AmazonUnbox versus CableCo's

[gmcc]

I have noted this new service from Tivo and at the same time have read numerous posts various places where Comcast cut off internet service to people they determined downloaded too much in a month or such.

Has there been any communication between Tivo and any of the cable providers with respect to bandwidth usage when/if one decides to make a regular thing of doing it?

It sounds like a cute idea... I would just not like to lose my service for it accidentally.

[dswallow]

I have noted this new service from Tivo and at the same time have read numerous posts various places where Comcast cut off internet service to people they determined downloaded too much in a month or such.

Has there been any communication between Tivo and any of the cable providers with respect to bandwidth usage when/if one decides to make a regular thing of doing it?

It sounds like a cute idea... I would just not like to lose my service for it accidentally.
While the whole "unlimited bandwidth with unrevealed limits" reeks, most every case I've read about where the person was cut off from their internet service involved over 300GB of downloading a month for several months, which is an extremely large amount, really. And involved at least a warning.

To reach that with Unbox, you'd need to download about 5 movies a day, every day of the month.

[Einselen]

I am with Doug. I think it is has to be a large amount of bandwidth over a period of time. An Amazon Unbox download here and there I don't think will send up red flags. The other thing you can do is call your internet provider and ask them about limits. My guess is they will not give a straight forward direct answer though.

[MichaelK]

I am with Doug. I think it is has to be a large amount of bandwidth over a period of time. An Amazon Unbox download here and there I don't think will send up red flags. The other thing you can do is call your internet provider and ask them about limits. My guess is they will not give a straight forward direct answer though.


All these discusions about limits made me go check my TOS from my cable broadband.

My company says NOTHING about excessive use.

But they say I can't run any servers.

And the weird thing is they limit my to "5 users" - makes me wonder what the hell is a user? If I have 3 tivo's hooked up do they count as 3 users? If I have one PC and it has windows xp and my wife and I and my 3 kids are all logged in and the pc is downloading 5 different things for those 5 users does that count? What in the world are they talking about??? I'm allowed 5 email accounts at mycableco.net so maybe that's what they mean?

Amazon is one thing but what I really think will set off comcast and the cable peple is if Directv ever does do their VOD over cable's bandwidth plan that they keep talking about. I could see that quickly becoming a flashpoint for net neutrality AND hard caps. Cable is likley to argue that they shouldn't be subsidizing their competitors video offering (and to a degree I think they have a point)- so they will slow down traffic from directv's servers. Directv will complain about net neutrality (and also have a valid point- if the customer pays what business is it of cable's what they do with it). So Cable will relent and make stuff neutral- but place hard caps to limit stuff sort of like sat internet does. What really gets muddy is what will FIOS do? Since they send their PPV/VOD over IP (of I understand correctly) will they be permitted to allow their IP to flow unmetered but meter the IP that might be DBS' vod?

[Dan203]

While the whole "unlimited bandwidth with unrevealed limits" reeks, most every case I've read about where the person was cut off from their internet service involved over 300GB of downloading a month for several months, which is an extremely large amount, really. And involved at least a warning.

I agree. The TiVo Unbox service encodes content at 2.8Mbps, which translates to about 1.3GB per hour of content. To reach a 300GB cap you'd have to download over 7 hours of content every single day. If you're that heavy of a user you have much better options then this service.

Dan

[MichaelK]

I agree. The TiVo Unbox service encodes content at 2.8Mbps, which translates to about 1.3GB per hour of content. To reach a 300GB cap you'd have to download over 7 hours of content every single day. If you're that heavy of a user you have much better options then this service.

Dan


So would HD content for the S3 be 6-7 times more bits? So you could get hosed downloading only an hour a day of HD? (still unlikely but a bunch more likely than 7hrs a day).

Or is there a bunch of gains to be made by doing the HD downloads in MPEG4?

[Dan203]

MPEG4 can make a huge difference. HD-DVD uses a variant of MPEG4 for encoding and a typical movie is only 9-12GB. And they're encoded at 1080p and look beautiful. TiVo could encode at 720p, and at a lower bitrate, and get it down to 3-4GB per hour while staying on par with broadcast HD quality.

Dan

[gmcc]

All these discusions about limits made me go check my TOS from my cable broadband.

My company says NOTHING about excessive use.



While not arguing the point made by others here about what apparently is "excessive", I don't think any of the broadband companies mention it, until you've gone over it. Mine is Comcast and more than a few people have tried to find out from customer service if there is a limit and what it might be. As far as I know no one has ever gotten an answer.


GMcC

[MichaelK]

While not arguing the point made by others here about what apparently is "excessive", I don't think any of the broadband companies mention it, until you've gone over it. Mine is Comcast and more than a few people have tried to find out from customer service if there is a limit and what it might be. As far as I know no one has ever gotten an answer.


GMcC

they usually dont DEFINE what "excessive" is but it seems many do include some mention of excessive (or the like) in their TOS so they can later make up whatever number they feel like that week and nail you.

Doesn't the comcast tos say something nebulous like that?

[gmcc]

Doesn't the comcast tos say something nebulous like that?

It's actually been so long since I read the thing that I couldn't say for sure what it says right now, and of course they reserve the right to change it at will anyway.

GMcC

[gmcc]

Doesn't the comcast tos say something nebulous like that?

Looks like this is about as good as it gets, and it's wide open to interpretation by them of course:

Important Note: Comcast may revise this Acceptable Use Policy (the "Policy") from time to time without notice by posting a new version of this document on the Comcast Web site at http://www.comcast.net (or any successor URL(s)). All revised copies of the Policy are effective immediately upon posting.


Network, Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations

Comcast may provide versions of the Service with different speeds and bandwidth usage limitations, among other characteristics, subject to applicable Service plans. You shall ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade any other user's use of the Service, nor represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast) an overly large burden on the network. In addition, you shall ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, disrupt, degrade, or impede Comcast's ability to deliver and provide the Service and monitor the Service, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network services.

G