Perhaps this is why hundreds of people's internet accounts are being terminated by Comcast. It happened to me in January this year. After researching I've learned of dozens more who are pissed they get one call then are terminated for 12 months. I've been blogging about it for several months and have turned my efforts to bringing projects such as Utopia fiber to the home. I figure competition will force companies to bring the best product and service possible to consumers. It's pretty obvious Comcast isn't able to handle the increasing demand of it's customers. Especially after hearing how the terminations seems to be increasing.
I've been speaking with my City Council and the Mayor about joining Utopia. 14 cities have already joined and some are nearing completion this summer. With Utopia, if a company goes nuts (like Comcast did), you can simply give them the boot and select a more responsible provider.
There is a big difference between voluntarilly giving up your privacy and being *required* to do so though.
Agreed. Just ask anyone who lived through the Holocaust. I've spoken with some of them still living today. Sad that we haven't learned a damn thing from history.
I'm sure the telcos will try and use the courts to stop or cripple this service.
I'm sure. Comcast and Qwest did it to Utopianet in 2004 with S.B. 66 Fortunately it's expired and Cities are now starting to join Utopianet fiber. Qwest is currently involved in multiple lawsuits against Utopia. What's screwy is they were invited to join it along with Comcast. It's like public roads. You can choose to do business with any company or their competitor. I guess competition is something they simply can't stomach. Pity.
When Comtrash acquired Adelphia, my net speed dropped from 6 Mbps to 1 Mbps. I called them repeatedly and they came to the house repeatedly to test. Yep, 1 Mbps was all I could get. But, with Adelphia, it was a reliable 6 Mbps. Finally a service rep said that most people don't know how to test their connections and that Comtrash was reserving the bandwidth for their new VoIP and telephony products. So, I dropped my $60 per month 1 Mbps and with with a $30 per month 1.5 Mbps. I got 50% more for half the price!
I feel for you. I was a Comcast customer for nearly 4 years and couldn't believe the games they pulled. We were even looking at replacing our TV because the signal kept getting worse and worse. They said we needed to replace our TV so we had nearly $2000 budgeted. What's interesting is after they terminated our Internet service and started playing word games with AUP garbage we switched to Dish and discovered our TV was just fine. It was them all along!
Oh and yes, they disconnected us for using the Internet too much. But of course they won't say what is acceptable. Only what isn't. Very strange company.
Give credit where it's due, but Comcast does appear to be amping up the bandwidth hugely.
True however you can only get into trouble with their Security / Assurance Department faster now. They have been terminating people's accounts without giving them adequate notice. Also they are unwilling to define what "Acceptable Use" is. Basically it's a crap shoot. You don't know if you are violating AUP/TOS and they won't tell you how much bandwidth is acceptable. Only will give you examples of what isn't acceptable.
It's like the Government telling you driving 100 MPH is unacceptable. Well that's fine and dandy. I think most people will agree with that. But not providing guidance in the DMV manual of the speed limits where no posted limit is specified, now that's darn right wrong.
I would strongly urge caution. You simply don't know if you are going to be next by downloading at those speeds.
Even if Comcast provides speeds of 50 Meg or faster I would be very cautious. You can download faster yes but what is the acceptable number of megs you can download in a month? Comcast has been terminating customers for years over this issue and it seems to be increasing.
Two people in my neighborhood have now been disconnected. Dozens more in the valley and hundreds I've spoken with either via phone or email. The company doesn't seem to know how to solve this problem. There has even been talk of a class action lawsuit. Should be interesting to see if that happens.
So far my blog has over 28,000 visitors in only a few months. If you have a story please post it there. We'd love to hear from you.
or just cancel the service. internet is not like power/gas etc is not needed for survival (though handy) however, most americas dont want to give up there convience to prove a point. if these mononplys suddenly lose there customers because its not a need service they will change there ways and very quickly:)
Point taken however try to get a job in some companies without internet access. It's very difficult if you can't support the company after hours. Unless you like driving.
get involved with your community, encourage petitions and give them plenty warning, but if you need to shove, shove....if they go bankrupt laugh at them and let the new player get your buisness. free market doesnt mean free compitetion, it means you can choose what you do with your services.
