FCC slaps Comcast for capping Internet usage
Category: Industry, Posted: 09/09/2008 at 04:55PM CDT by Frank Ling, Editorial Director
Comcast, an Internet service provider, announced recently that it was going to set a cap limit on home subscribers to 250GB a month starting on September 5.
That's a pretty good amount of downloadable content for most, but if you are a heavy duty gamer and like to download lots of movies and media, that 250GB cap starts to look a little small.
But never fear the FCC is here. The government agency determined that the Comcast policy was "legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record."
The FCC went on to say that the new policies were "discriminatory and arbitrary" and that the Comcast move was to "contravene industry standards and have significantly impeded Internet users' ability to use applications and access content of their choice."
Comcast is fighting the decision by the FCC and claims that they are not guilty of stopping anyone from using the Internet but just delaying its usage for people.
Internet service providers are watching this case closely because if Comcast is successful, the other service providers will gladly jump on the bandwagon and start charging for different usage levels in order to pull a few more bucks out of our pockets.
[via fudzilla]
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wow the FCC actually doing some GOOD? Who would have guessed?!
Pff, you Americans are spoilt. We Australians have to put up with monthly download limits. In fact, not one ISP here have true unlimited download broadband. I think the highest cap I've seen is 150GB/month.
Spoiled and Lucky is what I'll be as opposed to the alternative!
Complaining about 250GB a month?!? That's a ridiculous amount!! Well then again, I guess this is Americuh we're talking about, land of hedonism and indulgence. I only get 15gb a month on a cable account, which I often get capped but don't have to pay for excess downloads, just get speed significantly reduced. But yeah I just don't understand how 250gb a month is a restriction in any way, someone from the States can inform me.
comcast is going to win this because they are not doing anything wrong.
250 gig a month is enough for me.
Broken how are you saying 250gb isn't a restriction, its a set amount that you can download at a time, the exact definition of a restriction. Who cares if its enough, you shouldn't have to pay more because you enjoy a service you pay for. Also to the retards saying well I live in so and so and we only get this much and america is stupid because they get more, get over it or start complaining, maybe you'll get an article.
It's all about what you're used to. Here, we have never seen usage caps on broadband, ever.
"wow the FCC actually doing some GOOD? Who would have guessed?!"
My thoughts exactly. I'm shocked and delighted.
Go FCC (wow, I never thought I'd say that)! Seriously, even if you think that 250GB is more than enough, think of it this way: If this gets by, other ISPs will see fit to try the same restricted service plans, and it's not unreasonable to think that one day, a 10GB plan will replace your current one at the same price. You guys know how businesses work.
And anti-americanism is for douches. Or, at least, that's what a cool Aussie guy told me.
And so it begins.
Why are you americans complaining, don't like it don't use it for fucks sake! And 250GB is enough, really. They would proberly increase it in years to come, when there is more demand for TB, quite smart really, theres really no point in having unlimited d/l just because some guy living in some apartment downloads a little too much porn...
Whatever, America is fat basically. THERE
"Oh well, nothing we can do about it."
That is just not a phrase in the American language. That is why this will never happen. It is all about what Americans care about. It's why we pay less for gas or power than you (most other countries). Capitalism FTW!
Fuck that. How else am I supposed to download rapidshares, torrent, and play online games at the same time?!?
My friend has 30gb per month, he used to have 6gb per month. And I've always had 200gb/month and never downloaded more than that.