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See the original image at guardian.co.uk

Cracking down on Comcast

guardian.co.uk — The FCC's proposal to punish America's largest cable company for blocking internet traffic is a major victory for net neutrality.

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  • marabout40, on 07/16/2008, -3/+97I won't hold my breath.

    Mega Corporation+army of lobbyists+corrupt, lazy politicians = Comcast wins: Consumers suck it up.
    • ike368, on 07/16/2008, -1/+16especially with the vast majority of comcast's customers not knowing (or giving a *****) about their wrong-doings-on-the-interenet
      • stoanhart, on 07/17/2008, -0/+8Maybe most customers don't know or care about torrents and torrent throttling, but most people do understand "the company is reaching into and messing with your information." I'm pretty sure that can still piss people off.
      • TheHayze, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Then show up at these conferences the FCC is holding, the next one is in Pittsburgh, PA, at Carnegie University. Show up, and start demanding that things change. Yes, Comcast can try and persuade the vote to their favor.. but we vote the folks in for pete's sake. You can be cynical, but in the very least try to show the politicians that their voters won't stand for their ***** ways. Won't happen right away.. but at least set the framework for it. We vote em in, they report to us.
      • vypergts, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Even if they knew and wanted to switch, comcast is the only game in town for a lot of people.
    • johnmearns, on 07/17/2008, -2/+1Unless you're talking about net neutrality then:
      Mega Corporation+army of lobbyists+corrupt, lazy politicians = the internet is now protected from those nasty telcos by great laws!


    • lazerflesh, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1And than they get to use their victory to do more evil things. :/
    • bababoosh, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1you also forgot...

      + jaded, defeatist consumers who think that just because the odds may not be stacked entirely in their favor they may as well just give up

      or in short hand

      + marabout40

      but I see your point, I mean why fight any injustice since we are probably going to fail...right?
  • alapoet, on 07/16/2008, -3/+62As a disgruntled Comcast, customer, I hope the FCC makes 'em pay.

    Net Neutrality!
    • SwitchXFactor, on 07/17/2008, -1/+3Agree with sentiment, disagree with comma placement. Sorry to be the nazi!

      Have a wonderful day. :)
    • wufoo, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Net Neutrality '08
    • u235sentinel, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1It's amazing how poorly the company is approaching this problem. Rather than resolve the problems with grow their infrastructure (like catch up with the rest of the world), they create an environment with artificially created bandwidth problems.

      Less bandwidth available the more they can charge you for it's use right? Supply and Demand. And what motivation is there for expanding capacity anyway, they have regional monopolies.

      Comcast doesn't care.

      So we should
  • JoanDark, on 07/17/2008, -2/+30I'm WAITING for this punishment they are PROPOSING.
    (Damn Comcast will probably take it out on me/us, if they actually do get their wrist slapped.)

    Who needs their ISP having OPINIONS?Just get me my mail..ALL of it, and get me to the net.
    • ChiffX, on 07/17/2008, -3/+7Are those CAPITALS trying to EMPHASIZE something, because cause I can't TELL.
    • beskurrd, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4And get me my damn torrents without throttling the "unlimited" bandwidth that I pay for!
      • wuxia, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1One good solution would be for Bittorrent, web servers, etc., and end users to configure their computer to ignore RST packets. Google it. It's there and it works, specially if you use some flavor of Linux.
    • theberlindoctor, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1and i've got a little TIP for you. get the POINT?

  • Fangsinmybeard, on 07/17/2008, -1/+15This should make other major ISP's shape up or the threat of lost of subscribers could topple major communication giants. Possibly make a fractured mess for business interest that need unhindered customer access to reach vital transactions. This could really threaten fundamental customer bases with integrated business that need extra capital for investment via internet commerce.
    • MtheoryX, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1I understand what you're saying; however, there is not threat of loss of subscribers in many areas of the US.