Done that. I've had many conversations with the City Council including a presentation on what's going on and how the Government granted monopoly isn't working. That's why I'm shoving with my blog and speaking to everyone about the issue. It's gone up to the Boston Globe and the New York Times. I've even had a couple other prominent magazines contact me. The internet is important to our future as a country. Otherwise the arguments about taxing it wouldn't come up every year:D
Are you aware we've dropped to 7th in tech and science these last few years? I'll have to check where I posted that on my blog. I believe the lack of broadband penetration is a contributing factor.
I would have expected they would have gotten a clue that people are being abused these last few years by companies such as Comcast. We can't trust them to do the right thing. So why do politicians think the market will make sure it's ok? After all, we have very few options unless you live in SunnyVale California.
Most states don't have 20 or 30 options for highspeed Internet. If a company goes nuts you have to put up or go dial up (like that's an option these days).
I urge people to contact the FTC and let them know what's on you mind. This needs to be dealt with before Telco's make their own laws.
Does she seriously expect the courts to award such a devastating judgement against one of the richest IP holding organizations in the country?
If they broke the law then yes. She expects the courts to uphold the law. Besides, since they are so rich, they can afford to pay when they violate the laws they claim to follow.
Won't a bunch of little robots crawling about be pretty conspicuous?
Really, how difficult will it to put a bounty out for kids to go about smashing such things with rocks or something? Unless they can stay undetected they're gonna be prime targets for removal by anyone who doesn't want them about.
Ah yeah, but if they were invisible. Now that would be difficult to smash:-)
"Microsoft has admitted, in an email to the press, that 'some customers may be waiting to adopt Windows Vista because they've heard rumors about device or application compatibility issues, or because they think they should wait for a service pack release.' The company is now pleading with customers not to wait until the release of SP1 at the end of the year, launching a 'fact rich' program to try to convince them to 'proceed with confidence'.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) Vista is not ready for customer consumption. I personally don't plan on using it... ever. DRM and other issues made that decision for me long ago. I have a family down the street who just purchased a new computer with Vista Home Edition and have had nothing but troubles. Several programs which ran just fine under XP are now crashing Vista hard.
The latest Print Shop (for instance) isn't compatible I'm told along with other commercial packages. Very sad. XP wasn't this much of a pain.
I have Comcast for Internet access and am reasonably happy with them. I think their cable TV channels are way overpriced, so I'm not subscribing to anything there, but, then, I have never watched much cable.
So, why not just cancel? You have alternatives: DSL, satellite, OTA, other cable companies.
Just don't use the Internet too much or they will disconnect you. I know of a dozen people in my area including myself in which this happened over the last year. Oh and don't bother to ask how much you paid for. They aren't allowed to tell you. Their words.
Alternatives? Well.. There is Comcast, Dial up modem, pony express...
Comcast had a virtual monopoly in my area for over 4 years until this past March. 1.5 DSL is available and I'm working with a number of other's to get Utopianet in our area (fiber to the house). If you like Comcast great. They were a great service for years. But if you get "The Call" then pack your bags and move everything off. I've met only one person who ever had the service restored.
Besides, DSL and Dish are a better deal anyway. And at least you can get the HDTV promised to you. Comcast is still struggling to get there.
Why anyone would enter a contract that states "You pay me every month full and in advance and I promise you nothing" is beyond me. Even mafia hitmen have more customer friendly terms, I think. But if you think that's fair trade practice, you may like to view that bridge I have on sale here...
They know they can get away with it. Look at the company TOS and AUP. It's a lot like Comcast's (which I used to be a customer over 4 years). You simply can't trust these guys. I'm pushing we go with something like Utopianet and basically build our own fiber infrastructure. It's like public roads and the service can be provided by another entity.
Hopefully if enough people complain about it we'll have our country follow the tech leaders like South Korea and start building a public infrastructure that will provide everyone's Internet needs.
in the contract or at very least in the sale, they promise you a certain bandwidth, if they can't deliver what they promise you don't need to pay what you promised.
