Do bandwidth caps on home internet use really benefit average users?

[techs]

I've been trying to understand the justification for the Comcast 250Gb. a month bandwidth cap.

Comcast has made a big deal how it is intended to help the average user. I can understand it if it was designed to stop the 24/7 p2p users, but not merely the heavy user.

The 24/7 user of course would be using non stop during the evening hours when internet usage is highest. However, the heavy user would still, most likely, be using during the peak hours. At about 8 Gb. a day, the heavy user has no incentive to only download during off peak hours. Therefore their usage times wouldn't change. So, the amount of usage during peak hours would be little affected.

It really makes no sense as a tool to lighten the load during peak hours so that the average user would see higher speeds. In fact, a 750Gb. or more cap would still not really increase speeds for the average user, since to reach those numbers users would have to download during off peak hours.

 

[Scouzer]

250GB! That's a ton. Our caps in Canada range from 20GB to 60GB.

I use my internets like mad, but on my most prolific months I have not exceeded 125GB. 250GB is a shit ton.

I would, in fact, be supportive of a 250GB cap. Anyone who needs more should be paying more.

 

[zerocool84]

250GB is pretty generous. The caps I think that are ridiculous would be any under 100GB.

Just like I think 2GB and even 5GB wireless caps are WAAAAAAY too low.

 

[darkewaffle]

250 gigabits is boatloads more than most casual people will use. But anyone who streams movies/tv ocassionally or uses digital download/p2p services can potentially burn through that pretty quick.

I know a lot of people hate 'tiered' plans but the delta in data usage between gramma who likes looking at her kids on facebook and sending email and even the average avid youtube user is pretty significant. I think you could effectively institute something like a 50Gb tier, a 250Gb tier, and a 800Gb tier that would cover just about everyone effectively.

Edit: This all hinging on the cap being 250Gb and not 250GB. If it's 250GB then I don't see how anyone can possibly complain.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

It helps their customers not drop cable TV for Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/etc.

 

[dighn]

It helps their customers not drop cable TV for Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/etc.

250 GB is not really a barrier to any sane level of usage. I'm inclined to think that's really about preventing abuse. If it were 25 GB like what they are trying to do in Canada then yeah I agree.

 

[Gooberlx2]

250 gigabits is boatloads more than most casual people will use.

Gigabytes, and I kind of agree that 250GB is pretty reasonable for now. Even with all my streaming, linux ISO downloading and online backup the highest I've gone is ~170GB.

Edit: This all hinging on the cap being 250Gb and not 250GB. If it's 250GB then I don't see how anyone can possibly complain.

250Gb would be like ~30GB, which would definitely not be reasonable.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

250 GB is not really a barrier to any sane level of usage. I'm inclined to think that's really about preventing abuse. If it were 25 GB like what they are trying to do in Canada then yeah I agree.

Maybe not now. This is all about the future.

 

[Patranus]

Data usage changes over time as our customers use the Internet and the services and applications available for it. Currently, the median data usage by Comcast High-Speed Internet customers is approximately 4 - 6 GB each month (these numbers may vary on a monthly basis). This reflects typical residential use of the service for purposes such as sending and receiving e-mail, surfing the Internet, and watching streaming video.

http://security.comcast.net/get-help/faq-full.aspx?guid=00a2862a-33e2-474f-8d1f-c6dcc5ef02a9#normal

Yes, 250GB is more than enough for the average user.

If you are hitting your 250GB cap you are either torrenting or running your small business over a consumer class internet plan.

I don't get why this is such a foreign concept to people. You make usage choices based on your own circumstances. The exact same decision making process you make with electricity, natural gas, water, foot, ect.

 

[spidey07]

It serves as a disincentive to abuse which makes everybody's service better. And if people continue the abuse then they pay more which can be used to provide more capacity. It's not rocket science.

 

[TheNinja]

http://security.comcast.net/get-help/faq-full.aspx?guid=00a2862a-33e2-474f-8d1f-c6dcc5ef02a9#normal

Yes, 250GB is more than enough for the average user.

If you are hitting your 250GB cap you are either torrenting or running your small business over a consumer class internet plan.

Ya, I would assume the 250GB cap is to stop teenagers from pirating every BluRay movie and XBox game they can find racking up 100s of GBs and burning to DVD and/or people running businesses like you said.

 

[xSauronx]

It serves as a disincentive to abuse which makes everybody's service better. And if people continue the abuse then they pay more which can be used to provide more capacity. It's not rocket science.

So wheres the reasonable line at anyway? 250GB doesnt sound bad, im just curious as to what is a cutoff that actually makes reasonable sense for large ISPs and their customers

 

[techs]

It serves as a disincentive to abuse which makes everybody's service better. And if people continue the abuse then they pay more which can be used to provide more capacity. It's not rocket science.

You still haven't addressed my point. Since people can still download full tilt during peak hours, the 250gb limit does NOT make everyones service better. In fact it has little or no effect.

Did Comcast lie?

