Are we going to be bandwidth hogs or cloud computing patrons? A three-way debate

Q2: If not protective of your television distribution business, why do you insist on completely cutting off data instead of using other more consumer-friendly options such as charging for overages or slowing internet use?

Comcast A2: Our goal is to meet the needs of our residential Xfinity Internet customers as they evolve.  While we do not currently offer a residential service with a monthly data allotment greater than 250 GB, we do recognize the Internet – and the uses our customers make of it – is constantly changing.  That’s why we regularly evaluate whether our usage policies are serving our customers.  We listen to this feedback, and, just as we introduce greater speeds when we think the market demands them, so too are we open to considering future products with higher bandwidth thresholds as the market demands them.

Vrignaud A2: Again, the question is “why do you insist on completely cutting off data instead of using other more consumer-friendly options such as charging for overages or slowing internet use?” It is completely unanswered here.
In addition, you now have significant feedback telling you that cutting someone off from the internet entirely is not acceptable. I’m sure you’ve seen the ongoing press coverage. It’s nice to hear you listen to feedback, but beyond not answering the core question, why doesn’t this answer explain how you are changing your policies based on this feedback?

Qwest/CenturyLink A2: CenturyLink does not currently offer Prism or iPTV in legacy Qwest markets

Q3: What ISP-offered services are excluded from the cap?  Specifically, are your voice telephony and video programming services excluded?  If so, why doesn’t your data cap apply to data consumed when watching television or making a phone call?

Comcast A3: All data that travels over the public Internet on our Xfinity Internet service (including data sent by one Xfinity Internet customer to another) counts against the threshold, regardless of the source.  We do not discriminate between Internet-based services that are affiliated with Comcast and those that are not, when our customers access them using their Xfinity Internet service.  Our affiliated services are treated exactly the same as any other Internet usage for purposes of the policy.  For example, all Internet-based video streaming and download services, including Comcast’s Internet-delivered XfinityTV.com, are included in the calculation of monthly usage.

Comcast also provides cable television and voice services that are not delivered over the public Internet, are not received using Xfinity Internet service, and are paid for separately by our customers.  That data is not counted toward the threshold.  These services operate on a separately managed part of the network, so the use of these services does not impact the Internet service of other customers in a neighborhood.  It is important to note that Comcast’s voice service, which is delivered in an IP format, is delivered over Comcast’s managed network, not the public Internet – in other words, a Comcast voice service customer need not be an Xfinity Internet customer.  Here is a related example: If a customer had Comcast’s Xfinity Internet service, but chose to receive Verizon’s television service (which is also not delivered over the Internet), their use of Verizon TV’s service would not be counted toward the threshold.

Vrignaud A3: As previously stated in A1, the distinction of Comcast’s “public” and “private” networks is odd. It’s a semantic distinction trying to obscure the fact that data from different services often flows on the same networks, eventually being split out and delivered by the same, single wire that flows into a customer’s house. The world is moving toward Internet Protocol (IP), and as you state above, you already deliver phone service via IP. You’ve also started TV over IP trials, and are likely aiming to send all data (television, phone, broadband) over fiber IP networks in the future.

In addition, you use the following carefully chosen example of Verizon’s television service as not being delivered over the internet:

If a customer had Comcast’s Xfinity Internet service, but chose to receive Verizon’s television service (which is also not delivered over the Internet), their use of Verizon TV’s service would not be counted toward the threshold.

As the Wall Street Journal article linked to above says:

“Others are moving in the same direction. Many major pay-TV providers, including DirecTV, use IP to deliver on-demand video. Cablevision Systems Corp., Verizon Communications Inc.’s FiOS and Time Warner Cable Inc. use it to deliver live video to tablets to subscribers in their homes. AT&T Inc. delivers its U-Verse video service entirely over IP.”

“The new technology could enable Comcast to deliver video service to any customer with an Internet connection, regardless of whether they live in an area covered by Comcast’s cable system. A move to do so would shake up the pay-TV market, where cable systems largely operate in separate regions of the country, known as “footprints.”

What happens when AT&T attempts to try to deliver their U-Verse video service (already entirely over IP) to one of your customers via the “public” internet service you provide? Per your answer to this question, that data would count against your data cap, and just as that data cap threatens services such as Netflix, so it would potentially block a potential competitor such as AT&T from offering competitive choices of services to your customers.

Qwest/CenturyLink A3: Since Internet use continues to evolve and grow, the definition of “excessive use” continually changes, which is why CenturyLink does not currently set a specific number that defines excessive use. However, we do reserve the right to manage our network with respect to the effects of excessive use. This is articulated in our (legacy Qwest) high-speed internet subscriber agreement (available on centurylink.com):

The High-Speed Internet Subscriber Service Agreement does require customers to agree to not use the service for high volume or excessive use. We currently identify excessive use when high-speed Internet customers use hundreds of times the normal use of the service – crossing into commercial-grade usage – and who are outside the terms of the High-Speed Internet Subscriber Service Agreement.