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Bug In Fire TV Screensaver Tears Through 250 GB Data Cap

Posted by Unknown on from the should-have-stuck-to-xscreensaver dept.

jfruh (300774) writes Tech writer Tyler Hayes had never come close to hitting the 250 GB monthly bandwidth cap imposed by Cox Cable — until suddenly he was blowing right through it, eating up almost 80 GB a day. Using the Mac network utility little snitch, he eventually tracked down the culprit: a screensaver on his new Kindle Fire TV. A bug in the mosaic screensaver caused downloaded images to remain uncached.

6 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. It's 2014 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do we still have these antiquated data caps?

    Oh, that's right, greed.

    1. Re:It's 2014 by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why do we still have these antiquated data caps?

      Because we still have antiquated data lines and switches and whatnot that can only handle so much total bandwidth.

      I don't care for caps either, but if they protect my paid-for bandwidth from abusers like Mr. Hayes (yes I know, it's not his fault, whatever it's still keeping me from streaming) then I'm ok with it to a degree.

      --
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    2. Re:It's 2014 by stealth_finger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why do we still have these antiquated data caps?

      Oh, that's right, greed.

      Why does a screensaver, on a TV no less, need the fucking internet?

      --
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    3. Re:It's 2014 by e3m4n · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bullshit, I am a small ITSP and I cannot get any USF money. Yet when I go around into government housing I see signs everywhere about 'need a land line? cant afford it?' and those signs are for ATT. They are giving them 'free' phone service and collecting $50 from the USF for that basic residential analog POTS line. The original intent was similar to those rural electrification subsidies. Those days are long gone. Now its just another nightmare like those medicare scams "If you have medicare and want one of these motorized carts, you cant be denied for any reason" even if you happen to be on medicare but just ran the Boston marathon.

    4. Re:It's 2014 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And why do we still have antiquated data lines and switches and whatnot when we are paying through the nose for internet access?

      Because we are using the wrong payment model for internet access. It should be metered like virtually everything else. Then ISPs would have the incentive to strengthen their networks, since more capacity means more usage means more profit. Under the current model their maximum profit is made the instant you pay, before you use a single bit. It's backwards.

  2. Why do we have screen savers? by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do we still have these antiquated data caps?

    I would ask why we still have screen savers. Turning off the monitor automatically after a period of inactivity to save power I understand. Having it still draw power to put pretty images on the screen when you aren't using it is a pointless exercise. Screen burn-in is not a big problem these days, particularly if you have the monitor/tv turn off when not in active use.