      Not to say you don't have choices, quite the contrary. You have two choices: Internet through your single ISP, or no Internet at all.
    • sm4k, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Not to mention that most subscribers probably don't understand what this all about enough to change even if they do have options.
    • jaysdude, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Well we wish that there would be a loss of subscribers, but the truth of the matter is that most people that pay for the tubes are family's/Clueless people that have no idea what is going on in the world.
  • MarkusGarvey, on 07/17/2008, -1/+12Sandvine hoses my VPN connections thinking they are torrent traffic...they deny it and when i call them and the problem magically disappears right after i complain to them...(RST commands)...it really jerks my chain when im halfway through a 10 gig backup, or in the middle of a support call...
    • AssJuice, on 07/17/2008, -9/+1so you think the support rep you are talking to has some magic button that can disable Deep Packet Inspection and stop throttling you? thats cool stuff and to think some guy making 12 dollars an hour controls your connection.
      • MarkusGarvey, on 07/17/2008, -0/+7well you explain it then.....running WireShark ,when i am having disconnects from my vpn clients show RST commands sent to client and host..when i call and complain, RST commands disappear......this has happened at least 15 times in the last 5 months....
    • wuxia, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Scroll down and read my solution. I HAD the exact same problem but they fixed it. Good luck!
  • WantToPlay, on 07/17/2008, -1/+46Comcast sucks. When my sister was getting her internet and cable service installed, she only needed 2 rooms hooked up because she already had the wires hooked up in the 3 other rooms. The service technician wanted to charge her for 5 rooms. He said that his mood determines what he will charge, and he said that he was in a bad mood. My sister called customer service and they said that the technician can charge what he wants. So my sister told the technician, that if he tries to charge her for something he didn't install, he can just take all the ***** out of her house and cancel her service, In the end, he only chraged her for the 2 rooms. Needless to say, the guy left in a worse mood then before....lol
    • AssJuice, on 07/17/2008, -2/+23Wow i would have added him to the collection of bodies in my basement.
    • TheFinestShadow, on 07/17/2008, -9/+1@WantToPlay

      Wow, that is shockingly relevant to the article at hand.
      • WantToPlay, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Sorry, I got out of hand when I show it was Comcast... I was just having a ranting moment..
    • Gman1223, on 07/17/2008, -0/+8"Needless to say, the guy left in a worse mood then before....lol"

      I bet he did. As I work in the business of working at peoples houses (for similar things to this), and I can tell you that there are many, many techs who hold themselves above the general population, mainly because they feel that without people like themselves, people would wither up and die. It's all a power trip here, he feels that people need his service so bad that they will put up with any ***** he does, which, your sister obviously did not, and that took the greedy ***** down a notch. Good for you guys.

      If this guy was being employed by a company who specializes in this type of thing (cable/internet installations), I would call his boss and tell him what the prick was up to. Probably nothing you could do if he was the actual business owner.
    • D14BL0, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3What a dick. I would've seriously consider strangling somebody with some coax if they came into my house and said that *****.
    • Cerialthriller, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2umm i dunno but when i signed up for comcast all the installation stuff was free
    • JohnSteel, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2He could have been sued or reported to a district attorney for fraud had he charged for goods or services he didn't deliver.
  • AssJuice, on 07/17/2008, -2/+2If they can enforce it.. all it will do is bring on the caps like everyone has said before. Most wont think 250 gigs is unreasonable but where will it stop if we let them continue?
  • cambrown99, on 07/17/2008, -0/+21What pisses me off is that if I could just get high speed internet by itself at a reasonable cost, I would have no need for either TV or phone services, but the only people I can get high speed internet service from are either TV or phone services.
    • minorthreat, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1I get 5MB down and about 1-2 UP for 26 bucks a month from Cox. They don't advertise it anywhere. You have to call and asked about it. I some how accidentally stumbled upon this while talking to a CSR. They default everyone(including your grandma who checks her email) to the 39.99 10 Down/2up plan. What a ***** rip off.
    • nathanww, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Think that's a coincidence?
  • jreinstedler, on 07/17/2008, -13/+3Major victory, but at what price?? Sure, let's punish Comcast... hope you all love it when the rates go up again, and the transfer limits kick in... yeehaw!

    And to think a lot of this was all caused by a bunch of morons hosting away all their warez and pr0n on teh bittorrentz. Thanks douchebags.
    • AndySavage, on 07/17/2008, -3/+6Oh, okay.

