OT Limited Internet Access

Dear Friends,

If any of you has Internet access through Comcast, be warned. As of October 1, it is going to begin limiting access to the Internet to its customers. This happened to us through Wild Blue. We recently moved to the country, and the only Internet access we can get is with satellite and Wild Blue. It was so slow that I thought something was wrong with my new computer. I was told that we "violated its fair usage policy." We never heard of such a thing. I asked for an upgrade, because I can't use the video features on my computer. We were told that for punishment, we couldn't have an upgrade until September 5. The service is so slow, it's worse than dial-up, which we hadn't dealt with in years. Some days, when I have a lot of mail, I can't even read it because it goes over our daily limit. What is someone to do if they depend on the internet for research?

I wonder if this is a new wrinkle. I hope you all quit Comcast in disgust. Maybe that will teach the others that we won't stand for it. I've complained to the FCC, but have not yet heard anything.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938
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I heard something about Comcast limiting access hours the other evening on one of the local Houston, TX channels, but didn't pay attention to what was said, since I've never had dealings with them. It does seem a shame, though, considering the price that's charged. Emily

Reply to
Emily Bengston

If the clip below describes what is happening to you, you won't get much sympathy: People who use 250x the average amount of bandwidth have to be reigned in, pay more, or whatever. So don't expect normal users to "quit in disgust" because of your excesses.

JPBill ================================================================== Comcast, one of the country?s largest Internet providers, said this week that it would place limits on customers? broadband usage.

Beginning Oct. 1, Comcast will put a 250 gigabyte-a-month cap on residential users. The limit will not affect most users, at least not in the short-term, but is certain to create tension as some technologies gain traction.

A Comcast spokeswoman, Jennifer Khoury, said 250 gigabytes was about 100 times the typical usage; the average customer uses two to three gigabytes a month. Less than 1 percent of customers exceed the cap, she said.

Many Internet providers reserve the right to cancel the service of the most excessive users. The 250-gigabyte cap is Comcast?s way of specifying a longstanding policy of placing a limit on Internet consumption, and it comes after customer pushed for a definition of excessive use. =============================

Reply to
Bill Boyce

Excuse me, but do you consider reading my e-mail, coming here to discuss sewing, and purchasing items on the Internet that I can't get locally excess? Oh, and I pay my bills online. How dare you accuse me of that when you don't even know me? I don't download much of anything. I have one young grandchild who occasionally plays games on the Internet. I don't let him do it anymore, because we noticed after he had played for a while, the service became very slow. This NEVER happened when we had our service through a different provider in the city. But we have no choice here. The only provider available is punishing us because we were told we downloaded too much. They must consider going to websites or shopping downloading, because that's all we do.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

I don't know to whom you are replying, since you did not include any of the message in your post, but if you are experiencing computer slow-downs *after* your grandchild plays online games, it is very possible he has exposed your computer to some virus or zombie bot, and that it (your computer) is consuming bandwidth without your knowledge. If your computer has been compromised it is very likely that it is being used by malefactors to send huge quantities of spam or other malicious material. You might want to have a computer expert scan your computer and deal with any problems he/she finds.

There is a free virus checker here:

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a free tool for scanning for bots here:
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is not going to limit ordinary residential users, only those who are consuming over 250 gigabyte-a-month. If your computer is doing that it is almost certainly compromised.

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Dear Beverly,

I was referring to billp--whoever he is. I really resent someone assuming that I'm doing something wrong. I'm a seventy-year old lady. I don't play games online and aside from this list and some cloth dollmaking lists, I don't do anything else. I used to do a lot of research online for my classes, but I use it way less now than I did then. And I never heard of fair usage policies until I complained about how slow our connection was, and nonexistant in some instances.

My computer is brand new. We don't have our internet service thru Comcast; we have only one choice--a small company that told us we are over-using. Is it possible that we've been compromised already? I have firewalls, Norton Security, and a bunch of Vista security measures. Being almost completely computer iliterate, I don't understand how a brand new computer can be filled with viruses and such after less than a week.

