Personal computing discussed

Moderators: renee, Steel, notfred

 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:25 pm

Image

Just got a free bump up from Comcast after threatening to leave and goto FiOS. Paying no more than I was for 20/6. I can sustain 7MByte/sec downloads. Win!
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:35 pm

Corrado wrote:
Just got a free bump up from Comcast after threatening to leave and goto FiOS. Paying no more than I was for 20/6. I can sustain 7MByte/sec downloads. Win!

So you can kill your Comcast cap in a hair over 9 hours.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:45 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
So you can kill your Comcast cap in a hair over 9 hours.


I'm not downloading any more than I would otherwise. I'm just not waiting as long for it. On top of that, the Comcast 'cap' is a soft cap. It doesn't matter how much you use as long as you stay out of the top 3%. I used to work for Comcast. Have you ever known anyone to get a letter for going over 250GB? I've never seen one go out for anything less than 1TB of data over a month.

If the speed limit on your commute increased, would you drive more? Or just get to where work faster?

Just to make my point a little more clear, a lot of people say 'Oh, I'm streaming a LOT of movies and I will hit my cap!' That line of thinking is bunk. If you're streaming a movie that is 2 hours long and a total size of 3GB, it doesn't matter if it takes 15 min to buffer the whole movie or if it takes an hour to buffer it. It still takes 2 hours to watch it. Anything over 20-25mbit at this point is e-peen swinging in a residential connection in WELL over 99% of homes.
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:10 pm

Corrado wrote:
It doesn't matter how much you use as long as you stay out of the top 3%. I used to work for Comcast. Have you ever known anyone to get a letter for going over 250GB? I've never seen one go out for anything less than 1TB of data over a month.

First, I should have added a [/sarcasm] tag. Second, I'm not trying to make a stink about it or stoke the whole debate again, but for those of us not on the inside of Comcast policy we must treat the 250GB as a hard cap given the language on the website and the AUP agreement.

For the record, my monthly usage rolls between 150GB and 200GB.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
equivicus
Gerbil First Class
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:57 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:17 pm

@Carrado , you son-of-a.. err.. congratulations! :) I'm stuck with a measly 17.25 Mbps.
 
Airmantharp
Emperor Gerbilius I
Posts: 6192
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:41 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:29 pm

equivicus wrote:
@Carrado , you son-of-a.. err.. congratulations! :) I'm stuck with a measly 17.25 Mbps.


I'm stuck with 10Mbps (stupid apartment complex contract with a crappy company), and I'd be happy if it didn't randomly start dropping 30-50% of packets!
 
EsotericLord
Gerbil First Class
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:23 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:24 pm

I'm only at 15/5, but thats a FioS line, which I'll take over a faster cable line any day.
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:26 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
First, I should have added a [/sarcasm] tag. Second, I'm not trying to make a stink about it or stoke the whole debate again, but for those of us not on the inside of Comcast policy we must treat the 250GB as a hard cap given the language on the website and the AUP agreement.

For the record, my monthly usage rolls between 150GB and 200GB.


Sorry, I just get tired of hearing the same old arguments from people that try to act like they legitimately use 800GB a month without torrenting movies. At even 5GB a movie, thats 40 movies in a month leaving you with 50GB for regular internet usage. I dunno what these people do for a living that lets them average watching 10 movies a week, but I'd LOVE to have their free time.

People say 'Well I didn't know that thats how the cap worked!' but what, again, about speeding? Everyone knows if you get caught speeding you get pulled over and get a ticket. The worst thats gonna happen after your first cap violation would be a warning. I always just kept doing what I normally do until someone says something. A lot of people just love to bandwagon hate on Comcast without pointing out that every single decent ISP these days has a cap except for FIOS... which isn't exactly widely available to a LOT of people, myself included.
 
sweatshopking
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1464
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:37 am

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:36 pm

i use about 300gb a month anyway. somebody always has netflix on, and i use steam/desura like crazy. I also do some torrenting. either way, whether you care or not, 250gb a month is not something i wanna sign up for.
 