Unfortunately it doesn't matter. I've gone through this issue over and over again. They simply don't care. I've created a blog to help other's learn exactly what to expect from companies such as this. BTW, my contract said "unlimited use for a flat monthly fee". It's very clear they don't intend to honor that part since they are terminating customers who "abuse their network". Pathetic.
Basically if you use more than 9% of a 6 meg residential service then you are an offender and they can terminate your service up to a year. Time Warner isn't much different from what I'm told.
This is why we need a public infrastructure such as Utopianet. This way if a company abuses it's customers they can switch to another provider and keep their infrastructure.
Time Warner and Comcast simply don't care about the customer or investing in the infrastructure. They are in business to make money. Period.
Let the market decide? How about this. We have laws against how monopolies work. There are a few companies legitimately providing broadband and define what you are purchasing (companies such as Verizon and Cox Communications for instance). My issue with his logic is companies such as Comcast don't define what acceptable use is, you get a call then you are disconnected from the internet for a year. If you don't have alternatives then you are screwed.
I'm sending letters out to these guys. Companies such as Comcast can't be trusted to be the "guardians" of the Internet. If so then it becomes privatized and we put up and shutup or forget joining the 21st century.
It's sad these guys are in office and yet don't see the problem.
FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network already is capable of providing 100 mbps, and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.'"
Makes sense. They need this to stay in the market or become an acquisition like other's have been.
The main concern I have with this is people will hit their "invisible limits" with their unlimited residential accounts that much faster. Sad. The company is moving things along and I'm glad to see them beginning the process of catching up with the high end HSI market. IMO, the company won't be successful in the long run unless they disclose what people have purchased.
I thought I purchased a 6 meg pipe and an "unlimited use for a flat monthly fee" account. That's what it said in the advertisement anyway. Does anyone know what the heck Comcast really sold them? I can't find the answer. Part of the reason we hit the "New York Times". Bandwidth is an issue. I don't disagree. But hiding what customers purchased and expecting timely checks in the mail?
When Carreiro contacted customer service about the call, they had no idea what he was talking about and suggested it was a prank phone call.
Hi, Thought I'd jump in here since the story is about me:-)
I'm amazed that Comcast is ok with this. One department tell's you a story and another department (Abuse guys) tell you another story which they say I really should have taken seriously. Heck, I even moved to a higher tier of service (I posted the business contract on the blog last night). It was working for about 10 minutes according to the salesguy. I have to take his word on this. I have no idea if it's true since I wasn't home.
I was accused of downloading 250-300 gigs a month. After setting up a web server after switching to DSL (didn't have one with comcast, against TOS ) and normal usage for the last 30 days, I'll be posting our numbers as provided by xmission (my ISP). I think everyone will be surprised just how close to those numbers we got (again with normal usage and a family photo web server running).
Anyway, I'm hoping to bring Utopianet to my city after the bill Comcast pushed in 2004 dies (sunset provision in July 2007). For now we're not allowed to bring fiber to the home because of this dang bill. No worries, I'm preparing for a lot of activity this summer:-)
I have personal experience in this. I've maintained a blog detailing my experience with the company. I was willing to work it out and even upgraded to a business account. I posted the contract last night in case anyone was interested along with a few other interesting bits.
If you are a Comcast customer, get VoiP. I mean it. If you get "The Call" and are disconnected, VoiP is what will get you back online. I've chatted with people in 15 states and found only one person who had their HSI turned back on again.
The lady lives in Orange County California and called the PUC. She said Comcast terminated our 911 service and had a sick daughter. She says her HSI was turned back on within the hour:-)
Apparently Comcast VoiP was her ONLY phone service to the house. I don't know if this story is true but it sounds good. Personally I'm saving money going DSL and Dish Network ($30 a month). Better service and my TFC/Counter Strike Source game has improved. No complaints. Heck, my ISP even tells me what I purchased when I signed up. 100 Gigs a month with 25 Gigs consumption a week.
I took screen shots of my usage over the last 30 days. Even setup a web server for family photos to push it and see what my usage REALLY is (Comcast claims I used 250 - 300 Gigs a month). We'll see if this is true or not. Check it out.
