Comcast Usage Meter Still A No Show - Usage tool still being tested in employee homes...
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Comcast Usage Meter Still A No Show
Usage tool still being tested in employee homes...
10:00AM Friday Jul 24 2009 by Karl Bode
tags: business · bandwidth · cable · caps · Comcast
Late last year we were the first outlet to offer screenshots of Comcast's new bandwidth meter, a belated companion to Comcast's 250GB per month consumption cap. One source insisted the tool was to be made available last January, but Comcast told us the meter was still being tested in employee homes. It's now almost August and Comcast tells Josh Lowensohn at CNET that yes, the tool is still being tested in Comcast employee homes: According to a Comcast representative whom I spoke with earlier Tuesday, it's still not ready for prime time, and is undergoing further employee trials before being released to the public. We'd rib the cable giant, but then again if a carrier's going to impose caps, a meter that's late and works is better than one that's early and broken. Canadian provider Cogeco recently implemented a metering system that didn't work properly, annoying customers suddenly facing low caps and high overages. While many carriers are very excited to cap users and charge them by the byte, apparently actually doing so (particularly in real time) isn't quite as easy as anticipated. Time Warner Cable's promised consumption meter, which the company proclaimed would "educate" users as to the benefits of metered billing, is also so far a no show.
Related:- Washington Post On Comcast Caps
- NY Attorney General Investigating Comcast
- Comcast Expands New Throttling Tests
- New Comcast Throttling System 100% Online
- Comcast Still Fighting FCC Throttling Sanction
- Comcast Bandwidth Meter Still A No Show
- Comcast Slammed For Non-Existent Throttling Changes
- Comcast Website Hackers Indicted
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Mr Matt @ 24th Jul 09:26AM:
Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
:) Leave you cable modem and properly secured router connected while you are away. Check you usage regularly while away and find that you are still accumulating usage. I guess the ISP might have some explaining to do. No broadband meter no complaints about the above.
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TKJunkMail @ 24th Jul 09:42AM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
A cable modem does about 3.3 GB/mo of low level network "I am alive" traffic whether the link is being used or not. Maybe what is taking them so long to deliver a tool is figuring out how to eliminate that data from the metering tool for customers.
I am sure Comcast never worried about that for internal use, especially with a STILL rarely enforced 250GB cap. But you are right, those who obsess about caps and who will want to use 249.99 GB/mo just to make a point will threaten lawsuits over the issue.
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IPPlanMan @ 24th Jul 10:02AM:
Over the cap!
This person used 263 GB in May...
Wonder if they got the "call"... :D
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baineschile @ 24th Jul 10:12AM:
Not really news....
It will be news when it shows up
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K Patterson @ 24th Jul 10:13AM:
I still doubt that they intend to release it.
If they release a meter, then you will see posts here and on the Comcast forum from people that used 400 GB without any consequences, and from others that got threatened with termination at 280 GB. That's a nightmare Comcast cannot afford.
I suspect that they are rethinking how to set caps, and possibly bill for overages rather than terminating customers.
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quatrix @ 24th Jul 10:13AM:
It's very simple...
If you even worry about using too much, you're using too much.
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Mr Matt @ 24th Jul 10:16AM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
:( There is the issue of unpredictable traffic generated by the operating system and application patches each month. Imagine being close to your allocation and your operating system downloads patches that put you over your allocation, the day before your account resets. Subscribers should not find out how much a patch will download after the fact.
Does the Cable Modem really generate 3.3GB/mo? That would really screw someone with a 5GB/mo CAP!
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TKJunkMail @ 24th Jul 10:20AM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
said by Mr Matt :
Does the Cable Modem really generate 3.3GB/mo? That would really screw someone with a 5GB/mo CAP!
Yes it really does. I measured it by monitoring WAN traffic using DD-WRT firmware in my router. It averages about 10 kbps. And that is with Docsis 1.1. Another user here at BBR says that it is even higher when upgraded to Docsis 2. Who knows what Docsis 3 overhead is like.
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anon @ 24th Jul 10:21AM:
comcast is talking about 100meg download as well 250gb cap w
comcast is talking about 100meg download as well 250gb cap with that? also how much over head is there with that kind of speed also is this just download or upload + download?
