Comcast Limits Monthly Bandwidth Usage

There have been rumors floating around for a while that Comcast has been sending letters to high bandwidth usage customers warning them that if they do no curb their usage their accounts will be suspended. The problem is these customers had no idea how much usage was too much and no way to track how much bandwidth they are using.

This week Comcast announced here that as of October 1, 2008 they will be amending their acceptable usage policy to establish a maximum monthly usage threshold for all users. They are setting this threshold at 250 Gigabytes per month. As they point out in the article 250 Gigs is quite a bit of bandwidth and their average customer uses around 2 -3 Gigs per month. It is estimated that the limits will only affect 0.1% of Comcast's customers. As the Comcast announcement points out at 4MB per song the thresholds will allow you to download 62,500 songs. I assume the customers that are most affected are the ones downloading lots of movies.

Some have surmised that Comcast is putting the threshold in place because if customers are downloading movies for free then they are not buying them though the Comcast OnDemand service. While I guess that is possible I think it is more likely they are trying to prevent a few users to slow down the network for everyone.

I think this is a trend that we will be seeing not only with our ISPs but also with our workplaces. I work as a software consultant and one of my clients has recently implemented software that will allow them to (among other things) track employees who are using the most bandwidth. With more software applications moving to the web companies can't afford to have their networks slowed down by users streaming music or videos on their lunch break.

It seems like the plan is for Comcast to allow customers one month over 250 Gig and then they may send the a letter warning them to curb their usage but it does not really say what will happen if they don't. I don't think Comcast is going to risk losing a customer like me who purchases cable, Internet and phone. Overall I am not too concerned about the new limits, I don't download lots of movies so I am pretty sure I am well below the threshold. The few thousand customers that are affected are probably downloading movies illegally anyway so Comcast is probably glad to get rid of them as customers.

Issue with Channel 845 on the Comcast TIVO Box

A few weeks ago when Comcast added a few new High Definition channels I started noticing an issue when scrolling through the HD channels. When scrolling through the HD channels using the up arrow button on the remote or cable box when it should be going to channel 845 (which is Weatherscan) it jumps down to channel 245 (which is the non HD version of Weatherscan).

The workaround is to just use the numbers to enter the next number (846) or the guide to navigate to the next number. It is not really a huge issue but it does get a bit annoying if you forget and suddenly find yourself in the 200s and forgot what channel you were last on.

I tried rebooting the box hoping that would fix the issue but it didn't. I was out for lunch with a friend the other day who also has Comcast/Tivo and asked him about the issue and he said he had noticed the same thing. That made me feel a little better as hopefully it was something Comcast is aware of and is working on.

Tonight I decided to call Comcast support and report the issue and see if there was anything they could tell me. After a short wait I was connected to a rep and reported the problem. The rep told me that this is a known issue and is something they are working with Tivo on to get fixed. She also told me that they will be releasing a fix for the Guide software on August 26th that they hope will resolve the issue. So I guess we will wait and see.

Comcast Adds 7 New HD Channels in New England

I read an article in a TV forum earlier this week that Comcast was adding some new High Definition channels to their lineup. Sure enough when I got home tonight and checked the new channels were there. They are Disney HD, ABC Family HD, TLC HD, AMC HD, Science Channel HD, The Movie Channel HD and Showtime 2 HD. My total HD lineup is now:

PBS
CBS
ABC
NBC
WMUR
National Geographic
Discovery Channel
Fox
MTV
TBS
HGTV
TNT
USA
A & E
WSBK
HD Theater
CNN
Weatherscan
Golf / Versus
ESPN
ESPN2
NESN
Comcast Sports Network New England
NFLHD
Food Network
WLVI
Sci Fi
Animal Planet
Cinemax
HBO
History Channel
Starz
Showtime
MOJO
Disney
ABC Family
TLC
AMC
Science Channel
The Movie Channel
Showtime 2

That brings the total number of available HD channels in my area to 41. The Movie Channel and Showtime 2 are subscription only and I do not subscribe to those channels but I did see them in the guide. Also Disney and ABC Family did not appear to be broadcasting HD Programs or they weren't when I looked earlier. This seems to be the case when many of the HD channels first go on-line. They start with just a couple programs in HD and slowly add programming over the months.

I don't understand why Comcast doesn't make an announcement when adding new channels. It seems you either have to find them accidentally while flipping through the channels or read TV and HD forums. A simple email to their HD customers would be nice. But I am always happy to see them add new channels. I don't regularly watch any of the new channels but it is great the Comcast is constantly adding to their HD lineup.

DCT700

Over the past few months we have been having some problems with the TV in our bedroom. Intermittently the signal was dropping and it wasn't the normal pixelization that you sometimes see on the digital boxes. This isn't my High Def TV where I have the DVR installed. It is just a basic 27" Panasonic tube that I have owned for over 10 years. I was really hoping it was the TV that was going as I would love to get an LCD for the bedroom but I just couldn't justify it if the TV was still working fine.

