Comments on: Comcast vs. BitTorrent, What’s Next?

By: Switeck

Switeck — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:59:36 +0000

ComCast added VoIP, HD digital channels…and low-quality digital channels — cutting into total bandwidth shared between their cable internet customers. They don’t want to sacrifice another tv channel for more users’ bandwidth…so more users now have less to share! ComCast by my estimates has a contention rate of about 50:1 — that means they only have 1/50th as much REAL bandwidth as everyone running at 100% would use. Even at absolute best, they don’t top 20:1 contention rate…except maybe for very low customer areas. As bad as 20:1 sounds, few people use anywhere near 95% max 24/7 — certainly not down AND up at the same time! But during peak hours even 20:1 might be too little for each person. They are using up most of their infrastructure gains (DOCSIS 2->3) by increasing top tier from 16/2 mbit to 50/5 mbit and leaving little room for increased customer usage! Because of that, contention ratios might even get WORSE! So now they cap. Another ISP could offer slower speeds with no cap or throttling (beyond perhaps worst-case-scenario peak hours) and cost almost as much…and customers will flock to it once ComCast really starts enforcing the caps.

By: We Want Fiber Optic with 6-9mbit speeds and no caps.!

We Want Fiber Optic with 6-9mbit speeds and no caps.! — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:20:16 +0000

Aug 26, 2008 at 06:04 by pirates ahoy be proud we have them worried

heres what i do not get
give every one 5 megabit internet , build the infrastructure so that 95% can use at unlimited speed

a reply to this is. their networks do handle it as cable is a shared network more people on it means lower speeds. however the RIAA and MPAA are losing over and over of getting peoples information from the ISP so the Major Record labels and Movie Company’s said fine we are holding the ISP’s responsible for this. If people really wanted to pirate things they will. It has gone on since BETA and VHS and tapes and has not stopped. When will the big guys learn that it never will stop.

that is my 2 cents anyhow

By: John Long

John Long — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:10:49 +0000

I have heard been watching all of the ideas of metering plans and what excessive data usage might be. Well say you own maybe WoW im sure that is a bandwidth hog all its own and with other games such as Warcraft, Starcraft 2 being played online what isp has the right to determine what an excessive usage. All that will be done is make things like the 56k dialup days where files were shared in a manor that there were 50 parts at 4mb or a so a piece take a 3gig file and break it down to 500mb segments and you still have the same file. Or with the uprising of Wifi A,B,G,N networks using WEP/WPA encryption or none at all are easy prey to obtain the network-key and waste their bandwidth racking up $100′s if not $1000′s about 70% of computer users are such novices they would never know someone has done this. It will be a great lose to the advancement of any furthering of technology. Once again it is an example of the rich wanting to get richer and the people who depend on a service taking the hit in pocket book.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:57:29 +0000

#19 — “As soon as FiOS is available in my area, Comcast is going to be thrown out of my house in the cold and then we’ll see who’s boss.”

Same here I already switched my phones over to verizon ^^

By: b1rd

b1rd — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:19 +0000

Here in Portugal, bandwith caps were (and still are) the market norm. Only very recently have some ISPs adopted unlimited monthly transfers into their available plans.
Funny to see how our market is slowly seeing the light as others previously seen as ground breakers are turning to these high-profit, who cares about the consumer, business practices. The only way to defeat this is to educate the average consumer to demand unlimited access. People in Portugal didn’t use to complain, until several years of campaigning from informed users made the average user base realize we were being exploited.
It would seem the US has gone through the inverse process. As the average consumer is depicted as consistently less informed/interested in his service conditions, the more aggressive the ISPs become to exploit him.

By: pirates ahoy be proud we have them worried

pirates ahoy be proud we have them worried — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:04:34 +0000

heres what i do not get
give every one 5 megabit internet , build the infrastructure so that 95% can use at unlimited speed

problem solved
move along
quite whining the fact is that this is what it is supposed ot be not some form a corporate schill cash

i swear i can see why osama blew up a corporate building sad yes the loss of life but these noobs have to realize:
A) they are destroying the planet , and not doing anyhting of value for any of us.
B) when cdrs reach 30$ again , then what. I will tell you. hacker wireless streams that bounce town to town with your lovely xvids and dvdrs, roaming little vans broadcasting out the cool shite, kinda like a reborn BBS of the days of old. YE can’t Stop er ARGGGGG Matey.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:34:33 +0000

Hey comcast go suck your commie bros DICK!!!!!!!!!FREEDMON WAS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY ARE OWN!!! AND YOU ARE DAMNED SURE NOT ONE OF US….ps. rot in hell

By: ALIS

ALIS — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:15:41 +0000

ISP’s that start slowing all traffic of setting some limits to how much you can download/upload will lose lots of customers. I dont think i will have that problem in few years but if/when it happens i will not wait one minute to change isp. If all isp’s limit speeds or download amounts then ill take the slowest and cheapest connection so i will be connected but wont pay much.

By: Idiot

Idiot — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:50:10 +0000

@23
Your an idiot. I had Bigpond it was terrible and i had that glitch but you have been very smart to tell everyone.
So the next time they go through there system and check someone has extra large bandwidth they will charge your mate. So good idea moron and remember to tell your friend its only $110/gig over or nice lawsuit.

By: PJ Phil

PJ Phil — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:27:48 +0000

So what good are Concast’s 9Mbps connections going to be if they slow down streaming and file sharing? Will people go for it just to do super-fast spam downloads into Outlook?