      I had no idea the viable solution in this situation was to bend over for greedy corporations. Convenience trumps freedom anyday, I guess.
      • johnmearns, on 07/17/2008, -4/+0I don't see the greed. Bandwidth costs money, it actually isn't free just because you're an ISP. In fact its remarkably expensive when you're used to what you pay for home broadband. Do you raise rates for all of your customers to pay for the usage habits of a very very small percentage of your customers or do you do something to limit the heavy users so most of your customers don't have to pay more? There is no bandwidth fairy, its a resource and costs money. The guys at your isp aren't sitting around laughing about slowing down your gilmore girls torrent.
    • ChiffX, on 07/17/2008, -2/+8"a bunch of morons hosting away all their warez and pr0n on teh bittorrentz. Thanks douchebags"
      You SHOULD be thanking us for sharing the porn you download.
      • jreinstedler, on 07/18/2008, -1/+1actually, i dont download any of your gay midget porn chiff... thanks anyways... ooh... whats the sound of that? bitch got burned.
  • Reaktor5, on 07/17/2008, -0/+13***** you Comcast. You switched my MSNBC to a different package over night. If Verizon FiOS TV was available here I'd switch over in an instant. The FiOS internet I have is incomparable to your sub-par service and reliability.
  • brainscab, on 07/17/2008, -7/+2Do not strangle a blossoming marketplace!
  • eggballs, on 07/17/2008, -3/+15This is Comcastic!
  • enronias, on 07/17/2008, -0/+11Now they just need to bitchslap Charter
  • theandy1, on 07/17/2008, -6/+2According to the simulators they've never blocked my bit torrent traffic, but anything that fights net neutrality is a good thing. I just hope my bill doesn't go up because of this. I like paying $25 for 16,000 kb/s
    • roadtripguy, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1What the ***** are you talking about, "fights net neutrality is a good thing?" If you think in the long run it's better that companies can play favorites with public data transmission, then your foresight is hardly beyond your own selfish ass. OH N0ES!! MY BILL WILL GO UP $5!!!! How will I afford all this ***** I don't need!?!? PANIC!
  • D3koy, on 07/17/2008, -1/+6I just moved to Comcast country, I hope to god this works
  • Duncan3, on 07/17/2008, -10/+5Congratulations to everyone, now we'll all get to pay by the GB, yay...

    Oh wait, that SUCKS! Instead of restraining the insane bandwidth use crowd to a totally reasonable level, we all get to suffer.

    Just remember, YOU wanted this.
    • Ksg89, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2This wont work unless EVERY ISP does this, if theres one that doesn't they will be making more monies through sales than all the others combined.

      Suck it up or loose the game.
      • Cerialthriller, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2the problem is that many areas, especially in the philadelphia area, Comcast is your only option for broadband. Verizon DSL is very slow and unreliable, i was often without a connection for 2 or 3 days per month and the last time it went out they informed me they would not be repairing the hub at this time (after i didnt have the internet for 3 weeks, and i had to argue for over an hour to have them get rid of the $200 cancellation fee for a service i they were no longer providing me.
    • nathanww, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Or Comcast could, you know, actually speed up their infrastructure. My bandwidth usage doesn't double every 18 months.
  • virtualonliner, on 07/17/2008, -3/+23***** Comcast.

    What? no one said it yet?
  • HallEffected, on 07/17/2008, -1/+10whenever i leave torrents running while idling my comp, i come back to find that my internet has conveniently been dropped by comcast.
  • iridesce, on 07/17/2008, -0/+9So let me guess this right? -

    The criminals who are violating rule after law in regard to the privacy of Americans - to the point of creating a monitoring system alongside the the pipes of the internet - they are the ones to slap someone's else's hand for shaping traffic.

