Comcast Data Limit

Comcast to make monthly Internet use cap official
Thursday August 28, 6:21 pm ET
Comcast to set official limit on Internet use to deter bandwidth hogs

It's official comacast is imposing a data transfer limit. I'm a comcast user, I doubt I'll go over but it still kinda stinks.


NEW YORK (AP) -- Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.

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On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site.

Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use.

"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 in a statement on its Web site.

Customers who go over the limit are contacted by the company and asked to curb their usage.

"We know from experience the vast majority of customers we ask to curb usage do so voluntarily," the company said.

Comcast floated the idea of a 250 gigabyte cap in May and mentioned then that it might charge users $15 for every 10 gigabytes they go over, but the overage fee was missing in Thursday's announcement.

Curbing the top users is necessary to keep the network fast and responsive for other users, Comcast has said.

Comcast stressed that the bandwidth cap is far above the median monthly usage of its customers, which 2 to 3 gigabytes.

Very few subscribers use more than 250 gigabytes, it said. A user could download 125 standard-definition movies, about four per day, before hitting the limit.

The cap is also above those of some other ISPs. Cox Communications' monthly caps vary from 5 gigabytes to 75 gigabytes depending 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.

International Society of Arboriculture

I work at ISA or the International Society of Arboriculture. There were two local news stories about our organization recently. You can follow these links to learn more about where I work.

ISA Interview Part #1

ISA Interview Part #2

Enjoy! You can also visit our consumer oriented site to learn more.

More Foot News

It's time for Foot Surgery, round two!

I saw the surgeon today and as expected talked to him about removing the screw from my right foot. This is a five minute procedure and they won't put my out completely but they will send me to 'dreamland' as they put it. This is classified as a surgery, so I get to go through the entire pre-op procedure again, curtailing medication, having a pre-op physical, fasting, etc... Afterwards I will walk out on my own two feet, and I will be in a post op-shoe/slipper.

The downside of all this is I will miss two days of work and I will need someone to drive me home from the surgi-center and stay with me for 24 hours while the anesthetic wears off.

The bottom line is although the screw removal is indeed a five minute procedure, it's all a bit more involved than it appeared to be.

My Foot and the Office Move

My foot is gradually improving. I see the surgeon again tomorrow for some follow up work. X-rays, check up, etc... Part of my foot is still numb, and will remain this way for months. Most significant is I have little to no power in my big toe. There is a screw holding the bones of my big toe and next two toes together. These bones should move independently and thus I have little power in my foot. I walk funny on my right foot, and thus both it and my left (good) foot hurt frequently. Climbing ladders is out of the question and going down stairs is a little awkward.

When I see the surgeon he will schedule a short procedure to remove the screw. It will take five minutes and supposedly I will be walking immediately after. I'll be out of shoes for a few days while the new dressing is on my foot. Sounds ok, regular shoes are pretty snug right now anyway.

All this made my recent office move a little more challenging. I manage an IT department of two (myself included) for a company of 35. We recently purchased a larger and much nicer building. The other IT guy and I planned for about a year how to get our network infrastructure, phones and other IT resources moved smoothly with minimal downtime.

I couldn't lift anything heavier than a CPU because of my foot, but my coworkers all seemed to understand, pitch in and watch out for me.

Due to a change in the responsibilities of the moving company the other IT guy and myself wound up moving most of the monitiors, printers, and CPUs ourself. It wasn't overly heavy but the repetitious nature made my foot hurt. I was in pain and couldn't walk most nights just before the server move. For two or three days we moved CPUs, monitors and printers, for staff who were away at our annual conference. All in all it was 40 or so workstations, which wound up being 40 CPUs, 40 monitors, 30 printers, and many other odds and ends. Factor in trips out of the old building and trips into the new building that was many many trips back and forth.

Bruce, the other IT guy was quite tired, and worked very hard. Even in good health I would have been tired, but I was in a lot of pain due to my foot. Still it had to be done.

The big push was last Thursday. Our T1 (internet) and PRI (phones) were switched to the new location and the hardware was moved. Our goal was to have our web site and e-mail back up in 6 hours, with 5 key workstations running by the end of the day. We were back up and running in 3 hours and had probably 75-80% of the workstations up by the end of the day. It went better than we could have hoped.

We're still working on post move clean up and odds and ends but things have really slowed down and I'm feeling much more relaxed.

I am pleased with how the move went and I am very happy in the new building.

I've been tempted to take up NWN2 modding again, but remain torn about this. You can read more about this on my RPG Blog.