So when you're downloading that Mac OS 250MB update or some movie from the iTunes store or a bunch of back TV episodes from iTMS (which total in the GBs), you'll see your speed drop? Seriously?

So what you're saying is that you're updating your Mac and getting 30 TV shows at one time? Wow. Of course, since you're doing that, are you even going to notice it takes 35 minutes rather than 27 minutes?

Being it takes about a minute to download that OS update, and about 1.5 minutes for each 30 minute episode, you'd need to be downloading a ton at one time to even hit the threshold.

There's a reason people pay the extra $10-$30 a month for higher speed access- they want to be able to drastically shorten download times for the somewhat irregular use of legitimate services like these. To disable such abilities defeats the purpose of paying for higher bandwidth.

No, paying the extra gives you extra benefits, like shorter download times, which means you'd be able to download all of what you're complaining about even faster, and possibly before you even hit the 15 minute mark.

Call it what it is: a provider that sold more bandwidth than they actually have, more than they actually can support. It's treading on the line of being a ponzi scheme.

Do you even know what the h*** a Ponzi scheme is? Because I'd like to hear how Comcast's internet service is in any way like a Ponzi scheme.

I love reading the comments of people who say they'll just drop their high-speed access if they all do this. Right, like your local coffeehouse is going to let you use their internet for 3 hours a day. And like they aren't going to have the same issues as all you head there to start downloading your GBs of data you apparently feel you need to download every day, 24/7.

Oh, keep in mind your local coffeehouse, school, library, etc, are not ISPs, and, as such, can throttle, suspend, delay, filter, or do whatever they want with your traffic.

I'm going to guess that much like the 250GB "cap" that may or may not exist, this will be a much-ado-about-nothing (C'mon, have any of you Comcast customers gotten a phone call?) I darn sure have data running through my service 24/7 between working from home and streaming HD often, and I haven't been called. I'm going to really go out on a limb, and guess that the 15-minute rule was based on the extremely small percentage who "abuse" their bandwidth.

Don't get my wrong: I don't have any love for Comcast myself, but even without this, I can't think of anytime that I have maxed out my connection speed for 15 minutes. A 250MB file should download well *under* that timeframe, if you're truly reaching peak speed.

I have watched my Netflix streaming when trying to troubleshoot another issue, and what it appears to do is "max" out the speed, then nothing, then max, then nothing (just buffering, obviously)...so overall, this would likely not trigger your connection to lower speeds.

Even though bits are something we can't physically see, you can only have so much of it. I hardly think telling potential customers, "No, we can't give you Internet service because we don't have enough bandwidth" is good business practice either.

(let's see how many thumbs down flags I get, LOL)

I thought people, esp. you testy, would know what a ponzi scheme is and could see how this almost crosses the line.

A recent ponzi scheme, when really boiled down, consisted of first getting a few investors' money and using that to pay dividends to those people and further investors while the actual worth of the product or stock being nil. As long as enough people keep their assets in the game, dividends can be paid and the remainder can be used for future payments or whatever Ponzi wants.

The Comcast situation is like this in that people think their bandwidth will offer them 100% or close to it whenever they need it. The truth is, if enough people want to use it all at a close enough time, Comcast can't handle it (hence their need for throttling).

My point when using this metaphor was to show that 1.5 Mbps doesn't really mean 1.5 Mbps, much like when selling hard drives 250GB really meant 244 GB and some change (until they recently changed the official definition). It's false advertising and a slap in the face when users graduate to actually needing that bandwidth they thought they might need in the future, paying for the elbow-room just in case, and don't really have it.

For people who point out that at 70% speed, it only takes 1.43 times as long to grab big files and one shouldn't complain, you obviously haven't needed to grab a download before leaving a location in a hurry, or had to wait for an update during business hours leaving you unable to do work in that time period. Time is money, and under this model, you're *definitely* not getting what you paid for.

Kind of makes you feel sorry for those poor people who only have one provider option - Comcast.

So if you manage to use 70% of your theoretical bandwidth for 15 minutes they will make your packets the lowest priority (except for other folks in your position) for the next 15 minutes.

This might explain the spotty connections we get at our high school. We have a free cable modem as part of the cable monopoly agreement that Comcast signed with the town. It was fine until the last few months and now we see strange slowdowns. Annoying since the main use is when most folks aren't at home using their modems and the students get the short end of the stick.

At least we pay for Verizon FiOS as well and most of our traffic is routed through that, so it's just the unlucky few who get hit by Comcast's filters.

But for home users you better not want to stream HD movies unless your neighborhood has already switched to other providers....downloads at full speed for 15 minutes then potentially 15 minutes of nothing. Kind of hard to watch a show or movie that way....

Comcast $uck$.

In the last six months it been pretty clear that streaming media will become a major competitor to Cable. Very similar to plain old telephones verses VOIP in recent years. P.O.T. lines have been dramatically cut in the last 5 years, it looks like cable was going the same way with significant movement towards Netflix or Amazon download service. Pretty stupid of Comcast because unlike P2P traffic which is mostly illegal this legal and will be seen as anti competitive. I can see one h*** of a lawsuit coming comcasts way for fair practices. They spent all that money on traffic shaping only not to be able to use it in a year or two because they lost so many lawsuit for anti competitive behavior have them spending all their money on lawyers.