This 250GB/month limit is pretty shocking. I can't believe we have no other choice of ISP.

What really gets me is that Newport is one of the most well-connected neighborhoods in the US. You could get a 1Gb link to the internet for $1k/month 5 years ago. And yet we are so close and have virtually no options. I see Verizon running fiber for FIOS, but yet they still say the end of 2009 - which probably means mid-2011.

I love Comcast's deceptiveness in calling a movie 2GB.

Before they announced the cap, I did something that would have violated the limit. I backed up every digital picture in my collection over the internet. Since I'm the photographer, I own the copyright. So there goes the argument that you need to violate someone's copyright to exceed 250GB/month. There also goes the argument that you need to do something unreasonable to exceed 250GB/month. That was 250GB in less than a day.

We're back at the level of internet service that we had in 1997. Other countries have been improving their infrastructure since then. We're down to under one Mb/s.

According to some site I found, the Netflix Roku box streams at four bitrates 500kb/sec., 1 MB/sec., 1.6 MB/sec., and 2.2 MB/per sec.

So unless my math is off (which is most likely is) that works out to about 16-30 movies per month (based on 3-4 star quality which I usually get). I typically watch 1-2 movies on a slow day... so my bandwidth is long gone before I even do anything else... like Pandora, Flickr, Itunes, etc...

Mark.

The bandwidth cap is a temporary measure that is unlikely to last very long. With FiOS penetrating ever deeper into Comcast territory -- already available at some downtown addresses -- Comcast will have no choice but to lift their caps or risk losing their customers.

Also, you can thank the local municipal government for granting Comcast a monopoly on cable services.

BY DEC. 15 - Comcast to offer wideband service in Jersey City first

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Jersey City will be among the first communities served by Comcast Cable TV that will offer the next generation Internet high-speed connection that will take customers from broadband to wideband. The city can expect faster Internet speeds - including downloads and uploads - to be available by Dec. 15, according to Comcast spokesman Fred DeAndrea.

These services will be available for most other Comcast customers in the state during the second quarter of next year. Using new fiber-optic technology, Comcast officials claim they will be able "to double speeds for the majority of existing high-speed Internet customers at no additional cost."

More information on services and additional wideband plans can be found on the Internet site www.comcast.com/fastestfast.

Journal staff

Good, so we can hit their monthly cap even faster. Perfect. Verizon needs to hurry up with the FiOS.

Comcast gets exceedingly tiresome with these made-up advances.
My fave is advertising how wonderful the channel is that lets you preview GM cars, 24 hours a day seven days a week. What a selling point, an endless commercial!

Comcast is a lot of hot air...when you get right down to it they are penny pinching misers who give you very little for your money but LOTS of commercials about how great they are.

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AMEN to that.


(The Comcast "article" should be followed with the three letters: adv.)

The bandwidth thing is smoke and mirrors for most of us. Am I the only one who thinks that paying $80/month for ctv & broadband is way too much? When are these clowns going to compete on price? Oh wait, we were recently reminded that this is NOT a free market economy!

This stuff is data that comes over a damn wire or glass fiber, not mined or manufactured. Most of the cable content is paid for with commercials not fees. This business is insanely profitable, as anyone who watches the antics of Dolan clan can attest, yet none of the providers will actually compete on price. It's disgusting.

Don't forget the ridiculous price for this DOCSIS3 service... $139/month. Same bandwidth cap in place.

I can't wait to watch Comcast's market share in JC shrink to a shell of what it is now. Those terrible customer service rep's are gonna be crying all the way to the unemployment office and it will be there own doing.
It took them 3 times to get me the right cable box! And for the life of me they won't believe that a only use a cell phone and don't need their crappy phone service.

An interesting view on Comcast's bandwidth cap...



Comcast's play for high-speed service
Commentary: Something is fishy about its broadband access ploys
By John C. Dvorak

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Comcast Corp. has introduced newer, faster Internet-access services, including a 50 Mbps offering that pretty much stretches to the limit the capability of the cable-TV infrastructure - at least for now. But even this speed is more bandwidth than anyone can use. There are few sites people visit or download from that will actually deliver anything close to that.

