Comcast Limiting Residential Internet

John Strope describes himself as a heavy internet user.

“I'm on the internet constantly surfing the web, checking e-mail doing all that,” says Strope. As a Comcast customer with his habits he says it'll be tough to reach that cap.

“You would have to download roughly 60,000 songs a month, roughly 100 hours of video or send 50 million e-mail messages in order to exceed that cap,” says Michal “Webby” Douglas. He runs Web Operations.net. He says Comcast sets a big precedent. Douglas says people keep downloading bigger files with 10-megapixel cameras and online video. Douglas says it's strange that Comcast isn't giving users a tool to monitor their own use.

“It's like the phone or water company giving you a bill without you knowing how much you used,” says Douglas. While most users will probably never hit that bandwidth cap some are just upset that something they thought of as unlimited has come to an end

“The internet may be infinite, but the on ramps and the connectivity that's required to get you there certainly can't be unlimited forever it's like unlimited water or electricity, at some point you have to pay for what you use,” says Douglas. Comcast officials say bandwidth limits have been in place for months, but this is the first time they're going public with a specific number. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi hardware at home, like the I-phone, users like John Strope see that bar eventually getting passed.

“Downloading a lot of movies online you know I do see it coming into play down the road,” says Strope. Comcast officials say the first violation of the bandwidth cap will result in a phone call request to limit internet use. After a second violation is six months, Comcast officials say they reserve the right to suspend service.