Oh, and support Verizon FioS and Utopianet projects. This is what we need to get the US back to #1 in the tech world. We also need Net Neutrality. Common Carrier providers should not be allowed to control what goes over the lines. If they do they should loose their common carreir status.
I'm a little surprised companies are still calling their HSI services "Unlimited" in this day and age. Comcast no longer advertises it (they did when I signed up 4 years ago). Verizon really should advertise their limits. It's an unfair business practice basically. If unlimited is 5 Gigs then they should let people know.
FYI... Amazon unbox HD-DVD's are about 2 Gigs each (for about $10). Download two or three a month and you are terminated with Verizon.
Bandwidth really is becoming a problem. I wonder if the FCC / FTC will consider clamping down on these grey area business practices. If I purchased clothing or some other product/service, I want to know what the heck I bought for my dollar. It's not reasonable to walk in to say Walmart, be handed a bag and told it has exactly what I want.
You go home, open up the bag thinking you bought a red shirt when really you purchased a pair of blue jeans. What kind of company would do that?
Apparently Verizon and Comcast share that sort of mentality. It's unfortunate. This is why we need to demand disclosure. This is why we need the Government to step in and force these companies to help us make informed decisions.
BTW, tomorrow is my month mark with Qwest / Xmission DSL. I'll be posting my ISP's numbers for my useage online (screen shots). I was accused of downloading 300 Gigs a month. My normal usage numbers are WAY lower than that. Approaching 50 gigs and that includes the new web server I setup for sharing family photos (they are all over the US).
Thanks to companies such as Comcast (for example), we're falling so far behind the rest of the world, this comes as no surprise to me.
It's interesting to see that Denmark and Sweden understand they need highspeed broadband to make things happen. Now they are seeing the benefits of this investment.
Here is one report talking about public ownership of fiber to the home. If our Government could only understand the concept of fiber to the home, we may be able to recapture the number 1 spot. It's like roads. Having public roads was the big thing in the 20th Century IMO that pushed us forward. I'm thinking fiber to the house should be our focus for the 21st.
We already have a net neutrality law, which is why very little is currently happening. But the current neutrality law is really just an FCC statute called the "common carrier" law, and the statute was weakened a few years ago. One particular ISP announced that they think neutrality is unfair, and they plan on violating it. (It was a quote about how Google doesn't pay that ISP when Google traffic went to their customers, which isn't true. I would have to dig to find the quote.)
Basically companies are deciding who we can visit and who is "undesireable". It makes no sense. they are simply trying to create a new revenue stream and if they don't like a particular company, they can punish them whenever they feel like it.
We already see companies such as Comcast doing strange things with their HSI customers. There is nothing they won't try. It's bizzare
Average of 1-2 gigs? On What? I metered myself once and just barely hit 100mb, but that included a 30mb patch for Civ 4 and a bit of youtube. What do people do that consumes 2 gig?
I'll post it on my blog. I've been asked that question a lot. My wife and I are compiling a list of all our Internet activities. It's a fair question IMO.
FYI, just one HD-DVD will consume 2 Gigs (unbox at Amazon.com). If you download two then you are above their average and an abuser.
One more thing. Since I switched to DSL, I've added new tools to my firewall to monitor my traffic and noticed something interesting. We're consuming about 7-8 Gigs a week. A far cry from the 250-300 Gigs Comcast accused us of consuming. I'll probably take a screen shot of that and post it on the blog at some point.
Abusers of their system are downloasing [sic] around 200-250 Gigs a month... If you purchase 2 HD-DVD videos from Amazon and download them then you are already violating AUP/TOS with Comcast.
Did you just claim that one video from Amazon Unbox is around 100GB in size?
that's what i get for posting after a long weekend of patching servers:-)
HD-DVD's around 2 Gigs from Unbox. Average users download 1-3 Gigs a month. You are already above the average by downloading only 2 DVD's.
