Comcast to Debut Bandwidth Usage Tracking Tool

By  |  Friday, December 5, 2008 at 10:16 am

comcast_c2DSL Reports says Comcast sources are saying the cable provider is set to begin offering subscribers a method to track their bandwidth usage through the company’s online account management tool. The company had previously implemented a 250GB cap in October after mulling a limit for almost a half a year.

Data would not be delayed three hours, although it would have the ability to store up to three months of usage history and provide data on multiple MAC addresses (cable modems).

Comcast is not commenting on DSL Reports’ claims, only saying that it is “currently evaluating this service” according to BetaNews.

The cable provider has recently gotten much more heavy handed with its bandwidth management. It now is terminating chronically heavy users,  sending them a letter informing them of their usage and blocking their accounts.

However, up until October there wasn’t an official limit, and these letters did not indicate how much bandwidth the guilty party was using.

Head on over to DSL Reports (link above) for as screenshot of this new functionality in action, set to debut in January .

 
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3 Comments For This Post

  1. Ed Halbert Says:
    December 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    well comcast really sucks. I am tellin u.

  2. Charlie Douglas Says:
    December 5th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Ed – One clarification, if a customer goes over our excessive use limit, we don’t send a letter, we call that customer and ask him/her to moderate his/her usage. The vast majority of the time, customers we call voluntarily moderate their usage. As for the new meter, we need to complete a customer trial first and then we’ll make it available to all of our customers.

  3. fred Says:
    December 5th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    If I ever get the Docsis 3 modem in my area then that 250 limit just comes quicker.
    Will Comcast raise the limit for the faster speeds ?