FCC Questions Comcast

DennyCrane · #1 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Associated Press

Comcast Corp. Monday said it has received letters of inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission regarding complaints that the company actively interferes with its subscribers' Internet traffic.

Recently, it came to light that Comcast was restricting traffic to certain internet users. Mostly, it was P2P sharing traffic and torrent users. While the explanation was bandwidth overusage, there are people saying it was from pressure from the RIAA and the movie industry. Legitmate users of BitTorrent send and receive their internet productions via this method and had definite problems using Comcast. Anyone who knows who PurePwnage is, knows a lot of their download traffic is in torrent form. Pay attention to this one, folks. There will be precident set today that will effect how we use the web tomorrow.
FCC Asks Comcast About Internet Filter: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

CoffeeShark · #2 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 10:54 AM

With BitTorrent going legit, they'll have to start either allowing torrent traffic, or legalizing traffic restriction.

Craig · #3 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 01:03 PM

what will probably happen is a way to throttle down BT traffic to a point where it's a dribble of traffic therefore not sucking up loads of BW.

trip7 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 01:41 PM

The solution isnt to throttle certain types of data transfer down, but to upgrade the goddamn backbone of ISPs in america. These lazy unregulated asses are only beginning to offer fiber optic connections at reasonable prices while other countries have had them for years. America is barely in the top 10 for average internet speeds. These companies will never provide quality service to an area where they don't have a sufficient profit margin. A huge portion of the country doesnt even have access to cable internet yet.

dcikra · #5 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 02:05 PM

^That has totally pissed me off about our providers.

CoffeeShark · #6 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 02:10 PM

Most fiber optic groundwork is being subsidized by governments, even in the US. Without that subsidy, no provider can afford to take on the cost without guaranteed subscribers.

I agree, though, on the cable thing - cable loses millions of subscribers to satellite just because they won't install cable when houses are being built, they wait until enough people call and beg. An with DirecTV, they don't call anymore.

jdeegz · #7 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 04:40 PM

ruh roh, i got comcast and lots of .. yeah :P

SonicSpeed · #8 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trip7

The solution isnt to throttle certain types of data transfer down, but to upgrade the goddamn backbone of ISPs in america. These lazy unregulated asses are only beginning to offer fiber optic connections at reasonable prices while other countries have had them for years. America is barely in the top 10 for average internet speeds. These companies will never provide quality service to an area where they don't have a sufficient profit margin. A huge portion of the country doesnt even have access to cable internet yet.

Which sucks for users like myself. Currently we are in an unincorporated area of Oregon, where the people across the street are in a housing devlopement. They can get FiOS (which is $20 per month cheaper for better speeds) while we have to pay the $53 for crappy Comcast internet. Its completely unacceptable and almost criminal. Its getting very frustrating as a consumer with only one choice in high-speed internet.

CoffeeShark · #9 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicSpeed

Which sucks for users like myself. Currently we are in an unincorporated area of Oregon, where the people across the street are in a housing devlopement. They can get FiOS (which is $20 per month cheaper for better speeds) while we have to pay the $53 for crappy Comcast internet. Its completely unacceptable and almost criminal. Its getting very frustrating as a consumer with only one choice in high-speed internet.

just grab a FIOS splitter, dig up the cable, install, PRESTO!!!

DennyCrane · #10 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 05:42 PM

Right now, we're all set up for Fios, but they're not offering TV content yet. So all you get is internet and phone (I use my cell exclusively. No home phone, so that's not even an issue). But, the moment the TV content comes, I'll drop Time Warner like a bad habit.