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Proposed Bandwidth Cap Looms Over Gamers

by Chris Faylor, May 08, 2008 10:41am PDT
Related Topics – Internet Rage, PC Gaming

North American internet provider Comcast is evaluating a monthly bandwidth cap and charging users that exceed the limit, according to dslreports.com.

At present, the company is considering a download cap of 250GB a month, with a $15 charge for every 10GB that exceed the limit. The plan is similar to that of several international internet providers, which set a bandwidth cap and slow a user's connection once that limit is reached.

While Comcast claims the 250GB limit is said to only affect 0.1% of users, it would set a precedent that could allow internet providers to begin to establish lower bandwidth caps and restrict uploads as well. That might have an effect on gamers, especially as the industry shifts further towards digital distribution.

Valve's Steam service allows users to download full games measuring several gigabytes in size. An HD movie downloaded from Microsoft's online Xbox Live Marketplace typically weighs in at 4.5GB.

"Comcast is currently evaluating this service and pricing model to ensure we deliver a great online experience to our customers," said Comcast spokesman Charlie Dougla. "We have not made any changes to our current service offerings and have no new announcement to make at this time."

It should be noted that just playing multiplayer games all day really won't get you close to that 250GB limit. This just opens the door towards limits that may.


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Comments

27 Threads | 89 Comments
  • #74
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    By: jarek99 x
    Reply
    The real problem is going to be the millions of homes in america with wireless routers that use the default settings. My friend lives in an apartment complex and has been leeching free internet for years this way. Should someone else be forced to pay for his download habits? Then you open the door for neighbors to start suing each other over that shit. You can say "well those dumbasses should learn to secure their wireless connections, but not everyone is tech savvy. My dad for example, is a complete computer idiot and will never catch on no matter how much I try to teach him even the simplest of concepts. Comcast will also have to provide users with some way of checking their traffic with frequently updated and accurate information so they can stop themselves from going over the limit. This idea causes way more problems than its worth.
    May 08, 2008 7:01pm PDT
  • #63
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    By: TheMongbat x
    Reply
    Too many optional providers out there. I would suspect the countries with DL caps are probably set up with their broadband along the lines of the Euro cell system. That is, the elites figured out what they were going to implement, and free markets be damned. It's opened up quite a bit since then.

    For the Americans, however, I suspect that if the cap ever becomes a big impediment, then folks will reply with their wallets, and go to the phone companies.

    If they all implement caps, then I will expect some go-getters will file price-fixing suits. I can imagine that there'd be a pretty strong case for it.
    May 08, 2008 2:25pm PDT