Slashdot Mirror
Oops. My apologies. I should have paid closer attention :-)
:-)
It's here Utopia
I had it correct on my blog. You would think it would make it here also
Perhaps this is why hundreds of people's internet accounts are being terminated by Comcast. It happened to me in January this year. After researching I've learned of dozens more who are pissed they get one call then are terminated for 12 months. I've been blogging about it for several months and have turned my efforts to bringing projects such as Utopia fiber to the home. I figure competition will force companies to bring the best product and service possible to consumers. It's pretty obvious Comcast isn't able to handle the increasing demand of it's customers. Especially after hearing how the terminations seems to be increasing.
I've been speaking with my City Council and the Mayor about joining Utopia. 14 cities have already joined and some are nearing completion this summer. With Utopia, if a company goes nuts (like Comcast did), you can simply give them the boot and select a more responsible provider.
There is a big difference between voluntarilly giving up your privacy and being *required* to do so though.
Agreed. Just ask anyone who lived through the Holocaust. I've spoken with some of them still living today. Sad that we haven't learned a damn thing from history.
I'm sure the telcos will try and use the courts to stop or cripple this service.
I'm sure. Comcast and Qwest did it to Utopianet in 2004 with S.B. 66 Fortunately it's expired and Cities are now starting to join Utopianet fiber. Qwest is currently involved in multiple lawsuits against Utopia. What's screwy is they were invited to join it along with Comcast. It's like public roads. You can choose to do business with any company or their competitor. I guess competition is something they simply can't stomach. Pity.
They hate their customers.
:-)
Their solution is to terminate their customers internet connection. After all, there are more where they came from
When Comtrash acquired Adelphia, my net speed dropped from 6 Mbps to 1 Mbps. I called them repeatedly and they came to the house repeatedly to test. Yep, 1 Mbps was all I could get. But, with Adelphia, it was a reliable 6 Mbps. Finally a service rep said that most people don't know how to test their connections and that Comtrash was reserving the bandwidth for their new VoIP and telephony products. So, I dropped my $60 per month 1 Mbps and with with a $30 per month 1.5 Mbps. I got 50% more for half the price!
I feel for you. I was a Comcast customer for nearly 4 years and couldn't believe the games they pulled. We were even looking at replacing our TV because the signal kept getting worse and worse. They said we needed to replace our TV so we had nearly $2000 budgeted. What's interesting is after they terminated our Internet service and started playing word games with AUP garbage we switched to Dish and discovered our TV was just fine. It was them all along!
Oh and yes, they disconnected us for using the Internet too much. But of course they won't say what is acceptable. Only what isn't. Very strange company.
Give credit where it's due, but Comcast does appear to be amping up the bandwidth hugely.
True however you can only get into trouble with their Security / Assurance Department faster now. They have been terminating people's accounts without giving them adequate notice. Also they are unwilling to define what "Acceptable Use" is. Basically it's a crap shoot. You don't know if you are violating AUP/TOS and they won't tell you how much bandwidth is acceptable. Only will give you examples of what isn't acceptable.
It's like the Government telling you driving 100 MPH is unacceptable. Well that's fine and dandy. I think most people will agree with that. But not providing guidance in the DMV manual of the speed limits where no posted limit is specified, now that's darn right wrong.
I would strongly urge caution. You simply don't know if you are going to be next by downloading at those speeds.
Even if Comcast provides speeds of 50 Meg or faster I would be very cautious. You can download faster yes but what is the acceptable number of megs you can download in a month? Comcast has been terminating customers for years over this issue and it seems to be increasing.
Two people in my neighborhood have now been disconnected. Dozens more in the valley and hundreds I've spoken with either via phone or email. The company doesn't seem to know how to solve this problem. There has even been talk of a class action lawsuit. Should be interesting to see if that happens.
So far my blog has over 28,000 visitors in only a few months. If you have a story please post it there. We'd love to hear from you.
or just cancel the service. internet is not like power/gas etc is not needed for survival (though handy) however, most americas dont want to give up there convience to prove a point. if these mononplys suddenly lose there customers because its not a need service they will change there ways and very quickly :)
:D
Point taken however try to get a job in some companies without internet access. It's very difficult if you can't support the company after hours. Unless you like driving.
get involved with your community, encourage petitions and give them plenty warning, but if you need to shove, shove....if they go bankrupt laugh at them and let the new player get your buisness. free market doesnt mean free compitetion, it means you can choose what you do with your services.
