It’s official. DSL Reports has confirmed that Comcast will officially implement a 250 GB cap on bandwidth for broadband subscribers beginning October 1.
This has been a long time coming, after the spotlight was shone on Comcast for their unorthadox network practices, and the FCC ruled against their policy of throttling P2P applications on their network, Comcast has finally taken steps toward challenging those who use their network to transfer massive levels of data.
This is a smart policy, in the vein of what was previously advocated by Google’s Vint Cerf, that will allow Comcast to manage the traffic on their network more efficiently.
UPDATE: Thanks to Vint for the clarification, this policy isn’t as smart as his idea:
“I advocated limiting RATES not limiting total bytes transferred. The aggregate transfer cap deals with averages while, as Tony Lauck has pointed out, the issue is instantaneous data rate congestion – too much being transferred at the same time. Different metrics and methods are needed to limit the maximum rate at which a user can accept or emit data.”
No word on the penalty when users go above the 250 GB threshold, though this type of tiered pricing seems preferable to the metered pricing proposed by companies like Time Warner.
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Actually, I advocated limiting RATES not limiting total bytes transferred. The aggregate transfer cap deals with averages while, as Tony Lauck has pointed out, the issue is instantaneous data rate congestion – too much being transferred at the same time. Different metrics and methods are needed to limit the maximum rate at which a user can accept or emit data.
The 250 GB cap IS a metering policy and this is not what I think is the best choice for coping with local congestion.
vint cerf
google
Most are focusing on small details around Comcast……
…and are failing to see the much bigger picture that this presents to the industry at large. I believe Comcast will create a notion of “on network” (within Comcast peers) vs. “off network” (outboun……