[rudle]

> My opinion on all this is simple. The ability to access broadband internet is a right, and should be defined as an essential utility.

Yawn... first world problems.

Broadband is assuredly not your "right", it's a privilege. If the terms of the contract are broken (and they were, twice) you have very little recourse.

More to the point, get a Comcast business line. You will get hassled less, and I hear it may actually be unlimited.

[fuzzmeister]

I would agree with your argument if the broadband market were actually competitive. The author has no legitimate options for broadband besides Comcast, meaning Comcast can do essentially anything it wants to him. That is not the way a capitalist economy should work.

[Thangorodrim]

Actually, that is the way capitalist economies work in reality.

This is a lot of crying for attention. If he wants to have a commercial use case, he should get a commercial circuit.

[Locke1689]

You have made a logical fallacy sometimes known as the is-ought fallacy or is-ought problem.

The key point is that the parent is stating that things ought to work a certain way. While your statement that things are a certain way may be true, it is actually a non sequitur in relation to the ought proposal.

If you wish to make a cogent argument you'll need to address the ought section of his argument or connect your "is" statement to be no longer orthogonal.

[chopsueyar]

As much as I loathe Comcast...

Unfortunately, I have to agree with this, as the author of the post stated, "I work as a entertainment industry consultant, and depend on cloud services such as Dropbox, Simplenote, Google Apps, and Google Docs for day to day work. I use streaming online services such as Netflix, Xbox Live, Playstation Network, and Pandora every day for both work and play."

Okay, so get a business class account, and Comcast will not throw a fit when you completely saturate your residential neighborhood upload link.

Unfortunately, it is a 2-year minimum contract with an install fee over $200. However, sign up for a 4-year contract and installation is waived.

He could also have two cable modems, one residential account in the roommate's name and a business account in his business's name.

[fuzzmeister]

While I agree that he should pay for a commercial plan if he has a commercial use case, having one provider is certainly not the way the market should work.

[mgurlitz]

Why is using more than 250GB of data a commercial use case? The author thinks his personal interests in photography and music are what topped the cap. I doubt Google Docs and his other work services would even show up on his bandwidth compared to Netflix and XBox Live.

Consumers shouldn't have to upgrade to a business plan, paying for business-class support, a static IP, and other features they don't need. Comcast would probably end up making more money and saving a lot of face if they had a plan with sane limits for people who live on digital media.

[rbritton]

I have a Comcast business line. While I've never tested the unlimitedness of it, it does have its own sets of pros and cons:

    + Constant, consistent price. There are no promo deals of any sort.
    - More expensive by $15-20 per month.
    + Cable modem is provided (they call it the Comcast Business Gateway) at no additional charge.
    - They call all of the freaking time trying to upsell you on voice service. Seriously, like 6-7 times per week. I finally blocked their number from being able to dial my phone.
    + TV is "only" $5 per month more for the basic channel lineup

[reduxredacted]

Just decided to check on the unlimitedness... My father's company has Comcast Business Internet and I setup their network. I think they have 15 employees, 5-6 of which would regularly be using a computer/internet connection.

The Buffalo DD-WRT router they're plugged into---Comcast gives you their own, but I wasn't trusting of a router that they likely had remote access to, so I installed an inner network---indicates that he's been doing a little over 500GB of transfer per month for the last five months. I haven't heard of any problems with him getting notices of going over (but I am going to have to ping him about those numbers... they're a manufacturing outfit and I don't think anyone there knows what a cloud service is ... most likely they're unwittingly becoming a cloud service for a botnet).

[Dylan16807]

It's as much of a right as telephone access is. In this sort of utility situation they shouldn't be able to cut off a paying customer.

[ChuckMcM]

The phone company can (and does) cut off people who violate their terms of service. Basically he needs to re-negotiate his terms of service, which means getting a business account. Its more expensive but he won't be 'capped'.

I'm surprised the Comcast guy didn't try to sell it to him.

[codebot]

It's clearly not a right, as far as I know getting electricity isn't a right either. One could argue that Broadband should be a public utility, but even then there would likely be caps and streaming video would probably be a "less important" use of said utility.

[pavel_lishin]

> as far as I know...

How far is that?

[Goronmon]

Yawn... first world problems.

I wish I could slap you...

[rudle]

Why?

I was turned off by the American view point of this post.

I can't even stream Netflix in my country, and this guy is complaining that he can't watch 250GB of it?!

[Goronmon]

Two main reasons.

1. Your response is a solid way to avoid having an intelligent discussion. As you start out with the equivalent of "stop bitching". What good does that to other than antagonize people?

2. The whole "first world problems" thing is a huge pet peeve of mine. Firstly, following that logic, the only person allowed to complain about anything is literally the one person with the most miserable existence on earth. Secondly, why would we want to accept any apparent negatives in our community/society/country on the grounds that "Hey, it could be worse." How is that a useful stance to take? Why is it wrong to want to improve upon ones current situation?

[chopsueyar]

So threatening to "slap" him is elevating the level of discourse?

[Goronmon]

A fair criticism, and no, that comment definitely does not help matters.

[sukuriant]

had you expounded upon it it would, though