Done that. I've had many conversations with the City Council including a presentation on what's going on and how the Government granted monopoly isn't working. That's why I'm shoving with my blog and speaking to everyone about the issue. It's gone up to the Boston Globe and the New York Times. I've even had a couple other prominent magazines contact me. The internet is important to our future as a country. Otherwise the arguments about taxing it wouldn't come up every year
Are you aware we've dropped to 7th in tech and science these last few years? I'll have to check where I posted that on my blog. I believe the lack of broadband penetration is a contributing factor.
I would have expected they would have gotten a clue that people are being abused these last few years by companies such as Comcast. We can't trust them to do the right thing. So why do politicians think the market will make sure it's ok? After all, we have very few options unless you live in SunnyVale California.
Most states don't have 20 or 30 options for highspeed Internet. If a company goes nuts you have to put up or go dial up (like that's an option these days).
I urge people to contact the FTC and let them know what's on you mind. This needs to be dealt with before Telco's make their own laws.
Does she seriously expect the courts to award such a devastating judgement against one of the richest IP holding organizations in the country?
If they broke the law then yes. She expects the courts to uphold the law. Besides, since they are so rich, they can afford to pay when they violate the laws they claim to follow.
Won't a bunch of little robots crawling about be pretty conspicuous?
:-)
Really, how difficult will it to put a bounty out for kids to go about smashing such things with rocks or something? Unless they can stay undetected they're gonna be prime targets for removal by anyone who doesn't want them about.
Ah yeah, but if they were invisible. Now that would be difficult to smash
"Microsoft has admitted, in an email to the press, that 'some customers may be waiting to adopt Windows Vista because they've heard rumors about device or application compatibility issues, or because they think they should wait for a service pack release.' The company is now pleading with customers not to wait until the release of SP1 at the end of the year, launching a 'fact rich' program to try to convince them to 'proceed with confidence'.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) Vista is not ready for customer consumption. I personally don't plan on using it... ever. DRM and other issues made that decision for me long ago. I have a family down the street who just purchased a new computer with Vista Home Edition and have had nothing but troubles. Several programs which ran just fine under XP are now crashing Vista hard.
The latest Print Shop (for instance) isn't compatible I'm told along with other commercial packages. Very sad. XP wasn't this much of a pain.
I have Comcast for Internet access and am reasonably happy with them. I think their cable TV channels are way overpriced, so I'm not subscribing to anything there, but, then, I have never watched much cable.
So, why not just cancel? You have alternatives: DSL, satellite, OTA, other cable companies.
Just don't use the Internet too much or they will disconnect you. I know of a dozen people in my area including myself in which this happened over the last year. Oh and don't bother to ask how much you paid for. They aren't allowed to tell you. Their words.
Alternatives? Well.. There is Comcast, Dial up modem, pony express...
Comcast had a virtual monopoly in my area for over 4 years until this past March. 1.5 DSL is available and I'm working with a number of other's to get Utopianet in our area (fiber to the house). If you like Comcast great. They were a great service for years. But if you get "The Call" then pack your bags and move everything off. I've met only one person who ever had the service restored.
Besides, DSL and Dish are a better deal anyway. And at least you can get the HDTV promised to you. Comcast is still struggling to get there.
Why anyone would enter a contract that states "You pay me every month full and in advance and I promise you nothing" is beyond me. Even mafia hitmen have more customer friendly terms, I think. But if you think that's fair trade practice, you may like to view that bridge I have on sale here...
They know they can get away with it. Look at the company TOS and AUP. It's a lot like Comcast's (which I used to be a customer over 4 years). You simply can't trust these guys. I'm pushing we go with something like Utopianet and basically build our own fiber infrastructure. It's like public roads and the service can be provided by another entity.
Hopefully if enough people complain about it we'll have our country follow the tech leaders like South Korea and start building a public infrastructure that will provide everyone's Internet needs.
what you pay for then stop paying for it.
in the contract or at very least in the sale, they promise you a certain bandwidth, if they can't deliver what they promise you don't need to pay what you promised.
Unfortunately it doesn't matter. I've gone through this issue over and over again. They simply don't care. I've created a blog to help other's learn exactly what to expect from companies such as this. BTW, my contract said "unlimited use for a flat monthly fee". It's very clear they don't intend to honor that part since they are terminating customers who "abuse their network". Pathetic.
Basically if you use more than 9% of a 6 meg residential service then you are an offender and they can terminate your service up to a year. Time Warner isn't much different from what I'm told.
This is why we need a public infrastructure such as Utopianet. This way if a company abuses it's customers they can switch to another provider and keep their infrastructure.
Time Warner and Comcast simply don't care about the customer or investing in the infrastructure. They are in business to make money. Period.
Let the market decide? How about this. We have laws against how monopolies work. There are a few companies legitimately providing broadband and define what you are purchasing (companies such as Verizon and Cox Communications for instance). My issue with his logic is companies such as Comcast don't define what acceptable use is, you get a call then you are disconnected from the internet for a year. If you don't have alternatives then you are screwed.
I'm sending letters out to these guys. Companies such as Comcast can't be trusted to be the "guardians" of the Internet. If so then it becomes privatized and we put up and shutup or forget joining the 21st century.
It's sad these guys are in office and yet don't see the problem.
FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network already is capable of providing 100 mbps, and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.'"
Makes sense. They need this to stay in the market or become an acquisition like other's have been.
The main concern I have with this is people will hit their "invisible limits" with their unlimited residential accounts that much faster. Sad. The company is moving things along and I'm glad to see them beginning the process of catching up with the high end HSI market. IMO, the company won't be successful in the long run unless they disclose what people have purchased.
I thought I purchased a 6 meg pipe and an "unlimited use for a flat monthly fee" account. That's what it said in the advertisement anyway. Does anyone know what the heck Comcast really sold them? I can't find the answer. Part of the reason we hit the "New York Times". Bandwidth is an issue. I don't disagree. But hiding what customers purchased and expecting timely checks in the mail?
Sounds like fraud to me.
When Carreiro contacted customer service about the call, they had no idea what he was talking about and suggested it was a prank phone call.
:-)
:-)
Hi, Thought I'd jump in here since the story is about me
I'm amazed that Comcast is ok with this. One department tell's you a story and another department (Abuse guys) tell you another story which they say I really should have taken seriously. Heck, I even moved to a higher tier of service (I posted the business contract on the blog last night). It was working for about 10 minutes according to the salesguy. I have to take his word on this. I have no idea if it's true since I wasn't home.
I was accused of downloading 250-300 gigs a month. After setting up a web server after switching to DSL (didn't have one with comcast, against TOS ) and normal usage for the last 30 days, I'll be posting our numbers as provided by xmission (my ISP). I think everyone will be surprised just how close to those numbers we got (again with normal usage and a family photo web server running).
Anyway, I'm hoping to bring Utopianet to my city after the bill Comcast pushed in 2004 dies (sunset provision in July 2007). For now we're not allowed to bring fiber to the home because of this dang bill. No worries, I'm preparing for a lot of activity this summer
I have personal experience in this. I've maintained a blog detailing my experience with the company. I was willing to work it out and even upgraded to a business account. I posted the contract last night in case anyone was interested along with a few other interesting bits.
:-)
If you are a Comcast customer, get VoiP. I mean it. If you get "The Call" and are disconnected, VoiP is what will get you back online. I've chatted with people in 15 states and found only one person who had their HSI turned back on again.
The lady lives in Orange County California and called the PUC. She said Comcast terminated our 911 service and had a sick daughter. She says her HSI was turned back on within the hour
Apparently Comcast VoiP was her ONLY phone service to the house. I don't know if this story is true but it sounds good. Personally I'm saving money going DSL and Dish Network ($30 a month). Better service and my TFC/Counter Strike Source game has improved. No complaints. Heck, my ISP even tells me what I purchased when I signed up. 100 Gigs a month with 25 Gigs consumption a week.
