[Infowarrior] - Comcast To Offer Bandwidth Use Tracker In January

[Richard Forno]

Comcast To Offer Bandwidth Use Tracker In January
Online tool to be available January 5 for all users...
06:19PM Tuesday Dec 02 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: business · bandwidth · cable · Comcast

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-To-Offer-Bandwidth-Use-Tracker-In-January-99427

When Comcast recently started capping all users at 250GB per month,  
they annoyed some by failing to provide a tool to track usage, though  
they did tell us they were working on it. An anonymous Comcast tipster  
informs us that Comcast will soon implement a viewable online usage  
meter starting January 5. According to the source, the tool won't  
update users in real time, but will have a three hour delay. It will  
also retain three months of bandwidth usage records, and will come  
with the option of monitoring multiple MAC addresses.

At the moment, the Comcast FAQ tells users to do a web search for  
bandwidth meters or use the meter included in the McAfee Security  
Suite the company gives out free to subscribers.

Given the Comcast cap is so high, the vast majority of Comcast users  
will never run into it, and those who will probably use a software  
client or router firmware to track their usage.

But after their tangle with the FCC for forging packets and throttling  
P2P traffic, Comcast's all about transparency. According to Comcast,  
less than 1% of all users will ever brush against the current cap.  
Still, should the cable operator ever use lower caps or implement  
overages, they'd need to be sure that customers understand how much  
bandwidth they're using.

A recent survey indicated that 83% of Americans don't know how much  
bandwidth they consume, or even what a gigabyte is. AT&T, who recently  
starting testing caps ranging from 20-150GB caps with $1 overages,  
offers customers in Nevada and Texas test markets an online web usage  
tool. So does Time Warner Cable, who is testing caps ranging from  
5-40GB with $1-$1.50 overages in Beaumont, Texas.