, i must say that hearing all of this kind of scares me, i know i have my xbox live and a friend over at my place all the time and we both play online with almost no lag. the online time it lags is when someone uploads or downloads music at the same time while we are playing.. bummer. i guess where im at not too many people are having this problem

[Ian #2 @ Oct 24th 2007 3:15AM]

complete change of heart. definitely not going to going to them for internet service. and we're getting out of their cable service, too. but the bad feelings there were started because comcast prices are getting out-of-control expensive.

[Steve Jobs @ Oct 24th 2007 9:10AM]

I agree with you 100%. Comcasts prices are getting out of control, which is exactly why monopolies are illegal. I'm sick of the lack of competition, so boycott comcast contrary to what you believe you can live without cable.

[John @ Oct 24th 2007 7:38AM]

I used to lose my internet connection entirely whenever I ran Azureus. I'm not having that problem since I switched to Free Download Manager.

[kdoh @ Oct 24th 2007 8:47AM]

my connection as well is still throttled as it ALWAYS has been. can never get more than 40k upload for a sustained period of time = slow bittorrent = crappy service.

comcast really sucks. at least they make funny commercials.

...sorry roger, you tiger now!

[CatchWithoutArms @ Oct 24th 2007 9:19AM]

seriously considering switching... second morning in a row I've woken up to the internet not working.

and yeah funny commercials with twice the decibel level of normal commercials.

[bmck @ Oct 24th 2007 9:45AM]

downloaded plenty of torrents over comcast last night at decent speeds (Philadelphia)

[t-bone @ Oct 24th 2007 9:37AM]

I haven't stopped paying my bill, I've simply delayed it.

[zebcarlson2007 @ Oct 24th 2007 9:42AM]

Well ive never had my internet actually *not work*, my biggest problem with them so far is they first put a cap on how much I could download through my newsgroup account, then they completely shut off my newsgroup account!

It says "user has exceeded monthly bandwidth limit", and its said that for two months now!!!

[Me @ Oct 24th 2007 9:58AM]

To all those who hate bandwidth shaping you should see what a network looks like with out it. I worked for a university, if you do not throttle back certain services you end up having 1% of your users using 95% of the bandwidth, and nothing works. File transfer applications like Tourants and Gnuttela are the worst they actively go out and use as much band width as they can. Comcast makes most of its money on web browsers. Web browsers care about low latency and to a lower degree through put to the networks is optimized that way.

[From Minneapolis @ Oct 24th 2007 10:29AM]

I don't run BitTorrent, but I do download files (which is still working fine), but iGoogle and Google Reader get continuous "Connection Reset" message if I try to use them while downloading. Comcast support has been no help so far, but I am assuming that they are seeing the Google traffic as p2p and issuing resets, which the Google applications can't handle.

[Handsome @ Oct 24th 2007 10:36AM]

This is complete PR spin. They're even spinning it to their own employees:

http://www.philebrity.com/2007/10/23/readers-fwd-comcast-spins-recent-news-to-their-own-employees-brushes-off-army-of-hammer-armed-elderly/

I don't think it's "temporary" at all. Comcast's home broadband is too intertwined with the interests of the big media companies and their own "On Demand" service. Any alternative to their own products and those of their business partners is dangerous. ...How long until they try to block out Skype in order to push people into their own VOIP service?

They've been completely shutting off my seeding for a while now, with no change as of today. Downloading works OK until you start to seed, then all outgoing BitTorrent traffic slows to zero (quickly). Your mileage may vary. Some other friends in the Philly metro aren't being affected yet.

OK, so if it's really about keeping 1% of the users from hogging 99% of bandwidth (uuuh, ok I guess) then make the heavier users pay more instead of advertising "unlimited" usage to every customer. I suppose they have a right to do what they want with their own network, but I also have the right not to purchase services from a company that discriminates against certain types of data. I'll be canceling my service (TV AND Internet) as soon as possible.

[drew @ Oct 24th 2007 11:27AM]

my comcast still blows

[Alberto @ Oct 24th 2007 11:07AM]

actually, shaping traffic make sense. bandwidth is not unlimited and anybody with even rudimentary economic knowledge knows the free rider problem. all subscribers are paying for heavy users in either diminished quality of connections or higher prices we have to pay. i wish comcast had either multiple price points or more clear definitions of service levels.

[apeguero @ Oct 24th 2007 11:35AM]

Does Verizon do this? I'm considering switching. Unfortunately they don't offer FIOS in my area but the do offer DSL.

[Conda @ Oct 24th 2007 1:38PM]

I'm on comcast, and I had no problems with torrents

[Wintermute @ Oct 24th 2007 1:59PM]

So, I use Verizon DSL (which runs just peachy fine and fast), but doesn't Comcast guarantee a certain level of speed (and don't they advertise "faster than DSL")? I think (depending on their contract with the individual subscribers) that this would constitute false advertising and possibly a failure to honor their contract (unless it says speed of [insert speed here] guaranteed unless you are using any of these programs [insert list of throttled programs here]). I would say it's time for all those Comcast users out there to get themselves a lawyer or a few thousand lawyers and take their pound of flesh out of Comcast (especially before it just becomes a class action suit where only the lawyers really make any money).

[Andrew @ Oct 25th 2007 6:55PM]

Hey, as long as Comcast is losing money, I'm fine with it going to greedy lawyers.

Seriously at over $100/mo for internet, I expect some fucking speed. It's pretty bad when my neighbor with DSL gets no lag while playing games AND torrenting, with internet browsing, and I cant even keep a steady connection on AIM! Things have improved since I bought a Linksys Modem (motorola surfboards suck) and switched to exclusively using my hacked WRT54G, but its still shitty. very, very shitty.

I wouldn't *mind* getting some of my money back though...

[consumerq @ Oct 24th 2007 2:01PM]

I still cannot seed. Downloading is fine... seeding while downloading is fine... but once I turn from a leecher to a seeder, all bets are off. I sure would like to continue contributing to the
community of LEGAL file sharing, but right now my ratio is plummeting.

[Bob Mc @ Oct 24th 2007 3:00PM]

No change for me

[Jack @ Oct 24th 2007 4:11PM]

I'm grateful to have the alternative of AT&T/Yahoo in my neighborhood. I was with Comcast since it first started in my area with cable internet. It worked great for several years, that is, until the local network started to develop problems. Their techs couldn't fix a bag of popcorn in a microwave oven. Even with my brother next door having the exact same issues as myself, Comcast techs would say it was internal residence issues. Funny how the last time the guy was here and my connection dropped, I was able to ping successfully to my router, but nowhere on the net. That was indeed the last time a tech was out, because I moved to DSL and I haven't looked back. I pay for Pro level, but AT&T gives me Elite level for no addtional charge. They give me free WiFi any location that has an AT&T WiFi drop. I hate Comcast. When Everest (a cable competitor) makes it to my area (and they are working towards it) I am done with Comcrap! Stinking monopoly.

[idl3mind @ Oct 25th 2007 7:52PM]

my surfing has been really sluggish the for the last week, no lie. downloading individual files hasn't been much different, but the latency on just surfing to different sites and page loads have been really slow.

[palehorse @ Oct 26th 2007 3:06PM]

Would it be rude of me to mention my 30/5 Mbit fiber connection that allows for 5GB downloads every 20 minutes?

ya gotta love FIOS!

HA! :P

[djholland7 @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:00AM]

I am currently in FL and I have Comcast ATM, but I have also noticed that during online game play, it gets bogged down.

So all I am going to really do about it is just get a new ISP when I move north.