    Hmmmm
    • jjmckay, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2Yeah, the Federal Government is going to save us!!! Hah. This problem was created on a local government level, so now we need to feds to fix it? Not. This isn't just about Comcast, its about your local government allowing cable monopolies, and all that comes with it. Net Neutrality is a codeword for 'surrender more freedoms for alleged security'.
  • Scheissen, on 07/17/2008, -4/+4This is not a victory for "net neutrality," it is a victory for the Net Neutrality bill. I hope your ready to prepare to pay for every GB of torrent you download.
    • jreinstedler, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Spot on bud. At least someone here understands what's about to happen.
  • ousthouse, on 07/17/2008, -1/+14Buffet restaurants somehow stay in business in America's fattest cities without any government regulations.
    • johnmearns, on 07/17/2008, -4/+3Even the fattest buffet customer doesn't keep eating 24/7. The fattest buffet customer doesn't take all the trays off the steamer cart except for 1 leaving little for the other customers.
  • Lorddias, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6Comcast is the only thing in the area here, the connection quality is good but it does have some throttling issues. For instance, if I'm uploading to an FTP, I can upload 120 KB/s easy and not get any lag; But if I'm uploading a torrent, if I set the cap at 40 KB/s I'm fine but anything over that results in 9000 ms pings to google.com. I hope the throttling is removed, it really gets on my nerves. For those who say, "Bandwidth isn't free." of course it isnt. Comcast isn't a free service, the customers pay, and they should get what they payed for.

    For bandwidth caps.. I highly doubt there will be one. If they advertise the bandwidth caps, most people would want to switch to something else and they'd lose business. If they advertise an unlimited comcastic connection, but there's a hidden bandwidth cap, they will just return to square one, and the internet activists and FCC will be up their asses again.
  • inajeep, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4As a soon to be former Comcast customer I hope that this at least makes them sit up and notice that people aren't happy with their meddling. I especially want Verizon to notices this since I and a portion of my neighborhood are switching to FIOS. At last real competition for cable! I was surprised how much fiber I saw in just a walk around the block.
    • normalkid0615, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1FIOS FIOS

      FIOS will be maxed out in one year, when your begging for more speed, you will go back to comcast.
  • griffeycom, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2I sure hope this goes through, I'm moving to a Comcast-only Cable Internet area in a month so I'll be forced to deal with this. It's this or Overpriced AT&T Dry DSL. We'll see...
  • arvvvs, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3If I could control a satellite and crash land it somewhere, It would be between RIAA, or Comcast.
  • BryanG412, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1First let me say that I am not on Comcast's side. That said, it seems to me that maybe Comcast has a point. If the large majority of their network's bandwidth is being used up by 10-15% of their customers who use peer to peer file sharing programs (to download torrent files, most of which contain copyrighted material...not that I'm complaining), wouldn't they have a responsibility to their other customers who are experiencing slower browsing speeds? I agree that secretly interfering wasn't a good idea, but maybe they had to do something.
    • Hotrox, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0What about those of us who don't P2P 24/7, but rather do it maybe once a week? I've got Comcast, and I don't use torrents very often, but when I do it's easily noticable that my up/down are being throttled.

      Over the past 4 years I've switched back and forth between Verizon and Comcast. I can't stand Verizon because when something goes wrong good luck getting it fixed through their customer service. On the other hand, Comcast has pretty good customer service from my experience, but as an ISP they're not as reliable as Verizon. I'm always in the market for a new ISP.
    • u235sentinel, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0The latest reports clearly show that P2P isn't theproblem. It's the video streaming from web sites using good ol' http.

      BTW, Heroes looked great over the web. Very impressive.

      No wonder Concast is having trouble with their bandwidth. All those free shows online now :D
  • FredFredrickson, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3I always get a kick out of their "DSL sucks" commercials, because in the area I live in, my AT&T DSL is worlds faster than their piece of crap Cable Internet... no thanks to the fact that its shared by a thousand people, and they refuse to upgrade their equipment.
  • Nozzle, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2We just dropped Comcast as our cable TV provider and switched to DishTV. Comcast service in our area was horrible, poor reception and some channel would mysteriously change throughout the day, we couldn't get HDTV and they kept increasing our rates. When we first subscribed, we were paying $50/mo for basic digital cable and one premium channel, when we dropped them two month ago, we were getting charged $95/mo. For the same amount, DishTV provides dozens of HDTV, two premium channels, 250 SDTV channels, and two HDTV DVR receivers. So long Comcast, we're never going back.
  • vandalin7, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2When i was attending college in ithaca the apartment i was staying at had an agreement with lightlink. It was the only internet service we were permitted to get for the most part at least. They blocked certain ports they thought were being used for peer to peer traffic. However, it was preventing me from using city of heroes; an online MMO for those of you unfamiliar with the game.

