Possible Shenanigans with Comcast Data Cap meter

[Deletist_Jerk]

14 minutes ago, Yamoto42 said:

 

@Deletist_Jerk  We all literally pay for what is in the terms of service.  If that includes a data cap then we do in fact pay for data tiers.  I don't like it, but disliking gravity does not enable me to fly without technological assistance.

Not a Comcast customer, so I don't have that in my terms of service. But I still get capped at 250GB.

 

There is no justifying data caps at all. We've spent way too much tax payer money in the promise of fiber in the 90's, $200 billion in tax breaks alone, and continue to give them subsidies to upgrade infrastructure at state and federal level.  

 

It's more of a surprise that there hasn't been a Congressional hearing, or consumer group suing the ISP. 

 

 

[Yamoto42]

@crystal6tak

 

This may be in part to me addressing two people with opposing viewpoints simultaneously.

 

If you look at the other person I was responding to:

2 hours ago, JAKEBAB said:

I feel this article should be blaming Apple more than anyone though as i've seen this happen to people in Australia with other Apple products (iphone), a feature is enabled i can't quite remember but it's to do with the cloud and it chews the shit out of your data. 

Which if we assume the following to be plausible:

1)  Comcast DID measure a difference in data for the single day in which the AppleTV was disabled.

2)  Apple products consuming large amounts of data.

Personally I do not believe it to be the culprit either.  I personally agree that the most likely cause is Comcast being in the wrong.

 

However, even discounting the second (for many reasons), due process demands more thorough investigation of the first claim.

 

12 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

Finally, Comcast said that Brad's new Apple TV must be to blame, since the data readings allegedly took a big dive when he turned it off for a day.

Implies that they did return to abnormally high levels upon reactivating the device, [Comcast's measured] data usage did increase back to previous levels.

 

I openly admit I have not read the original article, If I assume your second quote is form the article and specifically about the AppleTV, then that is fair enough.  Due process has in large part been satisfied if you assume that said feature is the only passive source of data access.

However, I would ask you a question:  What good is being furious doing?  Is it going to make Comcast change their ways?

[crystal6tak]

4 minutes ago, Yamoto42 said:

@crystal6tak

I openly admit I have not read the original article, If I assume your second quote is form the article and specifically about the AppleTV, then that is fair enough.  Due process has in large part been satisfied if you assume that said feature is the only passive source of data access.

However, I would ask you a question:  What good is being furious doing?  Is it going to make Comcast change their ways?

Yes, that quote was from the article, and no, me being furious changes nothing  

 

That's why I said I'm very glad I don't have to deal with ISP's like these.

[Yamoto42]

2 minutes ago, Deletist_Jerk said:

Not a Comcast customer, so I don't have that in my terms of service. But I still get capped at 250GB.

 

There is no justifying data caps at all. We've spent way too much tax payer money in the promise of fiber in the 90's, $200 billion in tax breaks alone, and continue to give them subsidies to upgrade infrastructure at state and federal level.  

 

It's more of a surprise that there hasn't been a Congressional hearing, or consumer group suing the ISP. 

 

 

If you're getting cut off at 250Gb and it's not in your ToS, get a lawyer.  However, just having an ISP other than Comcast does in no way mean it is not in your service agreement because you are paying for services not rendered.  That is illegal.

And from a technical standpoint I do agree that there is no reason for data caps.  However one also cannot argue that you voluntarily entered into such an agreement.

 

From an ethical standpoint I call BS on data caps.

[Yamoto42]

4 minutes ago, crystal6tak said:

Yes, that quote was from the article, and no, me being furious changes nothing  

 

That's why I said I'm very glad I don't have to deal with ISP's like these.

We (in the US, assuming you are not) invented the dang thing and it still sucks here.

I personally always just try to keep a rational mind about things.  While anger may be a good motivator, it more often than not tends to be too good; leading to actions that might have...unforeseen...consequences.

