Remember back then, when we tried and achieved Net Neutrality, with our online petitions, because we were afraid big cable would take advantage of us, so they could jack up our cable rates? Big cable & Telecom companies are trying hard to reverse the decision so they can get the fast track in the internet, so they can charge customers more, for speedier internet.
Well, now Comcast has taken it upon themselves to try and limit their customers streaming time, on Netflix, by putting a maximum on how much they can stream from Netflix. Of course they aren’t going to put any limit on their own streaming service!
Comcast Corp. customers used to be able to binge on all the Netflix and YouTube videos they wanted without repercussions. Now many are being put on a video diet.
In a growing number of cities, the nation’s largest cable company has begun imposing extra fees on Internet customers who use what it considers excessive amounts of data. The move could bring in new revenue to offset losses from cord-cutters dropping pay-TV service to stream videos online.
The strategy poses risks. In 2008, Time Warner Cable Inc. tried to limit customers’ Internet use then dropped the plan the next year after a public backlash. Comcast has also faced questions from regulators about why its own streaming service doesn’t count toward subscriber data limits, as well as complaints from customers and online video providers.
Sooooo…….just give us what we want, we won’t cheat customers on their bills each month. OOps! But we can still limit how much data you are using, put you on a binge diet of Netflix and Utube video watching and charge you extra fees, for using too much data! Isn’t that great! It’s only fair to the other customers (since when are you so concerned about being fair to your customers?) who are paying, but not using their service as much as you. Snark!
“It leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” said Jonathan Strong, 33, a finance manager in Charleston, South Carolina. His family -- including three children who watch Netflix every night -- goes over the data limit every month, resulting in as much as $20 in extra charges, he said. “It feels like we’re getting punished for our normal use.”
In almost all of Comcast’s test markets, which include Atlanta, Nashville and Miami, customers who exceed 300 gigabytes a month -- the equivalent of streaming high-definition video five hours a day, by one estimate --pay $10 more for additional increments of 50 gigabytes.
In some cities, Comcast subscribers can pay $30 to $35 more for unlimited data. Those who stay under 5 gigabytes a month -- about 3 hours of streaming high-definition video, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office -- get $5 off their bill. Customers get a three-month grace period before being charged fees.
Oh my! How generous of them! I am sure those customers getting that $5 discount are overwhelmed about all the money they are saving compared to those video junky hogs, who are streaming so much!
Comcast says only a small fraction of customers -- about 8 percent -- exceed the limit, in some cases because their computers are running malicious software without their knowledge. The company says usage-based billing, which is common in the wireless industry, is about fairness. Customers who only use the Internet to check e-mail shouldn’t pay the same as subscribers with bandwidth-heavy Web habits like online video games, file-sharing or binge-watching Web videos, the company says.
Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts likens it to buying more gasoline after driving long distances or paying higher electricity bills for running the air conditioner.
Sure, I can see that! What an ideal comparison! How about your customers who are forced to take a bunch of channels they don’t ever watch, just so they can get the ones they do watch and make them pay more? Well hey, you are getting over 120 channels, isn’t that fantastic? You say you only have a few channels you watch and only want to watch them and you have no interest in the other channels. Yah! But just think of all those channels that would be there, just in case you wanted to watch them? It's 120 freakin channels man, ain't that remarkable!
Are you letting your cable customers pick and choose what channels they want to watch, since they aren’t viewing all those other channels? Of course not! Why would you let your customers get their cable bill down to more reasonable levels, when you can rip the shit out of them and suck up every last penny, from them, which you can get!
You can’t stand seeing your customers pull the plug and going with streaming services, so they don’t have to put up with your bull shit. You are in a tizzy because more of your customers are leaving cable, than are joining. To add insult to injury your ex-customer is subscribing to a streaming service, like Netflix or Amazon Prime, where they can pick and choose what they want to watch, without being forced to take more channels, to get their favorite channels and being charged a lot more!
So with the new customers, who don’t realize how bad your service is, convince them to take your service, then spread the popular channels into higher tiers, forcing your new customers to take even more channels, they will never watch. And then, as a bonus, provide rotten customer service insulting customers who call in, then put a cherry on top, change their name to some vulgar word, to just twist that blade of the knife a little more to show them just how much you don’t care for your customer!
Customers of Philadelphia-based Comcast aren’t alone. About one-fourth of U.S. Internet subscribers have data plans that charge extra for heavy usage, according to Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. AT&T Inc.’s subscribers have different usage limits based on their Internet speed. Cox Communications Inc., the fourth-largest cable operator, is testing a strategy similar to both Comcast and AT&T’s on customers in the Cleveland area who go over their monthly data allotment. Time Warner Cable offers discounts to light Internet users, according to Moffett.
Hoping to appease consumer advocates, Charter Communications Inc. has pledged not to place any limits on customers’ broadband data for three years if regulators approve its merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks LLC.
Oh how generous Charter! You filed bankruptcy, in northern Wisconsin then sold part of your northern Wisconsin territory, to Packerland Broadband and Time Warner out of Green Bay. Now you are trying to sweeten the pot, to get your merger approved!
Just how much are you going to charge your customers once that 3 years are up? Are you going to stick with it, or will you do like many other companies do, when they get what they want, they all of a sudden forgot what they promised. What’s to say you won’t jump in and try to do what Comcast is doing now?
“It’s something we’re quite concerned about,” Lynch said in an interview. Comcast’s 300 gigabyte limit is “very restrictive” and “clearly designed to discourage customers from using over- the-top services,” he said, using the term for online video.
Last month, Netflix said its engineers are adapting movies and TV shows available on its service so customers use less bandwidth. Anne Marie Squeo, a spokeswoman for Netflix, declined to comment on Comcast’s strategy.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which regulates pay-TV providers, hasn’t taken a position on usage-based pricing. Last year, the agency said such pricing may benefit consumers by offering them more options, calling it “an unresolved debate” that it will address on a case-by-case basis.
The FCC said in a December letter it wants “to ensure that we have all the facts” about Comcast’s new Stream TV service, which lets customers watch some programming on laptops, tablets and phones and doesn’t count toward their data allotments.
Lynch said that omission may violate an agreement Comcast made to not favor its own services over others and treat all Web traffic equally. Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said Stream TV runs over the same network as cable service, which isn’t subject to the same rules as Internet traffic.
“Users hate wireline data caps because they create artificial scarcity that increases the cost of getting online,” said Noah Theran, a spokesman for the Internet Association, a Washington trade group that represents companies including Netflix and Google Inc.’s YouTube. “To make matters worse, limited competition in the high-speed broadband market means users often have nowhere else to turn for a better deal.”
Yup! That’s what Comcast and other Telecom companies want to do, eliminate the competition, so they can charge what they want and the customers has no choice but to accept it, if they want the service.