Comcast to cap customers' Internet use
The nation's biggest cable company is setting a limit on how much data its customers can transfer to and from their computers in a month. But the cap isn't really about the Internet. It's about TV. Dan Grech reports.
Comcast service trucks in Mount Prospect, Ill. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images)
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KAI RYSSDAL: The country's biggest cable company did something remarkable today. Comcast set an official limit on how much data its customers can transfer -- 250 gigabytes a month is the formal cap. For a little context here, that's about a hundred times what the average Comcast subscriber uses. And once the policy takes effect in October, customers who top that limit could have their service suspended if they don't change their ways.
But Marketplace's Dan Grech explains the cap isn't really about the Internet anyway. It's about television.
DAN GRECH: How much is 250 gigabytes? It's about 50 million e-mails, 62,000 songs, 25,000 photos.
In other words, far more bandwidth than the average Web surfer currently uses. Comcast says it enacted the cap to weed out excessive users.
Derek Turner is with Free Press, a nonprofit that has complained to the FCC about the way Comcast manages its network.
He says the cap is really the cable company's response to high-definition video over the Internet.
DEREK TURNER: That is a direct threat to Comcast's core business model and their core cash cow, which is delivering video.
Two hundred-fifty gigs translates to downloading just 25 HD movies. Turner says Comcast capping Internet use is a case of the fox guarding the hen house.
TURNER: The same pipe they use to deliver video is used to deliver Internet. And as more and more content is available online, customers are quickly going to realize they don't need to pay cable companies $100 a month to get their video content.
Comcast would not make any officials available on air.
Om Malik writes the influential tech blog GigaOm.com. He says the era of a flat fee for unlimited Internet use may be coming to an end.
OM MALIK: It is going to encourage other broadband providers to do what Comcast is doing.
Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable operator, is testing a system that charges Internet subscribers based on use.
I'm Dan Grech for Marketplace.
Comments
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From Pompano Beach, FL, 01/29/2009
It is true, the cable companies want to get in your pocket for at least $100 a month, $150-200 is better. I personally do not see the need to spend so much darned money just to *Watch* TV, never mind buy one. Yes, this is all about protecting their cash cow, the $100 and up TV service. With extreme broadband, one is now given the choice to decide where they get their video content from. Netflix I think and a few other content providers will sell you movies dirt cheap over the Internet, you do all the work by pulling it down to your computer or other device and they make money. No more huge cable TV bills. So Comcast is now taking that option away from people by saying if you want video, get it from us or get it from nowhere. Some choice. Now if Comcast were legislated to share their cable lines like the telcoms used to do when they were the only Internet providers, then it would not be so bad. If you don't like the deal Comcast offers, then get your broadband cable from a competing company. DSL is no choice at all, AT&T has the only market and their service stinks, it red-lights the modem constantly all day long, causing Internet dropouts constantly, the speed is nowhere near that of cable Internet, and so Comcast really does have a monopoly on the broadband market and without anti-trust legislation, we will all be subject to the iron rule of the only game in town and that pretty much stinks for all consumers and only benefits the one and only company there is for decent broadband Internet access. The government really should do something to open this up before it becomes to late to do anything about it. There is no competition with Comcast and so they can and will do whatever they want. Capping your Internet usage when there is clearly no technical reason to do so is only a way to insure that you will only have them to get your video from and that no low cost alternative can survive. Satellite TV is just as expensive and cannot deliver Internet. There is no alternative and something should be done about it.
From CO, 09/03/2008
It's as if my City, which maintains the only roads in my city, decided to block my driveway bec I have plenty of bottled water deliveries by truck, in addition to my tap water, and for more friends visiting (using their cars) than the average person just bec I throw a party every weekend.
08/30/2008
One terabyte a month would be reasonable, for now, per account. They seen to disregard that there may be multiple users per household - 250 gigabytes per user of an account would be reasonable, or again, one terabyte a month per account. As far as a over-usage penalty, only allow each account to go over 10 gigabytes, with several warnings before service is suspended. There will a be an extra $10.00 charge for over use, but the user will not be suspended services for an entire year, that's insane, especially if Comcast is the only area provider. Comcast should not be able to provide 'limited' service where there are no other broadband choices for internet access. If Comcast is the only provider to an area, users aren't given any options and that isn't acceptable. If Comcast is the only broadband provider for a specific area, then that area cannot be limited in data usage.
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