[Joshe343]

Interesting thing to test out would be to only have Windows 10 PC's run on your network for a month and see how much Comcast says you used compared to the sum of what your PC's are telling you in the Network settings.

[PLME888]

Life's pretty good here in The Netherlands.

 

€45 - $50 for 75 mbit up and down. Incl TV and landline telephone.

€55 - $60 for 250 mbit up and down. Incl TV and landline telephone.

€65 - $75 for 500 mbit up and down. Incl TV and landline telephone.

 

Oh, and everything unlimited.

[Bensemus]

Apple tvs aren't rare so if it was the tv it seems that should be common knowledge that they chew through data. Surely someone would of noticed TB of data being used when they couldn't account for it. I also don't see how the tv could use TBs in the first place.

[Doobeedoo]

These ISPs need to be burned down. Data caps, such a joke, like they will "run out of internet" haha. 

[Prysin]

lel, some say that the "regressive left" will be the cause of a new civil war. But i think Comcast on their own is more then capable of making that happen.

[spartaman64]

dammit apple TV

[SansVarnic]

16 hours ago, Bensemus said:

I don't think it did. The moving company charges you based on how much you need to move. That is exactly what ISPs shouldn't be doing. Moving a bed or room will cost much less then a whole house worth of stuff or a first stage if you are SpaceX. Moving companies don't just rent out semi's for every job. They scale the transport based on need. ISPs shouldn't scale amount, only speed. Moving companies will charge more for a faster time and more stuff.

Yeah you took that to literally.

Lets try this instead; Say you buy pipes to pump some water. You pay for the pipes but you don't pay for the water you are pumping through it...

[Bensemus]

58 minutes ago, SansVarnic said:

Yeah you took that to literally.

Lets try this instead; Say you buy pipes to pump some water. You pay for the pipes but you don't pay for the water you are pumping through it...

Again I don't agree as moving companies can only charge you based on how much you move which is why I said it was a poor example. I don't see how you can really take your example any other way. Another person used the swimming pool analogy which was more accurate.

 

I agree with that analogy. Although to make sure we are on the same page water isn't free, you just aren't paying the pipe company (ISP) for it. You pay the water provider (Ex: Netflix) for the water which is how it should be with data.

[SansVarnic]

41 minutes ago, Bensemus said:

Again I don't agree as moving companies can only charge you based on how much you move which is why I said it was a poor example. I don't see how you can really take your example any other way. Another person used the swimming pool analogy which was more accurate.

 

I agree with that analogy. Although to make sure we are on the same page water isn't free, you just aren't paying the pipe company (ISP) for it. You pay the water provider (Ex: Netflix) for the water which is how it should be with data.

No, no your pumping your own water from one pond to another pond, hence buying the pipes and pumping your own water. Just like you are buying access to the internet and sending your sending your own data...

[normpearii]

10 hours ago, Deletist_Jerk said:

It's more of a surprise that there hasn't been a Congressional hearing, or consumer group suing the ISP. 

 

 

Guess what major company is a major donor for senate and house seats?

[Trik'Stari]

19 hours ago, QueenDemetria said:

 

A better example would be your local swimming pool(or at least most swimming pools). You pay an entrance fee(lets assume 5€) and you get to stay in the pool(or on the lot) for as long as you want or when the pool closes(whatever happens first). Introducing "data caps" to swimming pools would mean that the entrance fee is still 5€, but you can only stay for 2 hours, and if you want to stay longer it will be 3€ per hour(and yes, the € per hour increased, just like going over your data cap changes your GB per € rate). The tricky thing with ISP's is  that they don't "pull you out of the pool" and tell you 'times up', they just let you rack up data and when the bill comes they're like "oh by the way, you know how you went way past your data allowance? Well now its time to pay up!".

^This. So much this.

 

Data Caps need to end. Internet needs to become a public utility, and should be own and operated by (and yes, it DOES hurt me to say this) the government.

 

Why? Because we've already collectively paid for the infrastructure, which hasn't been built, and the companies have just collected the money and done nothing with it.