JohnC
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1924
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:08 pm
Location: NY/NJ/FL

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:39 pm

Eh, good for you, I guess... I'm perfectly happy with my 35/35 FiOS connection - it was a "free" upgrade for a contract renewal and makes stuff like remote desktop connection (to my home PC) a pretty tolerable process. Also a perfect upload speed for streaming at 1080p for sites like http://www.twitch.tv, though I don't stream anymore and I doubt I'll ever do it again (I don't play teh games as often as I did).
Gifter of Nvidia Titans and countless Twitch donation extraordinaire, nothing makes me more happy in life than randomly helping random people
 
TurtlePerson2
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 9:08 am
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:48 pm

I think that people dislike the caps because they don't really make sense. It doesn't cost Comcast much more if I use 1 TB or 1 GB per month. They could make a more reasonable argument by capping the use at peak hours.

The problem is congestion not total usage. To continue the car driving/commute analogy. The problem with traffic in large cities isn't the total number of cars, it's that the cars are all on the road at the same time. Some cities have toll roads that charge different rates at different times of the day to convince people to change their driving habits. I have never heard of any toll roads charging a huge penalty if you use the road more than a certain number of times per month because that would be illogical. But this is exactly what Comcast does.

You can argue whether or not Comcast has this policy simply to protect its not-long-for-this-world cable television business or not. But doing so would miss the point. The real problem is that data caps don't make any sense from a technical perspective and were implemented simply because they can. Only nerdy people will even know about data caps, and those same people will know that they don't have any other real choices in Internet access. Where I live (city of 125,000, 40 miles from Detroit), the only option is Comcast or DSL.

Also, the argument that the data cap is only ever used by pirates doesn't hold either. After I reformatted my hard drive last summer, I downloaded several of my favorite games from Steam. I used 300 GB in about a week, which wasn't a problem because this DSL connection has no cap.
"TORTURIS EXUVIAS EUNT"
Phenom X6 1090T @ 3.2 GHz
XFX Radeon RX 580
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:00 pm

TurtlePerson2 wrote:
]\
Also, the argument that the data cap is only ever used by pirates doesn't hold either. After I reformatted my hard drive last summer, I downloaded several of my favorite games from Steam. I used 300 GB in about a week, which wasn't a problem because this DSL connection has no cap.


Not sure what happened there. Anyways, that's a 1 time thing. You will NOT be flagged or penalized or even CALLED after 1 month of going over the cap. You must exceed it for 3 consecutive months AND be in the top 3% of users in your region.

I saw one guy online complaining that they called him after he used 1.7TB, 1.9TB and 2.3TB(!) in consecutive months. There are VERY few legitimate uses for that much bandwidth on a residential line.
Last edited by Corrado on Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
absurdity
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 890
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: VT

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:06 pm

Corrado wrote:
A lot of people just love to bandwagon hate on Comcast without pointing out that every single decent ISP these days has a cap except for FIOS... which isn't exactly widely available to a LOT of people, myself included.


I have plenty of legitimate reasons to not like them, they just don't involve the cap :P
 
ShadowEyez
Gerbil XP
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2003 12:31 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:50 pm

Corrado wrote:
Captain Ned wrote:
So you can kill your Comcast cap in a hair over 9 hours.


I'm not downloading any more than I would otherwise. I'm just not waiting as long for it. On top of that, the Comcast 'cap' is a soft cap. It doesn't matter how much you use as long as you stay out of the top 3%. I used to work for Comcast. Have you ever known anyone to get a letter for going over 250GB? I've never seen one go out for anything less than 1TB of data over a month.

If the speed limit on your commute increased, would you drive more? Or just get to where work faster?

