Comcast's Rate Caps Get a Pass from Video Sites (PC Magazine)
Chloe Albanesius - PC Magazine Thu Oct 2, 7:31 AM ET
Comcast officially launched its bandwidth caps for residential customers Monday, but while some video Web sites expressed concern about Internet restriction in general, none were particularly concerned that Comcast's 250 GB limit would greatly hamper Web users' access to their sites.
"The bottom line on the Comcast issue is, we believe the important thing for all cable companies to do is be transparent with their customers," said Steve Swasey, a spokesman for Netflix. "As far as this 250 GB cap, it would take you eight hours of watching content on the Internet, not just from Netflix but YouTube or Amazon or Apple or anybody else, eight hours a day, seven days a week to reach that cap, so it is pretty high."
Comcast came under fire last year when customers complained about having their service shut down for excessive use without being told what that limit might be. The cable company was later accused of blocking access to file-sharing services, a move that resulted in an enforcement action from the Federal Communications Commission.
Though Comcast denies any wrongdoing and has appealed the FCC decision, the company agreed to switch to a protocol-agnostic network management system by year's end and comply with FCC requests for network management data.
Comcast first updated its acceptable use policy (AUP) in February with general warnings about excessive use. It announced plans for 250 GB data caps in August, and unveiled a very detailed policy last month.
A spokeswoman for video Web site Veoh said the company was "disappointed to see that broadband providers are taking steps to restrict the Internet rather than embrace it, but ultimately these moves will not have a significant impact on Veoh."
Veoh already operates in other countries that enforce bandwidth caps "and we continue to grow in those markets," she said.
"Sadly, the real potential victims here are consumers," she said. "Broadband video on sites like Veoh is quickly emerging as a primary source for consumer entertainment. We hope that cable companies eventually recognize this and decide to use their vast resources to not only foster this growth but also develop new broadband entertainment services for consumers."
Sling Media, whose Slingbox allows customers to record TV content and view it on any Internet-enabled computer, had a similar concern.
"With the incredible uptake in online video consumption, this kind of action flies in the face of where things are going," said a Sling spokesman. "Consumers are looking for products and technology that give them access to the content that matters most to them no matter where it comes from."
"Broadband consumption will increase, not decrease so putting a cap is only going to hurt the consumer," he said.