Comcast Bans Seattle Man From Internet for His Cloudy Ways

[n2doc]

By Ryan Singel July 13, 2011 | 4:20 pm |

The end of the internet comes not with a bang or a procession of four lolcats of the apocalypse, but just with two blinking lights on a modem.

At least that’s how it came for Andre Vrignaud, a 39-year-old gaming consultant in Seattle, when Comcast shut him off from the internet Monday for using too much data.

Vrignaud, it seems, committed the foul of using more than 250 GB of data on Comcast two months in a row, triggering the company’s overage policy that results in a year-long ban from using its services.

“It’s one of those things I never thought would hit me,” Vrignaud said. “They didn’t even call. I just got double blinking lights on my modem.”

“If I’d been foolish enough to depend on something like Skype or some other VOIP service for 911, I would have been hosed,” Vrignaud said, arguing that internet service has become a utility much like water and electricity — services that can’t easily be turned off, due to regulations.

more

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/07/seattle-comcast/

[lunatica]

1. god giveth and god taketh away

[joshcryer]

2. Currently at 59GB.

And I am obsessively downloading things...

[Recursion]

3. My datacenter rack (6 servers) uses less than that

That dude must have some serious pr0n...

[Celebration]

4. as pointed out in the responses to this article

The problem really isn't with the caps, it is with the monopoly or oligopoly pricing and rules. If we all had six or seven different companies to choose among, this would sort itself out. I haven't come close to that limit but I think the guy was uploading raw photos onto Carbonite, not knowing that the uploads counted. :eyes:

[suffragette]

5. As more "cloud" services are pushed and more people stream

movies rather than renting dvds, it's likely we'll hear more similar situations.
Especially since corporations like Comcast are all about pushing for a tiered system to rake in more profits.