Pollywogs!

So, you may or may not know that Comcast has a hard limit of 250GB of data download a month (I assume it is download and not total transfer).  You exceed that once, you get a note saying ‘Don’t do that again.’  You do it again, and they shut off your internet for a year.  Incredible, yes.  Absurd, yes…

I only learned of this recently, and decided to check our usage (long story made short, I managed to use some social engineering and lax Comcast security to gain access to the Comcast account we access the internet through).   Guess what I found (with me being through season three of Battlestar Galactica streaming HD via netflix on my computer, Kelley streaming SD content to our TV, and all the other internet browsing that goes on over our network)…

171GB in February.  237GB in March.  214GB in April.  Perilously close…I was four episodes of BSG away from getting the letter in March!

So, I decided to drop Comcast a short note.  I’m sure it’ll quickly reach the digital equivalent of the circular file, but at least I pissed in the wind….

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This is concerning your fixed 250GB cap with no option of adding additional GB of data transfer.  I wanted to express my displeasure that the only result for a customer exceeding the limit more than once is having their service disconnected.  In the majority of places (by area, not by density) cable internet is the only option.  Living in Pennsylvania, the majority of the state is not covered by DSL or other high speed options.
In 2008, 250GB may have seemed like a reasonably high cap.  In 2011, it is perilously close to being inadequate.  Our household has come very close to exceeding it in the previously three months.  Between a Netflix enabled Wii, a Roku box that streams SD video to a TV, computers that stream HD content from Netflix and Hulu, and normal day-to-day browsing and gaming, 250GB is simply not enough.
Before streaming HD video content became widespread, it was adequate.   Today, in 2011, it is simple unacceptable.
If we stream two or three hours of SD content on our Roku and Wii, and an hour or so of HD content on our computer, we blow through our 250GB through streaming video ALONE, BEFORE ANY OTHER BROWSING.
Please, address this outrage and either raise the cap to something that allows for HD video streaming, or allow customers to add 50GB blocks for $5 a month when they exceed the 250GB limit.
This is 2011 and we live in the United States.  We should have the best broadband in the world.  Instead, we have one option…an option that will effectively revoke our internet access for a YEAR if we use our service a few hours a day.