Residential services
Extreme 50 (50 Mbps upload/ 10 Mbps download) at $139.95/month
Ultra (22/5 Mbps up/down) at $62.95/month
Performance Plus (16/2 Mbps up/down) at $52.95/month
Performance (12/2 Mbps up/down) at $42.95/month

Business services
Deluxe 50 (50/10 Mbps up/down) at $189.95/month
Premium (22/5 Mbps up/down) at $99.95/month
Starter (12/2 Mbps up/down) at variable introductory prices.

In today's world, this 50/10 speed is something of a gimmick under normal circumstances. That is, unless, Comcast is going to start some new services itself that will require this kind of outrageous speed. This means downloadable or streaming movies of the sort provided by Netflix Inc. with its new offerings. Comcast is well positioned to offer new services like this to its customers once it figures out how to work out a download "cap" that will prevent its users from using anyone else's services -- at least for now.

A few months back, Comcast announced that it would impose a monthly 250 GB usage limit on its users. I personally think this is a lot of usage, but I don't know for a fact since Comcast doesn't actually tell its users how many bits they use a month.

This in itself makes the whole usage cap seem fishy to me. Something is up.

Hogs
They idea, they say, is to get rid of abusive users who do nothing more than download movies and trade files all day and night. Since the connections are shared by large numbers of people, the performance can be adversely affected by some of these bandwidth hogs. But it seems like no coincidence that Comcast just instituted this policy as Netflix was coming online with its various download-and-play and streaming initiatives to sell movies over the net. This is a business -- delivering movies -- that Comcast is in too with the cable-TV business. So I think the strategy is to create this cap that keeps competitors temporarily away from Comcast customers when it comes to delivering video content. In the meantime, Comcast can study the business model for delivering movies over the Internet itself. In other words, I think the reasons for the cap are to keep the Netflix scheme and others at bay temporarily. Netflix or any other content provider then won't have gained much market share.

DSL service
So I'm thinking that the 250 GB cap is just temporary. Right now, Comcast has done the best job of ramping up universal high-speed services, especially when compared to the phone company and its failure to advance the state of DSL services. The only real competitors for Comcast are local fiber-optic lash-ups that tend to be restricted to new housing developments. The only cloud on the Comcast horizon might be continued efforts to deliver high-speed Internet access via wireless schemes such as the Sprint Xohm product. This has the potential to be a winner too.
For now, the picture is rosy for Comcast and the rest of the cable companies that deliver a quality high-speed Internet connection at a reasonable price. But look for all of them to go aggressively into selling movies over the Internet in the next year or two. End of Story

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story ... roadband/story.aspx?guid={AC502994-6345-478B-8168-77F8C2BCC550}&dist=msr_1

I don't post too often in the forums (I'm a lurker).
I've been a resident of JC for 12 years and after many emails and complaints to Comcast about their lack of foreign language channels. I switched to Dish Network.
I have written several letters to Comcast over the years and never recieved a response. So if you can switch your business to another provider then do so, maybe they'll pay attention.

I don't *hate* comcast, but i would like to know when we'll be getting better/more HD channels? For instance my sister in VA (also a Comcast subscriber) gets a TON more HD channels than I do. Here's a partial list:

-Science Channel HD
-FX HD
-CNN HD
-FoxNews HD
-USA HD
-Sci-Fi HD
-History HD
-TLC HD

Not saying I would watch all of the above, but it would be nice to have the option.

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Directv has offered all of those in HD (and more) for over a year now. Switch if you have the option.

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I have comcast HD and it sucks not being able to watch today's Fox election coverage in HD, I want to see the expression on their faces when the results come in!

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Therein lies the problem... I would have switched 3yrs ago if it weren't for my building's rules. Heck I would have done it for the NFL Sunday Ticket alone!

Has anyone else recieved some thing about being charged $10 extra a month for "Blast" ???

The letter said I've been getting "Blast" and haven't been charged extra for it and not I will start being charged. Sounds fishy to me. And even if this is a real service, I don't think I need "Blast"

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I assume you are talking about internet service? I have the 'Performance' service and have tested speeds of close to 12 Mbps down which is certainly more than enough for me.

The basis lineup is getting smaller all the time.
-----------------------------------------------------------
FCC to probe pricing policies of cable, Verizon

By DEBORAH YAO, AP Business Writer

PHILADELPHIA – The Federal Communications Commission has opened an investigation into the pricing policies of major cable operators and Verizon Communications Inc.

