Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme (update: old news)
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted November 5th 2009 3:58PM
posted November 5th 2009 3:58PM
Comcast customers have been no stranger to bandwidth shenanigans over the years, from the whole torrent filtering mess to the 250GB monthly cap. Now the company is back with a new data throttling scheme intended to put the kibosh on excessive traffic during those times when the network is already being overwhelmed. The two-tiered system is put on alert if either more than 70 percent of your max bandwidth (downstream or upstream) is used for more than 15 minutes or if your particular Cable Modem Termination System gets congested and it decides that you're partially responsible. Should you run afoul of the traffic warden, expect to find yourself down-throttled for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilization rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes. If there is no congestion, however, you shouldn't notice any difference whatsoever -- unless, of course, John McCain gets his way. Warning: PDF read link.
Update: Due to crossed wires when researching this piece, we mistakenly reported that this policy was new. It is not. In fact, the throttling detailed above has been in effect for nearly a year.
Update: Due to crossed wires when researching this piece, we mistakenly reported that this policy was new. It is not. In fact, the throttling detailed above has been in effect for nearly a year.
How do you think my wife feels, when I bang her I only give her 10" out of the 12" available. Make no Fn sense. FU cumcrust.
No, no, no. Read the document.
You and your 5 neighbors would have to be banging your wife for 15 minutes, and only then could she get pissed that you're only giving her 10"....
Am i going to get a 50% credit on my bill whenever i get throttled?
yeah, didn't think so.
Can't wait till fios gets here.
this better not be fing true or Comcast is shit.
Yes. Comcast affecting their top 1% highest bandwidth users to keep the other 99% with usable internet is *CRAZY*.
The alternative is that they starting charging people by GB of transfer.
Since you use 250x the neighbor... are you ready to pay 250x the price?
That's it...over to AT&T DSL for me!
Good thing I have four cable modems with cloned macs all uncapped and don't have to deal with bills or caps
30 min ago i was playing CS and then my internet cut out because of this. Now i am on a verizon wireless card to get internet. wtf!
you are either a troll or just an idiot.
Why can't FIOS come to my part of Houston, I hear its because they can't come to areas where SBC/ATT are. : (
Duurrrrr....just throttle your bandwidth to 65% of what it's capable of and enjoy it.
Wait- people still use Comcast?
Unfortunately, yes. It's not like I have a choice. I only live in the 3rd largest city in the U.S. Do you actually expect there to be competition in the City of Chicago?
@Spiny
Lol, I snicker at your out right lie..... you have alternatives DSL, wireless, satellite. Now, these options are slower and more expensive in some cases *but* you do have alternatives.
If you are saying "you have no competition that is as fast/good as comcast"...I'd argue that you have to deal with the good and bad of having the best.
Perhaps you are offended that the government only allows by law, one cable provider to run cable to your house (under the law that they want to control who installs cables in public areas under the roads etc...? What is your response? To go back to the government to ask them to do "MORE FOR YOU"?
I noticed they boosted my upload to 1.5mbps from 1mbps recently, so in effect the 70% limit means I can still go by the original 1mbps and not have a problem. Unless you do an abhorrent amount of downloading the DL limit would be difficult to reach and maintain.
Still sucks? Yeah, sure, but who didn't already know years ago that Comcast sucks?
I'm on hold with Comcast, setting up a future-dated service-cancel as I type this. I've all ready called AT&T. This is the straw that broke the camel's f-ing back with those thieves.
I applaud your actions. You are doing exactly what all the cry babies here should be doing. Thankfully you have more than one option. Most of the time the government only allows one service provider.
Nothing..... NOTHING... speaks louder than taking your hard earned money elsewhere.'
Don't worry, wireless is coming at speeds better than cable. Certainly in the next 5 years. At that point, competition will drive service up and pricing down. Any blocking, filtering etc..... will be carefully considered because people could so easily change.
PLEASE PLEASE REPORT THIS TO THE FTC:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
I suppose as long as they cut what I am paying for according I will have no complaint.