Thanks for your explanation. When my son (a computer geek) comes to visit, I'll ask him to check it out.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

Teri, you brought up Comcast in the first statement of your original post and concluded it by urging their subscribers to quit them in disgust and complained to the FCC! Now you say you don't use comcast anyway and you don't know what causes your computer difficulties. So why bring them up at all?

Putting Comcast together with your ref. to overuse triggered my post by way of possible explanation, not an accusation.

I hope you get your computer/ISP situation ironed out, anyway.

JPBill (whoever he is: Just Plain Bill)

Reply to
Bill Boyce

Has your grandson played online games with the new computer? If yes, then it is definitely possible. Do you render e-mail in HTML? Do you click URLs in e-mails? Etc..... If yes, then again, it's possible. (I will not use Vista, I read all e-mails in plain text, I never click links from strangers.)

Good luck!

Beverly

Reply to
Someone Special

It's very possible, Teri. And the normal virus and firewall stuff doesn't catch it. Look into using something like Malwarebytes anti-malware stuff. It tracks this stuff down, quarantens it, and then blasts it. Copes with most stuff, and there are others about for the rest.

ALL providers have a cap on usage: there's only a finite amount available, and they have to ration it somehow.

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Dear Kate,

It's 4:00 a.m., and I've been up all night. I've not been flamed before, and it really upset me.

My grandson told me that someone stole his password at the Runescape site that he frequents. He changed it, but could that have contributed to this? The service was very slow on the old computer, too, and we got a new one because first, it was six years old, and second, it didn't recognize the removable disk drives anymore. My littlest grandson will be using it, but not online, and only with the games that are already installed and don't need a CDROM to play.

I have entered a swap on one of my lists to exchange rag dolls (as opposed to cloth dolls). I guess since I can't sleep, I'll go ahead and work on it for a while.

Bev and Kate, you've calmed me down. At least now I think there is something positive I can do about this.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

Promiscous downloading (your grandson's gaming habit).

And when he comes it is in your own best interest to pull up a chair and sit down with a pad of paper and a pencil and learn how to do some of these checks yourself. Sticking your fingers in your ears, closing your eyes and chanting, "LaLaLa, I'm not a computer geek" is ridiculous. You've mastered much tougher tasks in the past, you can certainly manage basic computer hygiene.

Reply to
Kathleen

I too have no other option but satellite for access. While it is not Cable or even DSL is better than Dial up. I use the internet a lot. I download parts manuals and answer far more emails than the average user over 2000 per month every month. Many of those contain photo's often far larger than they need be, the main reason I pay the high price for the service. The plan I am on $79.95 per month allows for

17 gigs download and 6 upload on an rolling 30 day cycle. I have never used more than 10% of that. Even when uploading my entire website. I do banking with several banks and process credit card payments, read and post to Usenet, Google is my closest companion. I don't download much in the way of music or Movies. If I were to I would guess I would get Fapped. If your service is slow all the time you may have had a poor install. I routinely get speeds of 1.5Mbps download.
Reply to
Ron Anderson

One child playing online can fill a computer with Virus in a short afternoon. I have a close friend in the computer business and watch them clean up machines all the time. Some that they just sold a short time ago. Almost all have children involved.

Reply to
Ron Anderson

I agree 100%. I learned a lot about using computers twenty years ago simply by experimenting but they were simpler then and I wasn't on-line. I'm still pretty good with software and Spouse always asks me about using programmes, he's too worried about causing a problem to experiment himself although he builds our pcs whereas I wouldn't want to.

I insisted on having a high grade security suite which is expensive - but not as expensive as being infected with even one virus, it covers up to three networked pcs so his is as safe as mine and when a third was used by a (21 yo) granddaughter hers was safe too. I doubt that our younger grandchildren would play with our pcs but I've enabled parental controls so that they couldn't get into dubious websites.

But now things change very quickly and many processes are more complicated. If I don't understand something I ask for help from a son or grandson (the latter works in IT Support) but I always watch what they do and take notes. They don't mind, it saves them having to come again and repeat when they've told me.