 

[Pray To Jesus]

250GB works fine now but in a couple of years it will be super low. Even now I can go above 250GB easily streaming HD movies and downloading from Steam.

 

[spidey07]

You still haven't addressed my point. Since people can still download full tilt during peak hours, the 250gb limit does NOT make everyones service better. In fact it has little or no effect.

Did Comcast lie?

It's more about overall load and capacity than peak times. If you look at core to distribution and aggregation links you actually don't see wide swings of peaks and valleys and more of a constant load.

 

[sourceninja]

I'd rather pay 5-10 cents per gig and have 100% metered service.

 

[CountZero]

You still haven't addressed my point. Since people can still download full tilt during peak hours, the 250gb limit does NOT make everyones service better. In fact it has little or no effect.

Did Comcast lie?

I think your point stands. If you have a 6mbps connection and we assume peak hours are 6-9pm every night (I have no idea what it is) you come out to 8.1GB per night putting you right on the edge of hitting the cap but not helping the peak time situation at all.

However if you download from 12am-6am you would nearly double the cap and yet have little to no impact.

It should be unlimited outside of peak times and if there is to be a limit it should only be during peak times. This would actually address the problem.

 

[0roo0roo]

It is a bogus argument anyways, because i'm sure they have ways of prioritizing traffic, so a hard cap is just there to stiffle usage.

 

[techs]

It's more about overall load and capacity than peak times. If you look at core to distribution and aggregation links you actually don't see wide swings of peaks and valleys and more of a constant load.

Bullshit.

Are you really telling us that internet usage doesn't go way up in the early evening hours and way down overnight?
Seriously, do you think we are idiots?
Or do you really believe that bullshit?

 

[KeithP]

What they should do is open up the pipes, full speed to everyone. Then tiered caps would come into play that would slow you down the more data you use.

For instance, lets say you only use 1-4GBs per month, then your internet speed would be 100Mbps down/up. If you are between 4-10GBs, your speed drops to 75Mbps, 10-15GBs you drop some more to 25Mbps, etc., etc. Maybe the numbers would be different but you get the idea.

The theory with this would be if you are a very light users, giving you high speed access has a very small affect on the network. However, the more you use, the more traffic congestion you cause so they start to slow you down.

Does anyone think that would work? Just wondering.

-KeithP

 

[Phokus]

Bullshit.

Are you really telling us that internet usage doesn't go way up in the early evening hours and way down overnight?
Seriously, do you think we are idiots?
Or do you really believe that bullshit?

He thinks 40 Gigs is a reasonable cap, so yes, he thinks everyone is as dumb as he is.

 

[BurnItDwn]

250gb is too low IMO.

streaming an HD netflix is probably somewhere around 5GB or so, streaming 1080P from Amazon or vimu or whatever it's called is probably closer to 10-15GB per movie..

If you have a family in a house, maybe with teenage kids who go and do their own thing, it could be pretty easy to wind up with 2 or 3 different movies being streamed on an average day ...

A family could easily power through 250GB just by streaming legal videos....

I think 500GB is a more realistic cap, but even then, It's really not that much when it comes to HD video...

 

[Kadarin]

It's more about overall load and capacity than peak times. If you look at core to distribution and aggregation links you actually don't see wide swings of peaks and valleys and more of a constant load.

If Comcast didn't deliberately oversubscribe their uplinks this probably wouldn't even be an issue.

 

[Patranus]

250gb is too low IMO.

streaming an HD netflix is probably somewhere around 5GB or so, streaming 1080P from Amazon or vimu or whatever it's called is probably closer to 10-15GB per movie..

If you have a family in a house, maybe with teenage kids who go and do their own thing, it could be pretty easy to wind up with 2 or 3 different movies being streamed on an average day ...

A family could easily power through 250GB just by streaming legal videos....

I think 500GB is a more realistic cap, but even then, It's really not that much when it comes to HD video...

If 500GB is too low for your usage needs nothing is stopping you from purchasing more just like you do with water, natural gas, electricity, food, telephone, cell phone, gasoline, health insurance, cable channel packages, ect.....

If median usage is less than 10GB per month, 25x that isn't too low.

 

[BurnItDwn]

If 500GB is too low for your usage needs nothing is stopping you from purchasing more just like you do with water, natural gas, electricity, food, telephone, cell phone, gasoline, health insurance, cable channel packages, ect.....

If median usage is less than 10GB per month, 25x that isn't too low.

That's incorrect. Many ISP's cap at a certain amount and don't give you an option to buy more...

I am ok in that reguard, as I have ATT Uverse, and they are simply going to charge $10 more for each 50GB additional past 250... But, many people don't have that option.

Comparing amount of bandwidth a "power user" uses vs the "median" amount is retarded. median user is an ex aoler who has a "computer thingie" Of course your median will be so low.

I am simply saying that "reasonable" use can easily put you past 250GB, and that capping so low seems very unreasonable to me. I'm not talking about downloading 24/7 or streaming 24/7 or anything crazy like that, simply moderate usage can result in 250GB used in a month no problem....