Just to make my point a little more clear, a lot of people say 'Oh, I'm streaming a LOT of movies and I will hit my cap!' That line of thinking is bunk. If you're streaming a movie that is 2 hours long and a total size of 3GB, it doesn't matter if it takes 15 min to buffer the whole movie or if it takes an hour to buffer it. It still takes 2 hours to watch it. Anything over 20-25mbit at this point is e-peen swinging in a residential connection in WELL over 99% of homes.


Corrado, are serious? You used to work for Comcast, and can confirm that no one who uses 250 gig/month gets a "mark", letter, or notice on their account? It's really 1 TB/month that gets you on their radar? If that's true, why is it that they say it's a 250 gig cap - why not just say 1 TB?

And do you know if they have any plans to raise it?
The finest tools are forged from the hottest fires
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:58 pm

ShadowEyez wrote:
Corrado, are serious? You used to work for Comcast, and can confirm that no one who uses 250 gig/month gets a "mark", letter, or notice on their account? It's really 1 TB/month that gets you on their radar? If that's true, why is it that they say it's a 250 gig cap - why not just say 1 TB?

And do you know if they have any plans to raise it?


Its not necessarily 1TB. Its if you're in the top 3% of users in your region AND over 250GB. After flagged, they'll dig a little deeper (without violating privacy, of course) and see what the traffic patterns look like. If you're uploading 24/7 for days/weeks at a time, its pretty safe to assume you're torrenting. Thats when you get the letter. If this happens AGAIN in the next 3-6 months, you get the boot for a year.

If they peek and you're mostly downloading and it looks like legitimate traffic (Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, gaming, what have you) it gets ignored for the most part unless its REALLY obscene (1TB+ a month).

Theres no official policy on it, despite whats said. They say 250GB in order to have a number in writing so that no one can say its PURELY a judgement call and they have a legal out to disconnect people that are, without a doubt, abusing the network.

Just like a police office is not going to generally pull you over and ticket you for 8mph over the limit, or even 15mph over the limit if you're in a group moving with the flow of traffic. Its when they see you on your cell phone, swurving with no seatbelt on and speeding that they pull you over under the guise of "you got caught speeding", even if it WAS only 5mph over.

Believe me, they are NOT in a hurry to STOP taking your money.
Last edited by Corrado on Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
JohnC
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1924
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:08 pm
Location: NY/NJ/FL

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:58 pm

ShadowEyez wrote:
And do you know if they have any plans to raise it?

Raising the caps (unless forced by government) would be a very dumb business decision - they NEED to keep general users "scared" with these artificial caps, so those users will try to use less bandwidth (meaning less need for Comcast to spend extra $$$ on new infrastructure as the number of users increase) and will try to avoid 3rd-party movie streaming services (also good for Comcast's own PPV services) :wink:
Gifter of Nvidia Titans and countless Twitch donation extraordinaire, nothing makes me more happy in life than randomly helping random people
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:03 pm

JohnC wrote:
ShadowEyez wrote:
And do you know if they have any plans to raise it?

Raising the caps (unless forced by government) would be a very dumb business decision - they NEED to keep general users "scared" with these artificial caps, so those users will try to use less bandwidth (meaning less need for Comcast to spend extra $$$ on new infrastructure as the number of users increase) and will try to avoid 3rd-party movie streaming services (also good for Comcast's own PPV services) :wink:


On top of that, theres really no need to raise it. I can't speak for Comcast, but when AT&T did their mobile studies, they found that 98% of users were under 2GB and 30% were under 200MB a month. I wouldn't be the least bit shocked to find 90%+ of Comcast's users stay under 75GB a month. Most people use the internet for e-mail, Facebook, and random web browsing. Thats it. If they were doing that much more, so many people wouldn't be using their iPads as their primary computing device.
 
Flying Fox
Gerbil God
Posts: 25690
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 2:19 am
Contact:

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:11 pm

Don't we have a thread already for bragging (or crying in case you have a slow one?
The Model M is not for the faint of heart. You either like them or hate them.

Gerbils unite! Fold for UnitedGerbilNation, team 2630.
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:19 pm

Flying Fox wrote:
Don't we have a thread already for bragging (or crying in case you have a slow one?


