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Education Featured ArticleAugust 29, 2008
Comcast Places 250-Gigabyte Cap for Residential Users
Comcast (News - Alert) Corporation reportedly has announced on its Web site that starting from Oct. 1, residential users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per account, per month.
The move marks the first time the company is specifying the amount of data that customers can upload and download. The cable company, the second-largest internet service provider in the United States, had earlier said that it would cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth, but didn’t say exactly how much usage was over the limit.
“We’ve listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive,” the company said on its Web site.
A 250-gigabyte cap was first considered in May. Comcast had said that it was considering charging subscribers $15 for every 10 gigabytes they go over the limit, but there was no mention of a fee in the latest announcement. Instead, Comcast officials said they would call users who were over the limit and ask them to cut back on their usage.
Company officials said that, in their experience, most customers who were asked to curb usage complied voluntarily. Those whose “excessive use” continues may be cut off for a year, Comcast said.
Citing statistics, the company said, to reach over 25o gigabytes, a user would have to send 50 million emails, download 62,500 songs and 125 standard-definition movies as well as upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos.
Comcast justified the cap, saying that it would affect a very small percent of customers. The company said that the average usage of a residential user was approximately 2 to 3 GB. By limiting usage of these subscribers, the company argues, it is in fact keeping the network fast and responsive for other users.
The company has stated that compared to other ISPs, its cap limit was very high. Cable operators are attempting to make high – speed Internet services remain fast and reliable despite the increasing demand for data rich features such as streaming video that place heavy demands on networks.
Cox (News - Alert) Communications’ monthly caps vary from 5 gigabytes to 75 gigabytes depending on the subscriber’s plan. Time Warner Cable Inc. is testing caps between 5 gigabytes and 40 gigabytes in one market. Frontier Communications Co., a phone company, plans to start charging extra for use of more than 5 gigabytes per month.
In addition to the Web announcement, Comcast says it’ll send customers an insert explaining the new policy in their upcoming monthly bill statements. The company reported 14.3 million high-speed Internet customers at the end of the second quarter.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is The Compelling ROI Benefits of Contact Center Quality and Performance Management Technologies, brought to you by Voice Print International (News - Alert). Nitya Prashant is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nitya's articles, please visit her columnist page. Edited by Michael Dinan LATEST EDUCATION NEWS
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