Cable companies the agency plans to look into include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp., Bright House Networks, Suddenlink Communications, Bend Cable Communications, GCI Company, Harron Entertainment and RCN Corp., according to a letter the agency sent pay-TV operators Oct. 30.

At issue is the companies' practice of moving analog channels into digital tiers to free up bandwidth for other uses, such as high-definition channels. Analog customers will have to rent a digital set-top box from the operator or buy the digital TV plan to watch those channels.

Verizon offers services that compete cable company offerings.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081104/a ... bi_ge/cable_pricing_fcc_2

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Sorry. Yes, internet service.
Performance huh? Sounds good to me.

Oh, god... I simply LOATHE Comcast. So much for having a choice in cable providers.

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Just came across this article earlier today. Comcast offers, by far, the least amount of HD channels compared to other TV service providers. At this point the two satellite companies are the clear cut winners for offering HD content.

http://www.cnet.com/1990-7874_1-5108854-5.html?tag=hdtv;hdtv_l

I sure don't like their employees! The a#*hole that came for the routine installation of my internet asked if he could use my bathroom. I was willing to let him use the bathroom, and after my cable was installed, I tipped him $10. It was only later when my wife went into the bathroom and said "WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE!?" did I realize what kind of people this company hires. The douchebag had pissed all over the place! All over the seat, and all over the floor! I TIPPED HIM $10 SO I COULD CLEAN UP HIS MASTERPIECE! Needless to say, I was livid. No good deed ever goes unpunished!

All joking aside, it really is a joke that we have 20 HD stations. Has anyone recently called to inquire of the addition of new HD stations? I called back in July. 1 addition every 6 months is not gonna cut it.

Unfortunately my building does not allow any sort of dish. I bought two HD tvs this year, and can't even enjoy the benefits.

I don't watch sports which takes away most of the HD channels, the network HD stations I am not even counting since they can be pulled from the air for free, and premiums well you only get those if you subscribe....so aftet that Comcast only has a handful of HD stations, ridiculous.

My G/F in Brooklyn gets a significant more amount of HD with Time Warner.

Comcast brags about HD in relation to their on demand content which I can't even get in the first place because of my MediaCenter Cablecard setup.

Comcast quarterly earnings were up 38%, too bad they don't put any of that money towards their infrastructure and more into researching ways to rape their customers.

I wrote them an email complaining this what they sent...
"At this present time, we are limited with the number of HD offering we currently provide. This is based off of the contracts agreements that we have with the channels that offer a high definition signal. This does not mean that we are not trying to obtain contracts with channels we currently do not provide because we are always looking for ways to improve our variety of programming. We ask that you please give us an opportunity to make enhancements to our level of service. We appreciate you taking the time to provide us with your suggestion and appreciate your patience"

So basically they are too cheap to shell out money to get agreements signed, and here I was thinking it was some kind of HD bandwidth limitation..nice.

Mikey,

My neighbor took a package that she was told included BLAST. When the first bill came there was an extra $10 fee for the BLAST (temporary extra internet speed.)

She told them where to stick BLAST!

Hi, long time no post. I just had Comcast Digital basic cable installed and I'm wondering if anyone else has an issue I'm having before I call them about it.

Each time I change channels, the image flickers twice before completely displaying the new channel. It's not just a minor flicker, it goes completely blank twice, and sometimes 3 times, for a few fractions of a second.

When they installed it they said, that's normal, it's digital. I was skeptical then and I get more skeptical as time goes by.

My friend has Time Warner in NY and when she changes channels there is a very minor flicker, you wouldn't even notice it unless you were looking for it.

I want to call them and tell them I'm pretty sure this is not right, but I don't want to be a curmudgeon. I just think I've had digital back in the day as well and didn't see anything like this.

So does this happen for everybody else? You couldn't possibly miss it if it happens to you.

Thanks a bunch....

i would say you might need a new box. i don't have that issue

Call them. They can fix many problems over the phone by the equivalent of a reboot. They have you disconnect and reconnect your DVR. At the same time they send you a new feed. That process has solved glitches for me with no need for a technician visit.

I have Digital Cable since they offered it and have never had this problem. Sounds like it might be your tv though rebooting your digital cable box, as JCase suggests, and having Comcast reconnecting you via phone works great at resetting your signal.

Good luck!