I am sure we will all pay full price for this service while they deliver less.
There is nothing we can do.
Godamn it I wish to hell I could tell Comcast to shove their shitty as service and restrictions up their ass. Come AT&T! Bring UVERSE to my area already!
Yes!!
Hopefully they can strt to deregulate coaxial. Cable providers. Who technically are still a monopoly due they at not forced to resell cable to other Clecs.
Answer me this besides satelite satelite tv. How many different cAble companies do u have a choice to pick from peR adress???exactly none. So monopoly it is. U don't have a choice when it comes to traditional coaxial cable companies. Your stuck. Obama it's time. Consumer needs choices. Deregulate n break the monopolies now!!
I know u all agree.
You are so ill informed, I doubt that you will understand anything I'm about to say but I'll try anyway.
1. The cable companies are a monopoly because the government decided that only one company is "legally allowed" to spend millions to run cables on public property (under streets, etc).
2. The cable company you have *did* in fact spend millions or billions building a backbone to provide services to many people and maximize their profit. If 1% of their users are using 40% of their infrastructure... you are somehow offended that they would attempt to reduce that percent *or* attempt to charge you more.
3. The alternatives to this are going to hurt you a lot more. The companies will be forced to find a way to make profit for their investors. They may need to start charging by GB of transfer or start charing more and more for faster connections.
Your end goal is extremely well intended, but running to the government (who created the monopoly in the first place) is the absolute opposite way to want to go. In the not too distance future, *HOPEFULLY* (assuming the government doesn't come in and try to over regulate it... wireless internet will be as faster or faster than wired. Without all the old cable running cables costs and maintainability, costs will go down very quick. Not only that but many companies would be able to compete to service you wireless internet.
We are getting there today. T-Mobile, Sprint, ATT, Verizon all over wireless at home internet service. It's still slower than cable but not for much longer.... then watch the pricing drop like crazy.
WTF? So basically they should just put a little disclaimer on the ad that says"* Actual speed may very... 30 Mbps is really a bustable bandwidth, depending on the time of the day, network traffic conditions, availability, your Internet browsing behavior etc, etc..."
They would be extremely smart to, so they don't open them selves up for lawsuit. At the end of the day, they are trying to protect 99% of all customers at the expense of 1% of their customers. I assume if there was someone next door using 100 times the bandwidth you were using causing your speeds to drop at key parts of the day would piss you off. More so, if you are both paying the same rate.
The next step (and it's coming) will force them to sell you internet by GB transfer. In fact, that is certainly the fairest way. Pay for what you use.... not sure why that is such a hard concept for people to grasp.
I have to say I'm amused that nobody has bothered to read the PDF that says they've they implemented this bandwidth management last January.
It's been active for ten months. Has anyone even noticed? Sheesh, what a bunch of wankers.
People may not have seen a flashing warning saying your bandwidth has been reduced, but what if the last time someone was downloading some big stuff, they couldn't figure out why it suddenly slowed down to a crawl?? That's whatmakes it even worse. You can't really monitor your own bandwidth well, and you won't be told when it's going to be reduced or when you are about to make it be reduced.
Well that's the last straw. I'm switching over to.....ummm.....diualup I guess. Thank you FCC and your bullshit hands off approach to ISPs. Competition my ass.
Ah for the days of really slow dialup that cost virtually nothing.
Oh well...I'd rather have my big pipe that is only so long than a straw.
Comcast is full of them self they think there the only players out there, the only service they have worth a dam and don't over charge is there internet, the phone is crap the Tv is crap with crap stations on every package I only watch like 6 channels but had to pay over $100 a month just to get those 6 stations! I let go of my phone and Tv and replaced the phone with MagicJack for $20 a year and added 5 more years for $59 and love the MagicJack over Comcast any day of the week and replaced the Tv by watching my shows online witch saves me almost $110 month and no I see all the shows I like but to by pass the 250 mb restriction and this new restriction by upgraded to there 22mb internet connection for a extra $20 they also have a internet package now with 50mb but that is almost $120 but still much cheaper then a T1 or T3. But it is time to tell companies like Comcast there crap and were not going to take this any more by calling there call centers and swamping them with complaints over and over so they can't answer real tech calls and by dropping there services in witch we feel over priced for what they provide channels like QVC, Jewelry TV, WGN, Home Shopping Network and Gems TV witch are just in there limited basic set up I refuse to pay for these any more not to mention all the crap movies on ON Demand!
