Bandwidth cap

[rainman89]

So im not sure if anyone out there has dealt with this, but Time Warner is implementing a bandwidth cap in my area.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/time-warner-cable-bandwidth-cap,7466.html#commentsLinky

Does anyone here have a plan such as this?

I game and stream movies through netflix all the time, and now its looking like im gonna get it hard if i try to do this......

any thoughts?

 

[oumahexi]

Is that even legal? I mean, if you sign up with a company and they offer you, let's say, no cap on your bandwidth, then they decide to change that half way through your contract then they are in breach of contract, they are not supplying you with what you signed up for and must either let you out of your contract or fulfill their end.

 

[rainman89]

Is that even legal? I mean, if you sign up with a company and they offer you, let's say, no cap on your bandwidth, then they decide to change that half way through your contract then they are in breach of contract, they are not supplying you with what you signed up for and must either let you out of your contract or fulfill their end.

Thats the problem, there is no contract per say. we pay monthly and they dont make you sign anything saying you will stay on for x # of months.. there are other companies that offer contract based and ill probably be going over to them.... it sucks!

 

[Banana]

I could be wrong but I believe the capping is usually relevant only to cable. I don't know about any capping on DSL, and would be flummoxed if they did the same thing. The reason why cable companies are acting that way (not to mention the fact that they may also be more restrictive, blocking ports on your network traffic) is simply due to the design.

The thing about cable is that you share it with everyone in your neighborhood. That's why they can advertise rates like 20 Mb/s but the bite is that you're sharing that with your neighbors. Therefore if your neighbor is streaming a file, your web surfing will be slower on his account and vice versa. So it's rare that we have a steady flow of 20 Mb/s unless it's in early morning on a weekday. DSL doesn't have that issue; you pay for 3 Mb/s and they're yours. Others' usage does not affect your network performance (keep in mind, though, that if the ISP's server is hammered, you're still SOL but that's their prerogative to ensure their servers are up and running and able to meet the demand).

My internet consumption is certainly higher than average and I can't stand to have slow or erratic connection and for that reason alone, I went with DSL so I don't have to cross my fingers that my neighbor doesn't decide to download porn while I'm on the phone.

 

[rainman89]

I could be wrong but I believe the capping is usually relevant only to cable. I don't know about any capping on DSL, and would be flummoxed if they did the same thing. The reason why cable companies are acting that way (not to mention the fact that they may also be more restrictive, blocking ports on your network traffic) is simply due to the design.

The thing about cable is that you share it with everyone in your neighborhood. That's why they can advertise rates like 20 Mb/s but the bite is that you're sharing that with your neighbors. Therefore if your neighbor is streaming a file, your web surfing will be slower on his account and vice versa. So it's rare that we have a steady flow of 20 Mb/s unless it's in early morning on a weekday. DSL doesn't have that issue; you pay for 3 Mb/s and they're yours. Others' usage does not affect your network performance (keep in mind, though, that if the ISP's server is hammered, you're still SOL but that's their prerogative to ensure their servers are up and running and able to meet the demand).

My internet consumption is certainly higher than average and I can't stand to have slow or erratic connection and for that reason alone, I went with DSL so I don't have to cross my fingers that my neighbor doesn't decide to download porn while I'm on the phone.

My consumption is definetely higher then most. I game almost everyday plus the streaming of movies alone has to take up a good chunk of bandwidth. Im going to install a bandwidth monitor tonight, and check out if my router has an option to see how much I use in a few hour time period....

Correct. There is frontier dsl in the area, and I will definitely be going to dsl. In another article (there are numerous) It stated that frontier had no plans to adopt a pricing plan such as this. (if they do remains to be seen though)

 

[dan-cat]

Never come across bandwidth capping (I use DSL). Sounds like hell on earth...

 

[rainman89]

Never come across bandwidth capping (I use DSL). Sounds like hell on earth...

That's what im saying!!!

$54.90 for a 40-GB cap (that is the highest listed) and $1 per gig overage charge!!

 

[Ron_dK]

So im not sure if anyone out there has dealt with this, but Time Warner is implementing a bandwidth cap in my area.
...any thoughts?

Well , that may be a great feature, but with these lousy telephone lines here in France, I will probaly never get more than some 120Kbps

 

[rainman89]

Well , that may be a great feature, but with these lousy telephone lines here in France, I will probaly never get more than some 120Kbps

Thats the thing... if they are going to cap us at 40 gb and still offer 10mbps.... its gonna go fast...

we have been having some pretty heated discussions on this at the office...

Oh and its definetly NOT a great feature!

 

[CraigDolphin]

If you think that is bad, try satellite internet on for size. 200 MB cap per 24 hour period. And as a special bonus there's about 1500 ms latency as well. And you pay about US$70 per month for it!

And if you exceed it...well, your connection gets throttled down to about 2kbps for the next 24 hours.

Say good bye to video or gaming if you ever had it When the choice is between rural dialup (operating at 2.1 kbps) and satellite: a cable connection with a 40GB cap seems like a pretty sweet deal.

 

[Fifty2One]

Bell - Sympatico in Canada has been throttling down their switching network based on some duration/traffic formula claiming it is neccessary to prevent major clients overtaking the entire bandwidth. Strange that the tech world is working on increasing speed and the marketing people are onboard with the idea by selling service as "the fastest" while meanwhile they are throttling the bandwidth... I believe Google Inc is still protesting the throttling with the CRTC in Canada...

I still only use dialup so really it has zero effect on me.

 

[rainman89]

I still only use dialup so really it has zero effect on me.

I would go crazy!!

 

[Lil' Rascal]

That's atrocious. I have nothing else to add except with the economy as it is they want to charge *more* for services?

Wait, is the government running these broadband services as well?

 

[boblarson]

I would go crazy!!

Me Too! I could never go back to dial-up (of course now with no regular land phone line it would be even harder )

 

[rainman89]

a whole site dedicated to this

http://stopthecap.com/

must read some of the articles... its ridiculous