On October 1, Comcast Will Break the Internet


Starting on October 1, Comcast will put monthly limits on Internet use by its broadband customers. Download more than 250 gigabytes in a month, and you’ll get a call from Comcast, telling you to cut it out. Do it enough times and they’ll cut you off. Others have appropriately excoriated this imbecilic move. I’ll just add that as a Comcast customer, I would be utterly thrilled to get enough consistent throughput to be capable of getting anywhere near 250GB in a month.

The other thing I’m curious about—and this isn’t Comcast-mockery, this is genuine curiosity—is why they don’t put a line on everyone’s bill saying what their usage was in the last month. People well under 250GB wouldn’t have to live in fear of that phone call from the Network Police. People using more would have some warning; they could actually, you know, moderate their usage in advance. How about it, Comcast?