Fuck You Comcast

The Net Neutrality debate is about to heat up again, as Comcast strong arms Netflix's delivery company, Level 3, into paying higher fees to deliver content that Comcast's internet subscribers have requested.

Comcast is using its monopoly status to exact rents from Level 3 and Netflix. Many people in this country have no option when choosing an ISP. In my town, only Time Warner is available. Since there is little to no competition in the ISP arena, Comcast is able to extract unreasonable fees from content providers.

Comcast subscribers are already paying for the bandwidth, that's what their monthly payment is for. But Comcast wants to squeeze more money out of their crooked system by charging companies like Level 3 extra to provide content that Comcast customers have requested.

Internet customers are paying to have the data they want delivered to them. Had Level 3 not given in to Comcast's demands, Comcast would have breached their agreement with their subscribers by blocking Netflix content. They can do this because they know their subscribers have no other options for broadband internet.

It's a racket, it's anti-competitive, it's anti-net-neutrality, and it is illegal. The FCC needs to do it's job and prevent monopolies like Comcast from controlling what their customers can and can't get online.

Comcast Buys NBC from GE

The future of television content distribution is happening inside Comcast. They know that owning the content they broadcast is good business, as it cuts out several layers between production and broadcast. That's why they bought a struggling NBC.

In a joint statement announcing the agreement, Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said the deal was “a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform ‘anytime, anywhere’ media that American consumers are demanding.” The deal’s genesis lies in frequent flirtations over the last several years between Comcast and General Electric, although serious talks began in March. For Comcast, the purchase is the realization of its long-held ambition to be a major producer of television shows and movies.

Key words: anytime, anywhere. This is the future of television, where having TV means being to watch a show anytime, and anywhere, and this acquisition brings us one step closer.

This announcement comes in the wake of Comcast's recent PR problems, where they have been repudiated for data caps and prejudicial traffic shaping.

We shall see if the Net Neutrality proponents' doomsday scenario comes true, and Comcast begins slowing competitor traffic to boost the ratings for NBC. Something tells me they're smarter than than to attempt maneuver like that, as the public eye is squarely focused on their ethics, as well as their network.

Screw Net Neutrality, The Internet Regulates Itself

Yesterday, I came across a story about Comcast, the nation's 2nd largest cable provider. The story surrounds a Comcast FCC filing concerning a bandwidth throttling scheme to slow down bandwidth hogs in order to preserve the network for other customers.

Its network throttling implements a two-tier packet queueing system at the routers, driven by two trigger conditions.

Comcast's first traffic throttling trigger is tripped by using more than 70 per cent of your maximum downstream or upstream bandwidth for more than 15 minutes.

Its second traffic throttling trigger is tripped when the Cable Modem Termination System you're hooked-up to – along with up to 15,000 other Comcast subscribers – gets congested, and your traffic is somehow identified as being responsible.

Tripping either of Comcast's high bandwidth usage rate triggers results in throttling for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilisation rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes.

Basically, if you max out your bandwidth for over 15 minutes straight, Comcast will slow you down. That's trigger one. Trigger two occurs when your actions on the internet are congesting your local node. After both triggers, you will be slowed down for 15 minutes.

The blogosphere, on a hair trigger after Comcast's last foray into throttling, spread this story like wildfire after it popped up on Slashdot. Cooler heads paid attention to the date of the original story, which was nearly a year ago.

This system, launched in January of 2009, replaced Comcast's old tactic of using forged TCP packets to throttle upstream P2P traffic for all users, all the time. The new system is actually an improvement, but Comcast's beating yesterday continued.

Electronista joined in, posting a story proclaiming Comcast's throttling as new. They amusingly linked to the Inquirer without giving Slashdot any finder's credit, or noticing the story's ripeness. Pretty soon even our forums started to fill up with posts from confused Comcast users (1, 2) suddenly outraged by a year old change. At this point, entire legions of Internet users were outraged by -- a twelve month old improvement.

To refresh for those who apparently haven't been paying attention: Comcast's old network management techniques included booting users off the network for excessive consumption without defining "excessive," and forging TCP packets to screw up everybody's upstream connections. Comcast's new throttling system was implemented in January of 2009 and combines a clear 250GB month cap with a throttling system that only temporarily targets heavy users on congested nodes.

The reason we don't need any new Net Neutrality legislation is because we are perfectly willing and able to regulate ISPs ourselves.

Comcast's last attempt to throttle their network was a violation of existing law. Their recent throttling scheme, though actually an improvement, still elicited a strong, if somewhat misguided, backlash.

Comcast is in good company though, as they are not the only ISP to feel the sting of consumer scorn. Time Warner Cable attempted to roll out a new tiered pricing scheme, but was thoroughly rejected by consumers.

Consumers are paying attention. They will take the necessary steps to ensure no company hinders the Internet. And they will do a better job of it than the government.

Existing legislation has proven sufficient for the FCC to regulate the internet. I'm going to agree with the Father of the Internet and say we need no new Net Neutrality laws at this time.