Comcast's 250GB bandwidth cap - The Real Deal

I've been really worried about Comcast's 250GB bandwidth cap policy that takes effect on October 1, 2008. I called Comcast customer service and spoke to a rep named Cynthia, who had not yet been informed of it. I guess Comcast's CS reps are the last to find out these things. I found this a little disturbing, but dismissed it, as I am also part of a large company and don't always receive news in a timely manner. Cynthia put me on hold for a bit and verified it with her manager. I then voiced my concerns about my potential usage. Unfortunately, Cynthia was not able to answer my questions, so she pointed me to Rick Germano, Comcast's Senior VP of Customer Operations. So I composed an e-mail to Rick expressing my concerns that I might reach the cap by merely using VOIP. I also expressed concerns about those who use content delivery services such as Netflix, Napster, and so on.

A short time later, I received a call from Frank Eliason, a "Digital Care Director" with Comcast, which was a pleasant surprise. Frank works for Rick, and Rick had sent him my e-mail. Frank's job is to address concerns that are raised online via blogs, social networking sites, and forums.

Frank informed me that the bandwidth cap is nothing new. It's been there all along, but was never clearly explained. He admitted that Comcast was not as forthcoming as it should have been about this in the past, and stated Comcast is making efforts to increase its transparency to consumers. This is a good step in that direction, albeit a bit late.

Frank's main point was that if you haven't yet been called about your bandwidth usage, you won't be called now that the announcement has been made. The purpose of the announcement was to lift the veil of secrecy over Comcast's bandwith limits.

I brought up my concern about my VOIP usage potentially maxing out my bandwidth. Frank didn't think that VOIP would use up much of that bandwidth. He did say, however, that people who download lots of DVD-quality movies online would likely be more apt to reach their download limits. So that brought us to the issue of content delivery networks and legitimately purchased content. Frank also didn't think that would matter so much, but brought up the time limits imposed on such content. The example he gave was that the Apple Store rents you a DVD quality movie that you can view for 30 days, and that if you downloaded 125 of those movies, you would be at risk of exceeding your cap. True, I would never have time to watch 125 DVD-quality movies in a month, but if I legitimately purchased them for viewing later, I would still hit my limit. I sensed that Frank was alluding to the P2P file sharing networks eating up bandwidth, but even they don't really use up that much. That's another veil that needs to be lifted.

To better manage bandwidth usage, Frank stated that Comcast is preparing a bandwidth monitoring application that users can utilize to keep track of their usage. No firm delivery date has been set.

It was also interesting to find out that Comcast is working on DOCSIS 3.0, which will increase capacity significantly. The work is already going on to upgrade certain areas. I happen to live in one of those areas, so I hope I get a chance to try it.

All in all, I feel a bit better about the announcement. Comcast has a lot of work to do in the coming months and years. We'll see what happens.