[IP] Not so fast, broadband providers tell big users

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Date: March 12, 2007 11:45:04 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: Not so fast, broadband providers tell big users


Not so fast, broadband providers tell big users

Firms impose limits even as demand rises

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff  |  March 12, 2007

Amanda Lee of Cambridge received a call from Comcast Corp. in
December ordering her to curtail her Web use or lose her high-speed
Internet connection for a year.

Lee, who said she had been using the same broadband connection for
years without a problem, was taken aback. But when she asked what the
download limit was, she was told there was no limit, that she was
just downloading too much.

Then in mid-February, her Internet service was cut off without
further warning.

For Lee and an increasing number of people, a high-speed Internet
connection is a lifeline to everyday entertainment and communication.
Television networks are posting shows online; retailers are lining up
to offer music and movie downloads; thousands of Internet radio
stations stream music; more people are using WiFi phones; and "over
the top TV," in which channels stream over the Internet, is predicted
to grow.

That means that more customers may become familiar with Comcast's
little-known acceptable-use policy, which allows the company to cut
off service to customers who use the Internet too much. Comcast says
that only .01 percent of its 11.5 million residential high-speed
Internet customers fall into this category.

...

http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2007/03/12/ 
not_so_fast_broadband_providers_tell_big_users/



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