Not that I saw on the first page... should be stickied if its a bragging thread.
 
Madman
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2317
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2003 4:55 am
Location: Latvia

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:56 pm

Corrado wrote:
Image

Just got a free bump up from Comcast after threatening to leave and goto FiOS. Paying no more than I was for 20/6. I can sustain 7MByte/sec downloads. Win!


That's pretty slow... Maybe not for US, but slow :P :lol:

Anyway, concerning, caps, I really don't think 250GB should be an issue in most cases. It's an awfully lot of data. Then again, there are some scenarios you could go over the limit. MaxPayne3 from steam will take 35GB, once it's available, photo backups taken in RAW to a remote location will easily reach into 500GB territory. System backups.

Those caps are a non issue 99% of the time, until for some weird reason you decide to move the backups to a remote location.
Core 2 Duo E6300, MSI P45 NEO-F, Club 3D GTX 260, 4Gb DDR2-800Mhz, Audigy X-Fi Fatal1ty Champ1on ed., 0.5Tb+1Tb Seagate Barracuda 7200.12, 630W AXP, Samsung SyncMaster BX2450, ViewSonic VP171b
 
yogibbear
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 920
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:30 am

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:13 pm

This is the fastest internet available in Australia:

Image

I hate myself.
Core i7 4770K | eVGA GTX1080 FTW ACX 3.0 | 16GB DDR3 2133mhz | Asus Z87-PLUS | Corsair HX650 | Fractal Define R4 | Samsung 840 Pro 256GB | Windows 10 x64
 
notfred
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4610
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:10 am
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:35 am

Corrado wrote:
Flying Fox wrote:
Don't we have a thread already for bragging (or crying in case you have a slow one?


Not that I saw on the first page... should be stickied if its a bragging thread.

We get them every now and then, last one was viewtopic.php?f=14&t=74322

As they are more bragging than information and it will get dated as technology increases speeds, I'm happy not to have a monster 600 page thread dating back 10 years. Equally I don't want a new thread for everyone posting their speed, seems to be about right at the moment.
 
DLHM
Gerbil First Class
Posts: 172
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:23 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:13 am

Image

I'm paying for 20/5 , and this network is in use by about 50 people right now..
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit!
 
liquidsquid
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2661
Joined: Wed May 29, 2002 10:49 am
Location: New York
Contact:

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:17 am

Ha, try being stuck on rural DSL service. Not a lot of options at home, and my lowest ping has been around 100mS. The crap ping has put a real damper on FPS team gaming. Only benefit is it has increased my chances of skin cancer by prying my butt out from the computer and getting outside!

Someday maybe TimeWarner will run cable down our road since it is at either end's intersection, but from what I understand I would have to pay for the cable to run up my long-ass driveway of something like $1 a foot! 1200 foot of this... an underground section over 500ft through woods and brush, no cable for this guy. Maybe ClearWire will make inroads some day.
 
Glorious
Gerbilus Supremus
Posts: 12343
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 6:35 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:23 am

Corrado wrote:
Its not necessarily 1TB. Its if you're in the top 3% of users in your region AND over 250GB. After flagged, they'll dig a little deeper (without violating privacy, of course) and see what the traffic patterns look like. If you're uploading 24/7 for days/weeks at a time, its pretty safe to assume you're torrenting. Thats when you get the letter. If this happens AGAIN in the next 3-6 months, you get the boot for a year.


I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. Corrado is actually confirming that the "cap" works exactly the way I always figured it did: legal boilerplate for booting super-P2P users.

Comcast introduced caps to stop super-P2Pers because regulators said they weren't allowed to packet-shape them. Doesn't anyone remember? The FCC said this in August '08, in September Comcast sued the FCC, and in October "all of sudden" Comcast announced the caps. Because they hate our freedomz!!!1 :roll:

Seriously, why do we have caps? It isn't because Comcast hates the regular user or even the power-user, it's because they hate super-P2Pers and don't want them as customers. And how do you define a super-P2Per? Well, it's pretty obvious to the network administrator, but finely defining it just sets a threshold for extremity. So, instead, they do the intelligent thing and set a relatively low cap that they selectively enforce only against super-p2pers.

