Monday, Sep 10, 2007    Text size: 

Earlier reports stated that Comcast refused to reveal to customers and media outlets its download limits, but Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas told XBIZ that the company does not have an official "too much" number.

Instead, he said, Comcast's acceptable use policy states that an individual will not restrict, inhibit or degrade any other user's experience or put an overly large burden on the network.

"Those rules have been in place for years and it's very clear," Douglas said. "We're not looking specifically at what they're doing, we're not looking at what website they're going to. We're just looking at overall bandwidth [use]."

However, some users are calling Comcast's disconnection a punishment.

Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, Md., said her connection was suspended in March after the company alerted her that she and her son were using too much bandwidth. She said the two cut back on usage, but still were disconnected.

She said she thought Comcast's Internet use was unlimited.

Douglas said that the acceptable use policy clearly states what constitutes an "excessive user," and when a customer is identified as such, Comcast calls and asks them to moderate their usage.

If the customer continues to use high amounts of bandwidth, Douglas said, he or she is given the option to upgrade to a commercial account. Disconnection is a last resort.

"Seventy-five percent of the time when we call, they do moderate," Douglas said.

However, some say Comcast's policy is too vague and that the company's rules are unfair.

"They're cutting service off to the people who want to use it the most," said Bob Williams, director of HearUsNow.org, a consumer website run by Consumers Union.

Douglas said there are times Comcast discovers that customers either are using its services to host a server from home — which is against policy for residential accounts — or were unknowingly spammed or hacked.

Douglas said that excessive bandwidth users make up less than one-tenth of a percent of Comcast's customers, and the company is equipped to handle the exponential increase in Internet use that most cable companies have experienced in the past six years.

"We want 100 percent of all our customers to have the best broadband experience possible," Douglas said. "It is [in] very rare instances that this is occurring. We are trying to protect the experience for 99.99 percent of everybody else."