Comcasts throttling again -> bad news for streamers/dlers...

[Sbert]

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Comcast-...news-5052.html

Comcast subscribers can now sit back and enjoy Internet throttling at its finest.

Zoom
And so it begins: the Internet is one step closer to a controlled environment thanks to Comcast. Based on information provided by a new FCC notice (PDF), Comcast has already implemented a new traffic throttling system into its broadband service. The new practice replaces the company's stricter traffic block of peer-to-peer uploading. However, Comcast said that there will still be traffic blocks, but only in extreme cases.

According to the document, Comcast's throttling with have two trigger conditions. The first is activated when using more than 70-percent of a subscriber's maximum upstream or upstream bandwidth in a 15 minute span. The second trigger kicks in when the neighborhood Cable Modem Termination System becomes severely congested and evidence indicates that the cause stems from the offending subscriber.

Internet throttling begins when either triggers are tripped, forcing bandwidth traffic to throttle down. The effect endures for at least 15 minutes, or until the average bandwidth utilization rate drops below 50-percent for 15 minutes. Comcast said that certain traffic won't be throttled: low-priority traffic will still zip through uncongested nodes at close-to-normal speeds.

To provide a better understanding, Comcast threw in a bus analogy to explain the two-tier traffic throttling scenario. "If there is no congestion, packets from a user in a BE state should have little trouble getting on the bus when they arrive at the bus stop," the company said. "If, on the other hand, there is congestion in a particular instance, the bus may become filled by packets in a PBE state before any BE packets can get on. In that situation, the BE packets would have to wait for the next bus that is not filled by PBE packets."

[GizmoDVD]

Never a problem for me

[luclin999]

So based upon this, if my steaming media service requires 9mbps downstream to deliver an HD feed then I would need to subscribe to something at or above a 13mbps plan in order to avoid being throttled.

Interesting.

Annoying but still workable.

Doesn't really apply to me since I don't use Comcast anymore though.

[BettiePage]

Umm the throttle isnt set at 70%.

Its if you use 70% or more of your upstream (downstream as well?) for over 15 mins and there is congestion in your area... you will be throttled back till your average is back down to 50% for 15 mins. They dont mention any numbers in the link... and I cant access the pdf to see if there is a max throttle.

If your req is 9 as in your example... you will need to subscribe to a plan that is 18 to 20 to have a smooth access to DL/streaming movies... thats if no one else is using your connection at the same time.

[luclin999]

Originally Posted by BettiePage

Umm the throttle isnt set at 70%.

Its if you use 70% or more of your upstream (downstream as well?) for over 15 mins and there is congestion in your area... you will be throttled back till your average is back down to 50% for 15 mins. They dont mention any numbers in the link... and I cant access the pdf to see if there is a max throttle.

If your req is 9 as in your example... you will need to subscribe to a plan that is 18 to 20 to have a smooth access to DL/streaming movies... thats if no one else is using your connection at the same time.

No, based upon what is said so long as my usage stays below 70% of my subscribed limit there should be no throttling unless the entire neighborhood is crashing the system at the same time as well.

Yes, I would need a higher provision if I had multiple people attempting to acces the internet in the house while I was streaming a High Definition feed but for streaming a single 9mbps feed with no other activity, a 13+ mbps plan should insure that the streaming feed stays beneath the throttling limit.

13 x 0.7 = (roughy) 9mbps

Or

A service provision of 13mbps allows for a maximum data feed of 11700 mbits of total data over 15 minutes.

15 minutes of 9mbps streaming = 8100 mbits of total data.

70% of 11700 = 8190

Thus my statement (in this hypothetical situation) that you would need a provision of right at 13mbps in order to completely avoid hitting the 70% usage mark.

[neone]

In a typical family home shared by a few people and multiple PCs, devices, any firmware update, ftp or web browsing after dinner can easily consume enough bandwidth within any 15 minute span to make RT streaming throttle. However, its less of an issue for downloads for later viewing - especially ones that run past midnight - you just have do your own throttling to avoid using up 60% within any 15minute window. As long as no other devices get on the internet.

Thereal problem for caps in canada is the cap on max traffic every months, which is set at 90GB/month even at the highest $90 plan.

[Sbert]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

Never a problem for me

Originally Posted by luclin999

Doesn't really apply to me since I don't use Comcast anymore though.

It may be the way of the future for broadband in general, if you have a different service provider it might be adopted in another way or shape or form.

[ack_bak]

I swear Qwest recently started throttling my measly 2.5-2.7Mbps (peak) DSL line recently. Several times now my wife and I have noticed streaming video really slowing down to a crawl and buffering from multiple providers (Hulu, Youtube, Netflix, etc). On multiple computers. Once I reboot the DSL router, speed goes back to normal. Have not had time to fully investigate but I am planning on doing so soon.

[luclin999]

Originally Posted by Sbert

It may be the way of the future for broadband in general, if you have a different service provider it might be adopted in another way or shape or form.

That is true.

And if my provider starts making moves in this direction I will raise literal Hell with them. However, as I am not currently a Comcast subscriber I have limited association with how they do business and as a non-customer my concerns would have even less impact on their considerations for how to establish a business model.

Now if the government or FCC gets involved then I will be certain to make my opinion known to them as to what I think about this practice.

[JAC35]

Originally Posted by neone

In a typical family home shared by a few people and multiple PCs, devices, any firmware update, ftp or web browsing after dinner can easily consume enough bandwidth within any 15 minute span to make RT streaming throttle. However, its less of an issue for downloads for later viewing - especially ones that run past midnight - you just have do your own throttling to avoid using up 60% within any 15minute window. As long as no other devices get on the internet.

Thereal problem for caps in canada is the cap on max traffic every months, which is set at 90GB/month even at the highest $90 plan.

Mine is 100GB/month and its the second highest plan. The highest plan is 150GB @$96.00

[neone]

Originally Posted by JAC35

Mine is 100GB/month and its the second highest plan. The highest plan is 150GB @$96.00

Seems Rogers updated their plans. The best plan now has a cap of 175GB @$150 a month. I was speaking from memory and the last warning messages I received from them.

[vinnie97]

^Australian and Canadian caps are similarly restrictive, which US ISPs are licking their chops at the prospect of incorporating here. If I had to take one or the other, I'd take (reasonable) throttling but both? Never.

[motion]

I've been with Bell Sympatico for a long, long time. I've always subscribed to Bell Internet Highspeed Service with Unlimited usage plan. My online account still says I have the same plan I started 10 years ago.

Now, the way I understand Bell's definition for "Unlimited" (aside from the one found in every dictionary ever written), is as follows. Basically, to them, "Unlimited" means the amount one computer can download in one month based on the speed of their connection. So, for example purposes, say I had a 5 megabit service, meaning I could theoretically download at the speed of 625 megabytes per second. That would mean that "Unlimited" would actually have a limit. It would be 625 mbytes (the amount I can download in a second) x 2,592,000 seconds (the number of seconds in a 30 day month).

All new subscribers to Bell Internet have to subscribe to plans that have what they like to call "Usage Limits", in other words, caps. I wonder why?

[vinnie97]

^Lucky you to be grandfathered in.

Bell obviously wants more cash.

Oh, the news in the OP is actually outdated, as these throttling changes implemented about a year ago: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/C...Changes-105380

Blogging has become a cesspool of the uninformed looking for hits.