MadHatter
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Posts: 1346
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Maine
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Comcast & FTP
This bunch is screwing me. I got a letter from them recently about "excessive" bandwidth
use. The 250 GB per month limit applies to only to residential customers. I need
options because I don't want to lose the service. I tried a website service once but there
was no way to protect the files from deletion on a shared server and they gave me some
shit about needing copyright "permission" - clearly an indication that they were
auditing the FTP files. So I let the website expire. Any reasonable option will be
considered.
The worst part is that recently they won their court case against the FCC about "net
neutrality" allowing them control access any way they want. This includes reducing customers'
bandwidth and restricting access to other websites. It came about because of BitTorrent
file sharing. 
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
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So you're going over 250 GB a month? Do you know how much over? There are programs that will monitor your net bandwidth usage, in case Comcast won't
give you exact numbers. It's not an ideal solution, but you could just run the FTP each month until you've used 80% (or however much) of your quota,
then disable the service until the next cycle.
Do you think the FTP service is using most of your bandwidth, or do you do other high-bandwidth activities like using bittorrent, streaming video,
etc.? If the FTP isn't your largest bandwidth sink there may be ways to reduce the impact of other activities and so free up some of the data quota.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
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JohnWW
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That Federal District Court judgement, to which MadHatter refers, will CERTAINLY be appealed by the FCC, probably all the way to the U$ $upreme Court,
because of the great principles and potentially money at stake, and because the judgement appears to be contrary to established law in the form of the
First Amendment (re freedom of speech and information) and anti-trust legislation.
To reduce data transfer traffic, one thing that could be done is to compress files on the FTP as much as possible. While many files may already be
compressed as RAR or ZIP archives, there are no doubt others that could also be. Besides, I have found that 7Zip archiving compression, as .7Z
archives, offers substantially superior compression to even WinRAR, which itself can open (but not create) .7Z archives, as well as open and create
.RAR and .ZIP archives. (I think 7Zip is available from www.7zip.com ).
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watson.fawkes
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Quote: Originally posted by JohnWW  | | [...] because the judgement appears to be contrary to established law in the form of the First Amendment (re freedom of speech and information) and
anti-trust legislation. |
Free speech law in the US refers primarily to a restriction of public (=gov't)
action against speech, not private action against speech. There are times when restrictions against the government can be extended to private
restrictions in cases where there is an unavoidably common interest; radio is the canonical example of that principle. The court decision said that
the FCC was not granted the right to extend restrictions to the private entities operating cable networks, under the argument that the kind of
commonality inherent in radio is not present with cable. Furthermore, even with restrictions against government action, it's generally the case that
"time, place, and manner" restrictions can be upheld (as long as they're not arbitrary and capricious). This class of restrictions would apply to
protocol-specific bandwidth throttling, which limits time and manner, and even possibly to protocol-specific blocking, under the theory that alternate
protocols remain viable.
The anti-trust argument has no traction, generally, in this field these days, under the theory that cable, DSL, and wireless networks are direct
alternates to each other.
As for the future, I think it would behoove the US Congress to hold that networks in monopoly agreements with the municipal pole operators are using a
public resource in a manner similar to radio. This would include both cable and DSL (telephone outside plant) networks.
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chemrox
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I suspect the argument will go along the lines indicated by watson.hawkes and that Comcast's victory will be temporary. That said, what about
madhatter's FTP in the meantime? Depends on where he's located. I believe there's much competition developing and that comcast's market share will
start declining because of these kinds of actions. Madhatter, are you in area served by Quest? They're trying get customers back and seem to be
laying fibre optic cable all over the place.
"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
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Mush
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http://www.ovh.co.uk/products/dedicated_offers.xml
100 MB/s (dedicated), No data limit, No copyright gestapo (European seedboxes also here).
[Edited on 11-4-2010 by Mush]
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MadHatter
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Bandwidth
Polverone, it is indeed the FTP eating the bandwidth. I do little else on that particular computer
otherwise. As for competition, Verizon DSL seems to be the only other service. They don't even
offer FIOS in my area. Friends of mine have had problems with DSL.
The letter stated that I violated TOS agreements by exceeding 250 GB bandwidth. I'd like to
have an alternative. My uncle almost lost his service for running his business server on
Comcast. Once again, another nasty letter. I'm searching for information on how to regulate
bandwidth usage. BTW, they didn't say how much I exceeded by - only that I did.
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
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| Quote: Originally posted by MadHatter | Polverone, it is indeed the FTP eating the bandwidth. I do little else on that particular computer
otherwise. As for competition, Verizon DSL seems to be the only other service. They don't even
offer FIOS in my area. Friends of mine have had problems with DSL.
The letter stated that I violated TOS agreements by exceeding 250 GB bandwidth. I'd like to
have an alternative. My uncle almost lost his service for running his business server on
Comcast. Once again, another nasty letter. I'm searching for information on how to regulate
bandwidth usage. BTW, they didn't say how much I exceeded by - only that I did. |
If you use that connection almost entirely for the FTP, you can install some bandwidth monitoring software like bitmeter or freemeter on the computer that hosts the FTP. You will need to check it periodically and then manually shut down the FTP for a while if it looks
like you are nearing the monthly limit of 250 GB. Remember to combine upstream and downstream transfers for the total usage.
Do you know how many times different files have been downloaded? I wonder if the popular software that you have is a major contributor to bandwidth
use. You host some things, like Acrobat, that have dozens of other sources, but also scientific publications that are very hard to get anywhere else.
If the stuff that is easily found elsewhere is being downloaded a lot, you might remove it to free up bandwidth for rarer material.
Mush's suggestion sounds great, except it's a lot to pay each month just to do a favor for FTP members.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
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MadHatter
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FTP re-instatement
I finally figured out a way to limit the 250 GB transfer limit on the FTP. I'm still finalizing some
tests(from work as well as home) just to be sure. If all goes well the service will be restored
by 7 PM(EDT) tomorrow(MAY 6) evening. Wish me luck. I'm still pissed at the greedy
bastards for sending me their "OINK" letter but I'll comply to keep the service.
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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MadHatter
International Hazard
Posts: 1346
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Maine
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Mood: Enjoying retirement
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Bandwidth Settings
Most of the bandwidth is dedicated for users who download. There isn't much
uploading anyway. I have to be sure that the combined rates don't exceed
Comcast's montly limit. Still looking for alternatives.
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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Satan
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@MadHatter
Downloading from your FTP is very slow, for me its 3kbps. Is there a way to increase it? Maybe you can sell faster accounts?
I'm posting this here as it's most relevant thread to this issue.
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hkparker
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Yea ive heard a ton of complaint about comcast. I use wave, and Ive gone through about 550GB downloaded/uploaded in a little over a month (mostly
FTP, some P2P) and they didnt seem to mind, so ive been very happy with them. Not sure how their prices compare to comcast.
My YouTube Channel
"Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature." -Michael Faraday
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smuv
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Madhatter, you can log into your comcast account online and in one of the menus in your account it will tell you what your monthly bandwith usage has
been. I hate the stupid bandwidth caps, when I was sharing an appartment with 2 other people who all bittorrented and watched a lot of streaming
movies, we sometimes came pretty close to that cap.
Good Luck.
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