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DarkLogix @ 24th Jul 10:21AM:
Re: Over the cap!
unlikely
I have a frend that downloaded 1TB in a month and no call
you keep forgeting its a soft legal cap
you go over and it just opens the door for them but doesn't mean they'll come in and yell
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TKJunkMail @ 24th Jul 10:26AM:
Re: comcast is talking about 100meg download as well 250gb cap w
said by castsucks :
is this just download or upload + download?
Cap is download AND upload combined.
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anon @ 24th Jul 10:27AM:
Caping is unfair
Thank You Quatrix, Your 10 break at Comcast is up, time to get back to work testing your metering software. Caping is just not right in any market, and Comcast and the others will feel the pinch when uncaped cable companies take all of their customers.
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ztmike @ 24th Jul 10:37AM:
Lawsuit material
I honestly think its bullshit that they are capping users and then not providing them with a bandwidth meter.
I mean seriously..
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badtrip @ 24th Jul 10:39AM:
Re: It's very simple...
said by quatrix :
If you even worry about using too much, you're using too much.
No. If you have to worry about using too much, then it's time to dump your ISP and look for another.
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neufuse @ 24th Jul 10:47AM:
what i've heard
from a business class tech (a friend of mine) the meter is counting data they dont want to count... makes me wonder if their bandwidth monitors did this also
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SLD @ 24th Jul 11:00AM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
If that is true, your math is correct:
»www.google.com/search?q=10Kb%2Fs+*+30+days
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nathill @ 24th Jul 11:02AM:
Works for me
I don't pretend to know anything, but this freeware seems to work for me.
»www.softperfect.com/products/networx/
I've used 46 gigs worth in four months, so I guess I'm safe for now!
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Skippy25 @ 24th Jul 11:11AM:
Re: Works for me
I am all for bandwidth meters like these.
However, they need to work at the router level and not the machine level.
Preferably at the router level it can be shown per machine / per port.
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S_engineer @ 24th Jul 11:24AM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
I'll try on docsis 3 with dd wrt. Comcast hasn't gone gestapo on people yet anyway, so isn't this a non-issue for now?
I use Outlook to pull my mail, but I had the unfortunate experience of trying their Smartzone mail...man, that's horrible. I would hope they'd fix that too.
--
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neufuse @ 24th Jul 11:25AM:
Re: Works for me
yeah software based monitoring...... wahoo..... works great until you have a network printer or a LAN... or more then one PC on a router......
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jester121 @ 24th Jul 11:40AM:
Re: Not really news....
Probably just not enough Comcast bashing this week, so Karl wanted to wrap things up on a high note.
In other news, the earth still hasn't collided with the sun, and the Cubs still haven't won the world series.
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winsyrstrife @ 24th Jul 12:07PM:
Re: Works for me
Then, it's time to look to your router's manufacturer or third party firmware for network usage tools.
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neufuse @ 24th Jul 12:43PM:
Re: Works for me
That's why I use Tomato firmware on my linksys router ;) and Netgear is FINALLY going to put bandwidth monitors on all their new routers... now only if cisco would
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winsyrstrife @ 24th Jul 12:54PM:
Re: Works for me
Yup, but it looks like Netgear picked a really bad time to implement those usage monitoring features. They're now being bashed for being in cahoots with ISPs planning caps / overages.
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sturmvogel @ 24th Jul 12:55PM:
Re: It's very simple...
said by badtrip :said by quatrix :
If you even worry about using too much, you're using too much.
No. If you have to worry about using too much, then it's time to dump your ISP and look for another.
Not when there is no other comparable choice in your area.
--
Obama '08. Will help resolve the terrible broadband issues we have that put us so far behind other countries.
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sturmvogel @ 24th Jul 12:56PM:
Re: Not really news....
said by jester121 :
Probably just not enough Comcast bashing this week, so Karl wanted to wrap things up on a high note.
In other news, the earth still hasn't collided with the sun, and the Cubs still haven't won the world series.
What CC bashing ? They are doing something WRONG. As long as they keep on doing it, why can we not complain ?
