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Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era

Though limits affect only 1% now, high-def video will change that

By Caroline Miller, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 2, 2008 4:33 PM CDT

(Newser) – With Comcast setting a limit on Internet usage beginning next month, the end of the Internet as we know it may be at hand, as ISPs move toward usage-based models like public utilities. Comcast, the second-largest US Internet provider, was careful to say that the bandwidth limit is so high—250 gigabytes per month—it won't affect 99% of customers. But "today's bandwidth hog is tomorrow's average user," one critic tells ABC.

The 250GB limit is the equivalent of 125 standard-def movies, Comcast notes, but high-def video will blow that out of the water. "If a cap had been imposed on the top 10% of Internet users in 1997, many Internet innovations of today would likely not exist," says a civil-liberties advocate. Time Warner Cable and Frontier Communications both have imposed lower usage limits.

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Comcast has imposed a usage cap on its customers, marking the close of the unlimited Internet era and drawing criticism from proponents of a free Web. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Enjoy Web video? Comcast's usage cap only affects users consuming massive amounts of bandwidth, but as HD video becomes more common on the Web, it may affect more and more average Web users. (AP Photo/Funny or Die Inc.)

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The company's decision amounts to metered billing and, if that's the case, it should provide a tool so consumers can monitor their usage. 'If they are going to behave like a utility, shouldn't they be treated like one?'
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I think that's going to be something that consumers are not going to be particularly happy about. But they might not have many options for recourse. - Doug Williams, analyst with Jupiter Research

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Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era