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AT&T Caps Bandwidth On Former @Home Users

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the gnarly-transitions dept.

graznar writes: "It seems that AT&T users have been limited to 1.5 megabits of bandwidth. According to AT&T (after calling and waiting for 30 minutes), the service my friend was originally on went bankrupt (@home maybe?) so they were transferred to an alternate network. AT&T claims they will be getting this back up to speed soon. What I would like to know is if this is a nation wide problem, or if this is just in California where he lives?" More generally, I wonder what type of experiences -- good or bad -- the people who've just gone through a forcible @home weaning are experiencing.

2 of 488 comments (clear)

  1. Time Warner RR by ImaLamer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been noticing for weeks now an ability to shut your whole connection off [only briefly enough] if they don't want you doing something.

    I've only had this happen to me doing these things:
    * Kazaa [one port, easy to detect]
    * Gnutella [any client, only using 6346 port!]
    * WinMX [anytime I connect to an opennap server]
    * USENET [not all groups, but a general 'backup' of anything in the alt.binaries.* tree. No more playboy pics for me :(]
    * Uploading [When uploading to a private FTP... expect to get booted]

    I thought this was a windows issue since I have just moved and as a consequence started a new account with new hardware. Since the move, I've gotten my boxen up and they get disconnected using even SCP! [if it takes more than one hour]

    So I can't SSH to my boxen because what? There is no excuse for this. I can see the blocking of P2P systems since TimeWarner DOES own all the content people are trying to share.

    The problem is they don't actually watch what you do. They figure, port 1214... Kazaa, shut him down. But when is the line drawn for LEGITIMATE USE?

    I can't connect to my own PC for private toying around? I can't download a distro? I guess I can't even install over FTP?

    Just when I was loving 'Broadband' and it's perks. You know, constant updates to anything. Even if it is for your slash.applett....

    --
    Get your Unix fortune now!
  2. What they *should* have done by b.foster · · Score: 5, Informative
    In my area, Time Warner service is letting us burst at 20Mbps/3Mbps, and transfer steadily at 10Mbps/1.5Mbps. Needless to say, their service is very snappy. How are they able to do this?

    Well, as my warez kiddie neighbor's son found out last week, they are capping uploads to 10MB/day and downloads to 150MB/day. After that point, their filters drop about 25% of your packets and the connection is pretty much useless until midnight.

    Since I am a responsible internet user who does not try to download gigabytes of stuff that I don't want to be 1337, I am getting more than my money's worth (especially that 20Mbps burst rate). And Time Warner is making a special effort to punish the jerks who just leech all day and waste bandwidth. The result? The network has been extremely responsive, and reliable to boot.

    I will be sticking with TW for the forseeable future because this is one company that has finally figured out how to provide excellent cable modem service.

    Bill