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Obama '08. Will help resolve the terrible broadband issues we have that put us so far behind other countries.
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tubbynet @ 24th Jul 01:10PM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
a typical cmts (like the cisco ubr series) communicates directly with the modem via the hfc mac address. however, the device that is presented behind the cable modem (be it router or single pc) is also able to be tracked by the cmts (because it is assigned a dhcp "public" ip address). the "overhead" traffic between the cable modem and the cmts can be excluded by the mac address of the destination network frame. this could then be polled using a simple snmp procedure. granted, all of this would need to be coded and rolled out to each market and tested, but a year is a little excessive, even in carrier terms.
said by TKJunkMail :said by Mr Matt :
Does the Cable Modem really generate 3.3GB/mo? That would really screw someone with a 5GB/mo CAP!
Yes it really does. I measured it by monitoring WAN traffic using DD-WRT firmware in my router. It averages about 10 kbps. And that is with Docsis 1.1. Another user here at BBR says that it is even higher when upgraded to Docsis 2. Who knows what Docsis 3 overhead is like.
just because it is "seen" by your router, doesn't mean its passing through. it is more than likely broadcast traffic or overhead traffic between the cmts and the modem that is passed. a more accurate traffic count would be to measure the bandwidth in/out at your lan port (if you have a single routed port) or at the lan svi (which is what the "lan address" is on the typical soho router). no whether or not the ddwrt software can make this distinction or not either internally or through snmp is another story.
additionally, 3 gigs is *not* going to put you on the "comcast black list". if you are using 253 gigs a month, they aren't going to punish you. while it is a valid concern for the most accurate bandwidth usage/count, its not going to be a deal breaker.
q.
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iansltx @ 24th Jul 01:16PM:
My "noise" traffic
My area was recently upgraded to DOCSIS 2.0. "noise" traffic appears to have doubled. About 180 MB per day, it appears. so 5.4 GB per month if I keep my modem on 24/7. That's a fair amount of traffic.
This was measured with a recent build of DD-WRT on my router, so I'm pretty sure it's accurate :)
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Wizeguy @ 24th Jul 01:25PM:
Re: Not really news....
"the Cubs still haven't won the world series."
Yea but how about those Sox...PERFECTO....
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TKJunkMail @ 24th Jul 01:25PM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
said by tubbynet :a typical cmts (like the cisco ubr series) communicates directly with the modem via the hfc mac address. however, the device that is presented behind the cable modem (be it router or single pc) is also able to be tracked by the cmts (because it is assigned a dhcp "public" ip address). the "overhead" traffic between the cable modem and the cmts can be excluded by the mac address of the destination network frame. this could then be polled using a simple snmp procedure. granted, all of this would need to be coded and rolled out to each market and tested, but a year is a little excessive, even in carrier terms.
said by TKJunkMail :said by Mr Matt :
Does the Cable Modem really generate 3.3GB/mo? That would really screw someone with a 5GB/mo CAP!
Yes it really does. I measured it by monitoring WAN traffic using DD-WRT firmware in my router. It averages about 10 kbps. And that is with Docsis 1.1. Another user here at BBR says that it is even higher when upgraded to Docsis 2. Who knows what Docsis 3 overhead is like.
just because it is "seen" by your router, doesn't mean its passing through. it is more than likely broadcast traffic or overhead traffic between the cmts and the modem that is passed. a more accurate traffic count would be to measure the bandwidth in/out at your lan port (if you have a single routed port) or at the lan svi (which is what the "lan address" is on the typical soho router). no whether or not the ddwrt software can make this distinction or not either internally or through snmp is another story.
additionally, 3 gigs is *not* going to put you on the "comcast black list". if you are using 253 gigs a month, they aren't going to punish you. while it is a valid concern for the most accurate bandwidth usage/count, its not going to be a deal breaker.
q.
I don't disagree with your conclusions. Just pointing out that the cable modem is seeing this overhead traffic and Comcast may or may not be counting it. And I avg about 10 to 15 GB/mo, so I am not worried about it at all. Just answering someones question about overhead traffic.