    After i complained they restored access to that port and i was once again able to save the citizens of paragon. However my point being these companies can not block traffic without blocking legal internet traffic. It should be rather easy for the FCC to make a decision without backfire.
  • davekay85, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Cancelled my Comcast account. Switched to Verizon. Much happier.
  • wuxia, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3At the end of this past April '08, Comcast began injecting RST (reset) packets into my VPN data stream causing the connection to close instantly. I used Wireshark, new name for EtherReal, to analyze the packets and we confirmed that they were sending a RST packet to my home PC and several to my corporate server, yet the logs showed that neither of us sent the packet to each other. I went the standard route and complaining to customer service and to their field techs but nothing changed and they denied interrupting my VPN sessions. Last month I emailed the CEO of Comcast (brian_roberts@comcast.com) and within 2 hours a corporate PR man, George Lunski (George_Lunski@cable.comcast.com) contacted me and wanted to resolve the issue.
    He had numerous field techs contact me and finally someone with authority in their NOC (network operations center) contacted me. He asked for my logs and within 24 hours he resolved the 'problem'. He never admitted interfering with my connection, but it's obvious they were since they were the ones to resolve the packet injection.

    If Shane Portfolio at Comcast sees this, "Thank you".
  • UsmanB87, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Just hack your rich neighbors wifi ---> aircrack-ng ftw.
  • ELCad, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Comcast keeps taking away my basic channels. First it was G4, then ION, then CMT, and now this week AMC. Plus they stopped sending the TV Guide data to my PVR. When I called they tried to blame it on the FCC ending analog broadcast next year. I hate Comcast and will be switching to DirecTV very soon.
  • kanone, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0Man hope they have to pay for this, its so not cool whent hey bog down my traffic, and yet claim its the "fastest" available.
  • drexl, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1I hate Comcast as much as the next guy/gal, but I think this will somehow back-fire and screw us all. I have a feeling that this will be what pushes Comcast to the "pay-per-use" model other companies have talked about. I hope I'm wrong, but with Comcast's past and current actions/reactions toward consumers I think it's possible.
  • jreinstedler, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1It's a major victory for the FCC's pockets, not for supposed 'net neutrality'. A fine isnt going to do *****.
  • MarkEarhart, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1They shoud put the bastards out of business.
  • boots72, on 07/19/2008, -0/+0This is hilarious, all the comments bashing Comcast. It's pretty funny to me. I used to be a Comcast customer until I canceled, and then they tried to charge me for $500 of equipment, even though they got their equipment back. Those were the days. Since then, I have long been a Dish Network Customer. I used to think that satellite was crappy with all of the negative ads they would put on television about the Dish going out in the rain, and not being able to see clearly on certain days, yadda, yadda. Maybe it's just my California weather, but the satellite service we have is Great.

    http://thelwsealsshow.blogspot.com/2008/05/satelli ...

  • aaronheld, on 07/22/2008, -0/+0You do all realize that this FCC ruling will force ISP to abandon flat rate pricing and go to an metered/IP rate.

    Comcast was not blocking all bittorrent access. I use it without any issues.
    They were blocking excessive use on a residential plan.

    Be more concerned about plans like NY's AG http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/2008 ... where they are blocking content. Looks like comcast is onboard to block certain specific websites, but others have gone so far as to shutoff all of usenet (or at least alt.binary.*) for their customers.

  • TopDawgs, on 07/22/2008, -0/+0I think that if an isp is going to block or filter out things, they should let you know up front--before you sign your contract. I had good experiences with Comcast, but they just started to get a little too expensive for me.
    http://ezinearticles.com/?What-You-Should-Know-Bef ...
    I had the internet and television programming package.
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