About nps2011

@NoChoice2k15 wrote: @nps2011 wrote: Wow, data usage went from 458 GB last night to 505 GB this afternoon, with most of the household either just doing light browsing or not being anywhere near their computers (e.g. not at home, yard work, cleaning). Who knows, maybe posting this message will take another 10 GB of data?   I looked around my account page and still couldn't find an option to get a breakdown of where the bandwidth is being used - which client computers, which sites, how much per day. Data usage is nowhere to be found in the modem's status/configuration interface. All we get is one number (the total) and no way to understand who/what is contributing to it and to what degree.   Hopefully they aren't including local network traffic by mistake. Download and install glassware, (Google it) it's a firewall/usage monitoring program that shows every IP address, HTML document, packet and file that is downloaded and used with your bandwidth...Everything that Comcast would never show you.   The good news is that we now have our data cap increased to one TB (1024 gb) from the measly 300gb, so at 75mbps it takes only 2-3 weeks to burn through as most web pages are at least 2 MB of data, and THAT'S pages like this, never mind Imgur which you can rack up 10 -12mbs!   I had to downgrade to a $50+$10 modem with a 10 mbps connection, plus the $35 "unlimited plan" which milked me out of $95-per month, vs $79+$10 modem 75mbps connection which comes out to $90, so I just paid more, for less! (Majority of most modern corperation's creed) I do not believe for a second that it was a company decision alone, my guess it had to be due to pressure from the deluge of complaints to the FCC!   ===================Unofficial sig========================================================================== I would also suggest as a general rule that we should never take out our frustrations with this wretched company on those who have absolutely no control in the company,  (Customer service/Tech support) as they already have to deal with the bulk of negative fallout due to their horrific company's anti-consumer executive departments wreaking havoc in this market...     When everyone turned in for the night our data usage was 505 GB. Now it's 536 GB. That's 31 GB overnight with the computers OFF, and total usage is now ~ 200% of what it was the three previous months.   Wow, maybe it would be more straightforward if they rewrote their "you're over your limit" popup to simply say "We're currently experiencing executive difficulties. Please switch to another ISP, or move to an area where our arbitrary data usage rules don't apply."   Thanks for the advice about GlassWire, it's a nifty program. Looks like I'll have to install it on multiple clients though.   Comcast should really be providing bandwidth monitoring services on the modem. Y'know, so we can see what they're charging us for. If I have a question about an item on my auto mechanic's bill, he'll walk over to the vehicle with me, show me what was going on (e.g. worn parts, some problem that developed) and explain what it would have affected and why it was repaired/replaced. Transparency... ... View more

Wow, data usage went from 458 GB last night to 505 GB this afternoon, with most of the household either just doing light browsing or not being anywhere near their computers (e.g. not at home, yard work, cleaning). Who knows, maybe posting this message will take another 10 GB of data?   I looked around my account page and still couldn't find an option to get a breakdown of where the bandwidth is being used - which client computers, which sites, how much per day. Data usage is nowhere to be found in the modem's status/configuration interface. All we get is one number (the total) and no way to understand who/what is contributing to it and to what degree.   Hopefully they aren't including local network traffic by mistake. ... View more

@zoycan wrote: @stephgc wrote: This still doesn't explain why you even have data caps; or usage plans as you call them. Whatever you may think and whatever motivation Comcast has for their policies, bandwidth isn't free. The large percentage of normal users shouldn't have to subsidize the heavy ones. If Customer A uses 50 GB and Customer B uses 300 GB, A is essentially paying part of B's bill, while B continues to complain that they should be able to use even more. If Comcast had rolled out its data caps nationwide, I might've agreed with you. But if customer B is in a no-cap zone, he doesn't have anything to complain about. He can use, say, 2 TB with no extra charge. And then who pays for it? The people complaining in this thread.   It's nice that they are raising the caps to 1 TB. (Though when we originally signed up data was unlimited...so we're upgrading to less, for free - yay!)   I'm not sure why our household data usage is close to 500 GB this month, as opposed to < 300 GB the previous 3 months. Haven't changed usage patterns. I don't even stream HD video since the caps began, considering that comes in at a $10, $20, or $30 monthly fee to Comcast. All the streaming video sites are forced to SD-only. The modem's wifi light never stops flickering wildly, even at midnight when everyone else's asleep. Xfinity wifi is disabled, and all we have are a few phones and kindles that don't see much more than occasional wifi use. I've whitelisted our MAC addresses and will be changing the wifi password (a strong one) in case it was compromised.   I'd like to see a breakdown of data usage on the modem, per client computer, per website, per day. The current usage meter app is nearly useless; it doesn't give customers any tools to show which computers/websites are using the most bandwidth, so that we will know which things to cut back on. Hey, here's a thought. Actually give us some way to see how the charges accumulate before hitting us with them.   What are these fees paying for, I wonder. Customer service is worse than useless. Engrish script-readers. If the modem fails 10 times in a single morning, that's because it's doing a firmware "up-a-date." "Sir, it's up-a-dating." I tell them over and over and over again that this is not normal and I want to report an outage in the area. No go. "Sir, sir ... (long pause) ... the lights blink because it's doing an "up-a-date." They try something and it works fine until a few minutes after I get off the phone with them. An, must be another firmware "up-a-date." Xfinity phone app says no outages reported in the area. Now I know why they call it Blast! Happened off and on for 2 weeks until it was fixed. Guess another customer managed to establish communication with the company... Tin cans and a string, most likely.   Maybe they could afford phone support reps if they hit e.g. New York, LA, etc. with 100 GB caps? Would be fun to watch the fireworks, at least. I think "selected test areas" is corporate-speak for "we found some people who wouldn't collectively scream like banshees all over social media if their bill was $20 higher next month." Perhaps I'm becoming cynical.   People think 300 GB caps are bad? I remember DirectWAY, long ago. Broadband service, it was called. You were lucky if https sites would even load (before a 15 or 30 second timeout). Latency? > 2200 ms. Only way performance met or exceeded dialup was if the site/service used http, where they had some proprietary proxy. So technically you could stream audio, video, and browse websites. The catch? 250 MB monthly data cap. Yes, megabytes. Exceed that and speeds slowed down to a fraction of dialup. Also had to deal with equipment failures, and it failed everytime it rained. When the contract was up, we upgraded to dialup, and yes it really did feel faster. Cost was about 1/3 that of DirecWAY. Broadband, what a joke! ... View more