So I figured the problem was most likely with the box so I popped over to the local Comcast office to get a replacement box. I was a little surprised when the tech brought out one of these:

It is another Motorola box: model number DCT700. What surprised me about it is the size. It is 5-1/2 inches wide 6-1/2 inches long and under 2 inches high. The specs say that it has the same features as the larger basic digital boxes. The obvious difference is there is no readout on the front for channel or time which has taken us a little getting used to as we used our cable box as a clock in the morning. I also noticed that the box emits a high frequency buzz. I can hear it but my wife cannot so maybe it is just me.

Overall though I am pretty happy with it. The size allows us to save some space on the shelf and I am not having the signal dropping problems that I was having with the old box. So I guess I am stuck with my 27" tube for a few more years.

Comcast Drops Pivot

I got a letter in the mail a couple weeks ago that Comcast will be discontinuing the Pivot / Sprint Cell phone plan effective June 25, 2008.

I was a bit disappointed with this news as one of the reasons I signed up with the service was to bundle my cell phone service with my cable bill. One less bill was really appealing, but the main reason I signed up was the price was about $10 cheaper per month that what I was paying with Verizon.

Current Pivot customers have the choice to continue their service with Sprint for the same price or drop the service without incurring any early termination fees. As an extra incentive to stay with Sprint they are offering one month of free service if you do stay with them.

I did a little research on the current cost and features of plans in my area (New England) and decided to stick with Sprint. For the basic family plan that I am using Verizon appears to be about $10 more than Sprint. Cingular is the same price but does offer rollover minutes but friends that have the service in my area report spotty service. The free month helps and I am not in any rush to buy new cell phones after having my current phones for 6 months.

So overall I am not real happy with the switch but based on the issues I had with Pivot billing and my conversations with billing support I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Free McAfee Anti Virus

Many people may not be aware that if you you use Comcast for your Internet they give you McAfee Security Suite for free. Buying off the shelf will cost you $120. Buying Anti virus software every couple years can be pretty expensive and then you have to keep renewing in order to get the latest virus definitions. This is a pretty nice feature for Comcast to offer although it probably saves them money in the long run as I assume they get less calls from people whose Internet has stopped working because they got a virus.

Not sure exactly what the licensing rules are if you own multiple PCs but I was able to install the software on my desktop and laptop without an issue.

As far as how good McAfee is compared to other antivirus software I am not sure that there is a consensus. I did a quick google search for "best antivirus software" and came up with numerous best of lists. Most had Mcafee on their lists none at the top though, every list had their own idea of what was the best. From my personal experience I have also used Norton, which seemed to slow my PC down quite a bit. It also installed some software that I was never able to uninstall.

In the two years that I have been using McAfee I haven't had any problems. For the price it really can't be beat.

Comcast HDTV Service

I first signed up for Comcast's High Definition service back in 2002. I can remember my first few months with the new HD box the reception was really bad. The picture would get really pixelated or would just go black once in a while. This lasted for a few months until it slowly disappeared. I assumed they were just working out the kinks, that is the price you pay for being an early adopter. When the picture did come in and I had people over they were really blown away by the picture. This was back when not too many people had HD so it was still pretty new for most people. Back then I think I only had 3 or 4 channels. One of the channels would only broadcast scenes of flowers blowing in the breeze. Nice channel to show people what HD is all about but a pretty useless channel otherwise. I think they have done away with that channel or at least have some better programming now, it might have been the PBS channel.

Over the years Comcast has done a pretty good job of adding a few new channels a year. In my area (New England) there are 35 available HD channels. I currently get 30 based on the package I subscribe to. I think it is a pretty good deal based on what you pay. Comcast has raised the price of their HD package over the years but I think only by a few dollars. I think they are currently charging $8.99 for the service. These are the Channels available in my area:

• PBS
• CBS
• ABC
• NBC
• WMUR
• National Geographic
• Discovery Channel
• Fox
• MTV
• TBS
• HGTV
• TNT
• USA
• A & E
• WSBK
• HD Theater
• CNN
• Weatherscan
• Golf / Versus
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• NESN
• Comcast Sports Network New England
• NFLHD
• Food Network
• WLVI
• Sci Fi
• Animal Planet
• Cinemax
• HBO
• History Channel
• Starz
• Showtime
• INHD

Comcast also makes much of their High Definition content available OnDemand thus their claim they offer the most hours of HD programming. Note that they don't say the most channels just the most programming as they are including all of their On demand stuff. Direct TV appears to have the most channels at over 90 according to their website. Though most of the channels I wouldn't have much interest in anyway. The other option in my area is Verizon FIOS which appears to have around 25 HD channels. Overall I am pretty happy with the amount I pay for the programs I get from Comcast. As long as Comcast stays competitive price-wise and keeps adding new channels every year I don't see myself switching to Verizon or Satellite anytime soon.