Got a message this morning from Comcast CSA (consumer security agency) that if I didn't call them back promptly I could have my internet service cut, so I called 'em back. Seems they have caps at Comcast that I exceeded last month; their cap is 250GB and we used 850+GB. They wanted to let me know that if I exceeded the cap this month they were going to disconnect my service and not allow us to reconnect for 1 year.
So of course I panicked a bit.
The dude told me that I could check my current monthly usage online at their site, so I went there and looked..and looked, and looked to no avail for any usage meter. Tried their silly online chat thing to find it only to be told that it was "rolled out in Virginia last month" and it might not be available in my area yet. So I check my router and since I was a bright puppy who put DD-WRT on it has some decent monitoring features. I check and sure enough last month it was 866677MB, and this month we're currently at 213924MB.
After a bit of panicking I poke around further in DD-WRT and see my last 8 months or so of usage, I note something odd...can you see what it is?
So I go back to my buddy on the phone, well a new buddy. He informs me that since they don't have working usage meters in my area that he doesn't think they'd suspend us, but when I mention they already said they would he explained that either our account went past some invisible threshold to be noticed or else traffic in our area increased so they'd lowered the invisible threshold...but either way the only way he could guarantee that we kept our service was if we stayed under 250GB/mos.
Thanked him, hung up, went hunting up AT&T Uverse stuff. