[Infowarrior] - Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users

[Richard Forno]

Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users
Customers complain bandwidth limits are secret

http://consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/08/comcast_ban.html?imw=Y

Comcast has warned broadband Internet customers across the country to curb
their downloading or wind up on the curb.

The company has a bandwidth limitation that, if broken, can result in a
12-month suspension of service. The problem, according to customer
complaints, is that the telecom giant refuses to reveal how much downloading
is too much.

The company, which a few years ago advertised the service as ³unlimited² has
an ³acceptable use policy² which enforces the invisible download limit.

The 23-part policy, states that it is a breach of contract to generate
³levels of traffic sufficient to impede others' ability to send or retrieve
information.² But nowhere does it detail what levels of traffic will impede
others.

Michael, of Speedway, Ind., uses Comcast Internet to transfer large work
files while his son uses it for school research. In 2004 he received letters
threatening to disconnect his Internet if he doesn't restrict his bandwidth.

³Unfortunately, neither the letter, the AUP, the Comcast websites, nor any
printed Comcast materials specify what those bandwidth usage limitations
are,² Michael wrote to ConsumerAffairs.Com. ³Essentially, what they are
doing is drawing an invisible line, then threatening to disconnect anyone
who crosses it.

"I am more than willing to curb my usage to meet any limitations set by
Comcast...if only they would actually make those limitations available to
their subscribers,² he said.

ConsumerAffairs.Com has received several complaints from onetime Comcast
customers whose service was interrupted by the phantom policy. One of them
is Frank Carreiro, a West Jordan, Utah computer technician who has led the
charge for hundreds of consumers with his ³Comcast Broadband dispute² blog.

Carriero received a phone call from Comcast in December 2006 warning him
that if he didn't cut back on his usage, they were going to cut his service.
When he contacted customer service to see what he could do, they had no idea
what he was talking about and even suggested it was a prank call.

One month later, he woke up to no Internet. When he called Comcast, they
informed him he would be without service for 12 months.

For the next few months, he, his wife and his six children were without
Internet until DSL came into their neighborhood.

Comcast told Carreiro he was downloading 200-300 gigabytes per month. He
said he and his family download a lot of data but could never have used that
much. So when he got his new service, he began tracking his use using two
independent data logs.

³We haven't broken 50 Gigs a month yet and we tried,² Carreiro wrote in an
e-mail. ³I've even built a server for family photos to be shared and still
we're not breaking 50 Gigs.²

Carreiro said he has spoken to hundreds of people in 15 states in the past
five months who have had their Internet privileges revoked by Comcast. But
Comcast spokesperson, Charlie Douglas, said only .001 percent of Comcast's
customers ever horde too much bandwidth.

Carreiro, whose neighbors have also lost their Internet, doesn't agree.

³If it's so low, why do I have a couple of people right down the street who
have had their Internet taken away?² Carreiro asked.

Douglas said the company shuts off people's Internet if it affects the
performance of their neighbors because often many people will share a
connection on one data pipe.

If customers want a more dedicated stream, they can order Comcast's business
account which costs ³roughly $1,500 per month,² Douglas said.

Carrerio agreed that download restrictions for residential accounts are
necessary to keep the Internet running smoothly. But he said Comcast should
reveal what the restrictions are, as most other Internet providers do.

Some Internet providers charge customers based on how much they wish to
download every month. Carreiro's current provider has a 100-gigabyte cap.

Douglas refused to reveal Comcast's bandwidth ceiling and would not say on
the record why they keep it a secret.