There home pages are a joke to when we pay $59 a month just for internet and were stuck to the layout and info they want on them instead of like a home page from yahoo where we can add the things we want on them and change the look and feel! and half the time there mail center does not work or fan cast wont load the list goes on and on but we let them do it by not saying I WONT TAKE THIS ANY LONGER!
Why are they reporting this is old news? Yes this was put into effect a year ago, but after sometime in January it stopped happening. I know because I max out my 16Mbps connection quite frequently and don't expereince any throttling whatsoever. Are they bringing this back?
I filed a complaint with the fcc as well - it's time to break this company up - remember Bell? we need baby comcasts everywhere competition would be wonderful
I hope your kidding.
Your complaint (along with everyone else) is going to force companies to start charging you by GB of transfer or force them to charge big bucks for high speed and create more and more tiered services (5Mb 10Mb 20Mb 50Mb etc).
If you do not like what they do, then take your business elsewhere. If you only have one option, blame the government for creating utility monopolies in the first place..don't run to them for more regulation... Comcast are not doing this to piss you off, they are doing it to help keep pricing low and their infrastructure sound.
Anyone who thinks they do this to make bad press or upset their customers is stupid. They are slowing 2% of their users who use 40% of their services. Humm that sounds a lot like our government and it's tax policies. But somehow I doubt you have an issue with those "Evil greedy money making rich people" paying more than their share of taxes and services that they'll never use.
They're reporting it as old news because the story source is a year old. It went up on slashdot yesterday and got called old news there and somehow still managed to make the rounds here.
Seriously Engadget, yesterday it was the "PSP Go Shot through a wall, here's a nested chain of read links ending up with the original article not even mentioning a PSP" thing from yesterday... and now this.
I usually love the site but both of these stories seem uncharacteristically "not fact checked"
Good thing I can rarely even hit 50% of my max bandwidth on comcast.
Do we get some kind of bonus when we can't get our max bandwidth for more than 15 minutes?
If you support net neutrality, you support this.
Congratulations.
THANK YOU FOR BEING RATIONAL. The four of us that read Engadget that do not support net neutrality have a club with t shirts and everything.
You are welcome to join anytime.
So glad I pay out the ass every month for this, $160 and I do notice a slow down when I download large files. Not all of us are ignorant To the net and computers comcast! I am always checking my speeds down and up.
haha i just got the 22mbps service the other day and downloaded 98gb last night and now im going to upload it today. nothing happened other than last night my modem reset a few times no big deal it was the first night i had it. all i can say is im glad about the speed but if they decide to cap me somehow then im not going to keep the service.
My solution was to sign up for a Comcast business account. Servers OK, static IPs, no shaping/throttling/caps. $109/mo for 22/5 guaranteed w/ 5 static IPs.
I'm really tired of putting up with this crap from Comcast, I really wish there was an alternative around here. Every day I have to deal with their crappy DVR box that barely even functions, didn't they make a deal with TiVo years ago to at least get some halfway decent software on these boxes?
And now every day I'm living in fear of actually using the internet I paid for. Back in June I woke up one morning to find my internet shut off completely, after calling them and being re-directed to another number I'm told that the previous month I went over my allocated 250GB of data usage, claiming I used 800GB of data in the month and being told that if I ever go over my allocated 250GB again that they shut it off for good, though they couldn't provide me any ideas how the hell my usage is fine for nearly 2 years, then suddenly one month it shoots up to over 3 times what their cap is? And couldn't be bothered to call me sometime during the month to tell me this was happening, only accusing me of having virus ridden Macs and people on my front lawn stealing my bandwidth without me knowing.
It would be really nice if there was some alternative than having to get service through them, coming home each night wondering if the DVR actually worked and got the programs its set to record, that it doesn't freeze up while watching them, and living in fear of being accused of going over my internet allotment for the month.
I'm utterly surprised that there are so many ill informed people on such a great site.
Comcast is a business out to make money spending billions on infrastructure. If they (right or wrong) decide to limit connectivity on their service, they should have every right to do so.
If you do not like how they treat you as a customer, go to another provider. If you do not have another provider servicing you complain to the government that created that single service monopoly. In fact, it's because of this, that you do not have multiple cable companies competing for your business.
Let me tell you one thing... and listen carefully. If you ill informed people continue to complain and the government stupidly steps in, the following will happen:
1. Tiered internet connections will be more popular with 2Mb and 5Mb costing $20 and 20Mb will increase significantly to $100/Month or more. This is because you use a larger percent of their total system ability and they will need to find a way to recover your extra usage.
2. The cable companies will get rid of "unlimited" data plans and force you to start paying per 1GB of transfer.
3. Ill informed people will continue to go to the government to "help" them when in fact, more regulation forces companies to find more creative ways to make money, pissing more and more and more people off.
Do not misunderstand - I do not agree with how Comcast is blocking, but do understand that it's the current government regulation that gives you only one option.
I pray wireless comes sooner than later because (at least short term) the government sponsored monopoly of cable ownership will be broken and all sorts of wireless competition will be provided.
John, you seem to really really really like comcast.
you don't care about your self, or others, you don't care about our rights as consumers, you just care about comcast making money.
So my question is how much does comcast pay you an hour to troll our site?
LOL, you're kidding right? why should people out in the middle of nowhere be subsidized by people that live in cities so they can order high speed internet from one guy while WE all pay for the other 4 guys to pass his boonieville house so he can "have a choice".
The USA has like what? 10 times the land mass of all the countries people cry about having more choices? Soon as you figure a way for comcast, or your local telephone company to magically string wires for not cost, you can cry about competition.
We have the mid-tier broadband package (~12 Mbps) and torrents are throttled to about 80 Kbps/0.08 Mbps. It's absolutely ridiculous for what we pay each month for service. Even youtube seems to take a while. I actually have to pause a video and allow it to buffer if it's over 3:00 minutes. These aren't HD quality movies either just standard low-quality. As soon as FIOS is available, I will gladly be rid of Comcast.
i had fios from qwest they gave me the 12mbps because the 20mbps wasnt available in my area. it was slow as snot. with this new comcast i noticed the upload speed is 5x (600kbps comcast) and download is 3x (3.7mbps comcast). if they dont mess with my service saying i downloaded too much then i will definitely switch to them for good. fios sucked when i had it.
The article is wrong, it's not if either happens. First the CMTS must be above a certain threshold before throttling occors on any ones line. No throttling occurs until the cmts is being stressed.
Did anyone even read the document?
Notice the update? It's been out there a year and NO ONE NOTICED!
Here where I am (sydney australia) we pay $100 a month for ADSL2+ (24Mbit max, due to distance only get 8 Mbit) for a 60 gig cap (downloads AND uploads) AND they still throttle down excess usage and torrents.
waa waaa waaaa. that's all i see in this thread. you guys asked for this, instead of letting them handle it in a way that effected hardly nobody, now they have an excuse to punish the worse offenders even doing legal things on the network.
great job cry babies! let's see what this round of waawaaawaaaing gets you?
btw, i hear some guy named "jesus" was recently killed by the romans, oh wait, that's old news too? damn, glad i didn't post this to some national blog and make myself look like a clueless ahole..
Comcast, die.
you are getting the Mbps comcast advertises in and the MBps speeds you see on a download meter mixed up. to get to 8.4 Mbps, its just 1 MBps as it shows on your meter. Thats not at all unusual to get to.