...and why does Comcast hate super-P2Pers when Verizon does not? Because the technologies are different. FIOS's bandwidth is unshared, Cable's isn't. In other words, Comcast hates super-P2Pers on behalf of the vast majority of their customers.
 
TurtlePerson2
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 9:08 am
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:05 am

Corrado wrote:
Theres no official policy on it, despite whats said. They say 250GB in order to have a number in writing so that no one can say its PURELY a judgement call and they have a legal out to disconnect people that are, without a doubt, abusing the network.


This is perhaps the scariest thing I've ever heard about Comcast.
"TORTURIS EXUVIAS EUNT"
Phenom X6 1090T @ 3.2 GHz
XFX Radeon RX 580
 
Glorious
Gerbilus Supremus
Posts: 12343
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 6:35 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:16 am

TurtlePerson2 wrote:
This is perhaps the scariest thing I've ever heard about Comcast.


...and this is the scariest thing I've ever seen you say.

This is verging on R&P if it isn't there already, but the drive to eliminate human judgment in all areas of life is not only utterly impossible, but horrifically ruinous.
 
Corrado
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Topic Author
Posts: 2574
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:00 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:26 am

Glorious wrote:
TurtlePerson2 wrote:
This is perhaps the scariest thing I've ever heard about Comcast.


...and this is the scariest thing I've ever seen you say.

This is verging on R&P if it isn't there already, but the drive to eliminate human judgment in all areas of life is not only utterly impossible, but horrifically ruinous.


I was going to say something similar. If they just blanket booted people for hitting 250.1GB, there would be a TREMENDOUS outcry about 'why isn't anyone using a little common sense in these judgements?!'. How DARE they put rational thought into their business practices!
 
ShadowEyez
Gerbil XP
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2003 12:31 pm

Re: Just wanted to brag about my new internet connection...

Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:46 pm

Corrado wrote:
ShadowEyez wrote:
Corrado, are serious? You used to work for Comcast, and can confirm that no one who uses 250 gig/month gets a "mark", letter, or notice on their account? It's really 1 TB/month that gets you on their radar? If that's true, why is it that they say it's a 250 gig cap - why not just say 1 TB?

And do you know if they have any plans to raise it?


Its not necessarily 1TB. Its if you're in the top 3% of users in your region AND over 250GB. After flagged, they'll dig a little deeper (without violating privacy, of course) and see what the traffic patterns look like. If you're uploading 24/7 for days/weeks at a time, its pretty safe to assume you're torrenting. Thats when you get the letter. If this happens AGAIN in the next 3-6 months, you get the boot for a year.

If they peek and you're mostly downloading and it looks like legitimate traffic (Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, gaming, what have you) it gets ignored for the most part unless its REALLY obscene (1TB+ a month).

Theres no official policy on it, despite whats said. They say 250GB in order to have a number in writing so that no one can say its PURELY a judgement call and they have a legal out to disconnect people that are, without a doubt, abusing the network.

Just like a police office is not going to generally pull you over and ticket you for 8mph over the limit, or even 15mph over the limit if you're in a group moving with the flow of traffic. Its when they see you on your cell phone, swurving with no seatbelt on and speeding that they pull you over under the guise of "you got caught speeding", even if it WAS only 5mph over.

Believe me, they are NOT in a hurry to STOP taking your money.


This actually makes a lot of sense. Never thought of it from that perspective - I always saw the number "250 gig" and thought if you are one bit higher in a month, you're done.
I still say with multi member families whose members are all streaming HD movies and using dropbox for things like homework and backup one could legitimately run close to the limit, though from what you're saying that kind of usage pattern would not get booted.
The finest tools are forged from the hottest fires

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
GZIP: On