I took screen shots of my usage over the last 30 days. Even setup a web server for family photos to push it and see what my usage REALLY is (Comcast claims I used 250 - 300 Gigs a month). We'll see if this is true or not. Check it out.
http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/
Oh, and support Verizon FioS and Utopianet projects. This is what we need to get the US back to #1 in the tech world. We also need Net Neutrality. Common Carrier providers should not be allowed to control what goes over the lines. If they do they should loose their common carreir status.
I'm a little surprised companies are still calling their HSI services "Unlimited" in this day and age. Comcast no longer advertises it (they did when I signed up 4 years ago). Verizon really should advertise their limits. It's an unfair business practice basically. If unlimited is 5 Gigs then they should let people know.
FYI... Amazon unbox HD-DVD's are about 2 Gigs each (for about $10). Download two or three a month and you are terminated with Verizon.
Bandwidth really is becoming a problem. I wonder if the FCC / FTC will consider clamping down on these grey area business practices. If I purchased clothing or some other product/service, I want to know what the heck I bought for my dollar. It's not reasonable to walk in to say Walmart, be handed a bag and told it has exactly what I want.
You go home, open up the bag thinking you bought a red shirt when really you purchased a pair of blue jeans. What kind of company would do that?
Apparently Verizon and Comcast share that sort of mentality. It's unfortunate. This is why we need to demand disclosure. This is why we need the Government to step in and force these companies to help us make informed decisions.
BTW, tomorrow is my month mark with Qwest / Xmission DSL. I'll be posting my ISP's numbers for my useage online (screen shots). I was accused of downloading 300 Gigs a month. My normal usage numbers are WAY lower than that. Approaching 50 gigs and that includes the new web server I setup for sharing family photos (they are all over the US).
http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/
Thanks to companies such as Comcast (for example), we're falling so far behind the rest of the world, this comes as no surprise to me.
It's interesting to see that Denmark and Sweden understand they need highspeed broadband to make things happen. Now they are seeing the benefits of this investment.
Here is one report talking about public ownership of fiber to the home. If our Government could only understand the concept of fiber to the home, we may be able to recapture the number 1 spot. It's like roads. Having public roads was the big thing in the 20th Century IMO that pushed us forward. I'm thinking fiber to the house should be our focus for the 21st.
We already have a net neutrality law, which is why very little is currently happening. But the current neutrality law is really just an FCC statute called the "common carrier" law, and the statute was weakened a few years ago. One particular ISP announced that they think neutrality is unfair, and they plan on violating it. (It was a quote about how Google doesn't pay that ISP when Google traffic went to their customers, which isn't true. I would have to dig to find the quote.)
Basically companies are deciding who we can visit and who is "undesireable". It makes no sense. they are simply trying to create a new revenue stream and if they don't like a particular company, they can punish them whenever they feel like it.
We already see companies such as Comcast doing strange things with their HSI customers. There is nothing they won't try. It's bizzare
Average of 1-2 gigs? On What? I metered myself once and just barely hit 100mb, but that included a 30mb patch for Civ 4 and a bit of youtube. What do people do that consumes 2 gig?
I'll post it on my blog. I've been asked that question a lot. My wife and I are compiling a list of all our Internet activities. It's a fair question IMO.
FYI, just one HD-DVD will consume 2 Gigs (unbox at Amazon.com). If you download two then you are above their average and an abuser.
One more thing. Since I switched to DSL, I've added new tools to my firewall to monitor my traffic and noticed something interesting. We're consuming about 7-8 Gigs a week. A far cry from the 250-300 Gigs Comcast accused us of consuming. I'll probably take a screen shot of that and post it on the blog at some point.
Abusers of their system are downloasing [sic] around 200-250 Gigs a month ... If you purchase 2 HD-DVD videos from Amazon and download them then you are already violating AUP/TOS with Comcast.
:-)
Did you just claim that one video from Amazon Unbox is around 100GB in size?
that's what i get for posting after a long weekend of patching servers
HD-DVD's around 2 Gigs from Unbox. Average users download 1-3 Gigs a month. You are already above the average by downloading only 2 DVD's.
Sry, I should have been more clear