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devjonfos @ 24th Jul 01:45PM:
Tomato Firmware on a Linksys WRT54GL
Tomato Firmware on a Linksys WRT54GL works for me. I get real time, last 24 hours, daily, weekly, and monthly bandwidth usage.
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fishmaster @ 24th Jul 02:10PM:
Educate=Brain Wash
Appears to 'educate' is becoming synonymous with 'brain washing' in today's media marketing strategy.
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jester121 @ 24th Jul 02:10PM:
Re: Not really news....
So what's the problem? You're free to bash whoever you want if you think they're wrong, and so is Karl. I find it to be pretty insipid and silly.
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ztmike @ 24th Jul 02:19PM:
Re: Tomato Firmware on a Linksys WRT54GL
said by devjonfos :Tomato Firmware on a Linksys WRT54GL works for me. I get real time, last 24 hours, daily, weekly, and monthly bandwidth usage.
That's all nice but my router can't handle Tomato (WRT54G V5) and I'm not sure if DD-WRT Mirco has a bandwidth meter. (Its another router firmware besides Tomato)
Not to mention I read that flashing my certain router can brick it pretty easily since it sucks so bad. And I don't have the money to go out and buy a new router just so I can monitor my bandwidth because Comcast feels it needs to cap its users and not provide them a meter themselves.
Yea..really nice company. :hmm:
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IPPlanMan @ 24th Jul 02:25PM:
Re: Works for me
I am sure that Comcast would say that those Meters aren't "certified"... unlike theirs, of course....
Oh wait... theirs isn't either.
It's Comcastic!
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IPPlanMan @ 24th Jul 02:33PM:
Re: Over the cap!
I just think it's funny that for all the talk of no one ever hitting the cap, that the screenshot shows someone hitting the cap and going over it...
»help.comcast.net/content/faq/Fre···sive-Use
quoting from it:
How does monthly data usage threshold change Comcast's policy on excessive use?
Comcast's overall policy on excessive use remains the same ;the only change is that Comcast now provides a monthly data usage threshold starting on October 1, 2008. By providing a specific monthly data usage threshold, Comcast is providing greater clarity to its customers about excessive use.
Why did Comcast choose 250 GB as its data usage threshold?
250GB is far beyond the current median of data usage for a typical residential Internet customer in a month, so this amount of data accommodates any reasonable definition of typical monthly residential usage.
To reach 250 GB in a month, for example, a customer would have to do any of the following:
Send 50 million plain text emails (at 5KB/email)
Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)
Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)
What is normal or typical use?
Data usage changes over time as Comcast's customers use the Internet and the services and applications available for it. Currently, the median data usage by Comcast High-Speed Internet customers is approximately 2 - 4GB each month (these numbers may vary on a monthly basis). This reflects typical residential use of the service for purposes such as sending and receiving e-mail, surfing the Internet, and watching streaming video.
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sturmvogel @ 24th Jul 03:44PM:
Re: Works for me
Those "not certified" meters are way better than the Comcastic one of which there is NONE. Zero. Vaporware. Bull.
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Obama '08. Will help resolve the terrible broadband issues we have that put us so far behind other countries.
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baineschile @ 24th Jul 03:55PM:
Re: Lawsuit material
Actually, all CC customers get mcafee with their service; which does offer a meter. Most people just choose not to use it.
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IPPlanMan @ 24th Jul 04:40PM:
Re: Lawsuit material
So I'm sure that Comcast would accept screenshots of the Mcafee meter showing that someone didn't in fact go over the cap in the event of an error on Comcast's end....
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gmoney_indy @ 24th Jul 07:02PM:
I just...
..use NetLimiter. Simple little free app - differentiates between 'Net and LAN traffic. Google it.
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dot_null @ 24th Jul 07:49PM:
Re: Lawsuit material
Not everyone is interested in using McAfee bloatware, or can even use it in the case of those using Macs or Linux/BSD boxes. Plus you have the little problem of having to total up all bandwidth usage among multiple computers, assuming you are using more than one. That total still wouldn't include data consumption from standalone devices like alarm monitoring equipment, Slingbox streaming content, data accrued by VoIP ATAs or consumed by an Xbox 360 streaming Netflix content, just to name a few common residential applications.