Spouse thinks he'll remember what they say but I work by the rule that the strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink.

Especially when you're as old as us :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

My usenet nickname - The Wanderer - is coz I wander the highways and byeways of the net. But, and it's an important but, I haven't had probs with viruses or malware for a *very* long time - perhaps 10 years or so.

I use Panda Internet Security, which is a comprehensive firewall and AV program. It's not a freebie, but if you want good protection I think it's something you should be prepared to pay for. Lots of people argue in favour of the free versions of popular FW and AV progs, but they're not the full bells and whistles things - after all, if you were a software development company would you offer an all-working free version of something you otherwise charge for. Before that I used Norton, but it's sooooo resource hungry, it can slow down the pc quite a bit. Panda does slow down the pc a bit, but nothing like Norton.

I can't recollect if you've said what operating system you're using, but both XP and Vista have M$'s own malware detection program 'Defender'. Panda also has malware detection. I haven't found the need to go for any other malware detection progs. A word of caution, some of them aren't quite as benign as you might be tempted to think!

I hope your son is able to sort things out for you.

There are lots of measures you could take to make sure the same doesn't happen again but here and now isn't the time to mention them. I'd suggest you get your son to run through some basic measure with you. Tell Grandson you'll chop his fingers off if he touches your pc again! :-))

Reply to
The Wanderer

Where I work, we often compare 'basic computer hygine' to practicing 'safe sex' :)

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

Nasty when it happens, but you kinda get used to it over the years... I've been flamed quite a bit here and there, but you learn to recognise the type who do it, and avoid. If you DO get flamed (and believe me, that was a gentle toasting compared to some I've seen!), just duck out of the thread and killfile the poster. Have some ((((((Terihugs)))))) to tide you over.

Nah... Unfortunately, there is software out there that just tracks, and harvests email addresses... You don't have to do anything much to be caught. It's the (bad!) luck of the draw. Now you know it happens, you can be aware and do a sweep through the pooter the moment it slows up on you. Another thing to do periodically is empty out all the cookies you collect visiting different shopping sites. When they get to filling the disk space, it can slow the whole thing down. Defrag the disk as well.

One good way to make it awkward for them to use your computer this way is to switch it off and unplug it when you aren't using it. It'll save you electrons, help to keep the trolls at bay (not worth their using your system if you are only on line for short intervals at unpredictable times! And especially good over night, when a lot of them time their use of your system for when you are asleep and not actually using it yourself, so you don't notice!) and cause you very little inconvenience, as you are using it for personal stuff rather than as part of a business contact network.

I use sleepless nights like this. catch-up time for all sorts of projects and research. I hunt up obscure hats and frocks and stuff through the noght.

Good. And what you cannnot cure, ignore once your system is cleared. They WILL try again, be sure of that, but just look up the latest 'make it safe again' versions of the software if you don't set the machine to do that automatically, killfile the trolls and naysayers, and drift off into a haze of Green & Blacks Hot Chocolate and posh hattery. :)

We seem to be much less likely here to be penalized for 'excessive use' by our internet providers, but every so often they cut me off for a day or so when the website gets too big! ;) It's happened about 3 times in the last however long it is that I've had a web site...

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Teenaged boys are the worst... ;)

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Oh how I agree!

Both Norton and McAffee made problems with mine.

...

It works. It's what I did - BEFORE they touched it :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

I didn' think it was flaming. As Late says, there are far, far worse.

But they don't matte - as I say in Real Life : "All insults are taken as compliments from such sources."

Yes.

...

I listen to World Service through my earphone, atached to the litle radio under my pillow. Apparently it's very common among people of my age - pity that, I thought I was unique :-)

Green and Blacks??? There are FAR better!!!

Mine has never done that to me, I can't et anywhere near my website limit unless I put pictures on it and that's too much like hard work. Let the customers ask for what they want!

Mary

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Reply to
Mary Fisher

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