 

Also, online privacy needs to be considered a basic human right. Companies need to explicitly ask for the ability to sell your information (not include it in an EULA, but ask, up front, separately), and you need to have the right to say "NO", and still use their service (whether or not this service is "free" or subscription based), except in instances where they would actually need your private information and the ability to track your habits, for the service to actually function.

 

Also, pop-up ads need to be illegal, as do automatically playing video ads that are in a banner. I've no problem when an ad comes up before a video I am watching, so long as it is under 15 seconds, and receives NO "priority" over the video I am watching. The ad and video must both load with equal priority. NO situations where the ad streams perfectly, and then the video buffers every half second.

[Trik'Stari]

1 minute ago, normpearii said:

Guess what major company is a major donor for senate and house seats?

Every single major American ISP is. They ALL gave like $35K to each member of congress that tried to support the so called "internet freedom act" that came up when the FCC started cracking down on their asses.

 

And this was a Bi-partisan bill.

[BuckGup]

Don't all ISPs use peering though which doesn't count against you on your total monthly usage? Unless comcast now makes you pay even if it isn't their hardware. 

[Trik'Stari]

22 hours ago, zMeul said:

wtf is the FCC (not) doing!?

They have to hold back, because they know that Congress is going to cut their balls off this November when everyone is paying attention to the two biggest assholes in the country, running for president.

[Belgarathian]

"Apple TV must be to blame" ... Que Apple's response - 

 

I have 100mbps fibre, game, download large files, and stream netflix & music all the time (along with 3 other people in the house) and we use ~350GB a month. 100% sure Comcast is fibbing and their usage meter is broken. 

 

[Bensemus]

3 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

No, no your pumping your own water from one pond to another pond, hence buying the pipes and pumping your own water. Just like you are buying access to the internet and sending your sending your own data...

Oh. lol I didn't get that at all from your analogy. And now I agree less too. You don't send data just between your own stuff when connecting to the internet. You are sending your data through someone else's pipes to someone else. 

 

Again I don't agree with data caps and we seem incapable of reaching a suitable analogy

[SansVarnic]

1 hour ago, Bensemus said:

Oh. lol I didn't get that at all from your analogy. And now I agree less too. You don't send data just between your own stuff when connecting to the internet. You are sending your data through someone else's pipes to someone else. 

 

Again I don't agree with data caps and we seem incapable of reaching a suitable analogy

At least we both agree on the main point though, that is what matters.  

[MrDynamicMan]

18 hours ago, JAKEBAB said:

I have a feeling not many people have read what was posted. I did, well at least i think i did, and from what I've gathered is the customer was still in the wrong. Do i agree with data caps? No, especially after they haven't had them previously. That doesn't take away from the fact they are here now and "Brad" was clearly in the wrong since his Apple TV was the culprit. I feel this article should be blaming Apple more than anyone though as i've seen this happen to people in Australia with other Apple products (iphone), a feature is enabled i can't quite remember but it's to do with the cloud and it chews the shit out of your data. 

 

Also quick after thought, how do we know they weren't streaming 4k netflix?

Its both. Th apple TV did use a lot of data, but comcast also "mismeasured" their data usage.

[stconquest]

I had data caps for around 10 years... so nice to not have them anymore.

 

The ISP I had (Rogers) made tons of mistakes with their usage meters.  I used to watch mine closely. 

 

I had two lines from two companies coming in.  If my main line was close to cap at the end of the month, I would switch over the the second one for a day or two.  The last time I had an issue was the last time I had a cap.

 

Last day of the month I was close so I switched over to my secondary when I woke up.  When they billed me reporting 30GB used on a day that I did not use their lines. a two hour conversation lead to the end of data caps... and a refund for 2 previous charges for over-usage.

 

To top it off, I kept monitoring my usage and they were way off for three months straight.  Their systems were reporting under what I was actually using... about 25-40% under.  It was ridiculous.  I stopped after the first three months.

[MilkJugg24]

data caps are the cancer or the technology industry right now.