The closest you can get to a panacea in this regard is by using third party firmware with some routers, like Tomato or DD-WRT on a WRT54G or Buffalo router. I personally use Tomato on my WRT54G, but I would still like to see what Comcast says I have used. I would like to have the opportunity of discovering any disparity between Comcast's total and the total logged by my router in the event there was one, but hey, that's just me.
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sivran @ 24th Jul 07:51PM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
Simple enough.
Fluff it up a bit. State the cap is 250GB, but in actuality is 255. ;)
Or go ahead and include such overhead traffic on the meter, and subtract it at the end of the month. Be sure to include documentation about it.
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rwizard @ 24th Jul 10:38PM:
Re: Caping is unfair
Caping ? Are we talking about Zorro now ?
Oh. Capping. Never mind.
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rwizard @ 24th Jul 10:53PM:
Re: Over the cap!
I notice that they don't say how many Linux distro downloads or Windows 7 beta downloads that translates to.
Not to mention port scans, brute force password hacks, and other, less savory network traffic. I think we've been slighted.
Hard to mount a good DOS attack with some silly cap getting in the way...
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k1ll3rdr4g0n @ 25th Jul 10:21AM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
said by TKJunkMail :said by Mr Matt :
Does the Cable Modem really generate 3.3GB/mo? That would really screw someone with a 5GB/mo CAP!
Yes it really does. I measured it by monitoring WAN traffic using DD-WRT firmware in my router. It averages about 10 kbps. And that is with Docsis 1.1. Another user here at BBR says that it is even higher when upgraded to Docsis 2. Who knows what Docsis 3 overhead is like.
Yeah it's weird - recent Comcast experiences is that when I have a switch plugged in (multiple IP addresses) the modem will flood the network with packets as the switch activity LEDs are flashing...I don't know what is going over the wire as I haven't had the chance to install tcpdump on one of my routers but it seems rather harmless. This also happens at other people's houses too so it's not someone just DDoS me or something. What I do know is that the traffic is probably against my "cap", but comcast hasn't called me yet to complain so I am not overly worried about it.
On another subject -
I would say the main reason why Comcast (and other providers) wont rollout a bandwidth metering tool is because once it gets out there, people will start comparing usage and prove the ISPs are a lying sack of S$!% when it comes to "average" monthly usage. Especially if everyone's average comes out to 100GB/month (no proof it is or isn't...just speculating) when the ISPs are tooting that on average people only use 5GB/month.
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IPPlanMan @ 25th Jul 04:43PM:
Re: Meter might be trouble for ISP's.
Not average... Comcast is giving a "Median"... which I don't believe is really that low anyway for that matter.
50% above and 50% below that?
Yeah right... :uhh:
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dagg @ 26th Jul 05:19AM:
Re: Over the cap!
I was kind of worried about caps until I actually took a look at what im using on an average month. so far this month, im at 29 gigs. thats having a media server and watching streaming video on my tv most of the day, 2 desktops, 2 laptops which at least one of them is running some game or another most of the day, an airrave and game consoles.
it makes me wonder what on earth people could be downloading to account for 1tb of data transfer?
i dont really care that they do it, but... i cant for the life of me figure out what there is to download that would account for that much in any given month?
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ctceo @ 26th Jul 03:07PM:
Public beta
Wouldn't it be easier to release a BETA meter? You know like Google does all the time with it's features. They could get more input this way, especially from people who aren't afraid of loosing their jobs for saying it doesn't work. Closed beta's only work to a certain degree IMO, depending on what kind of company is running them, and if any independent outside testers have been contracted to assist.
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Augustus III @ 27th Jul 12:17AM:
meh
comcast is not enforcing the limit, thats why. you will only get notices if you are really taxing the line (like before the official cap days).
so a counter is pointless
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primerump @ 2nd Aug 05:58PM:
Re: Lawsuit material
Mcafeee is windows only.. not all of use windows dude.. so try again..
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IPPlanMan @ 4th Aug 01:23AM:
Re: Lawsuit material
said by primerump :
Mcafeee is windows only.. not all of use windows dude.. so try again..
Bingo... It's Comcastic! :uhh:
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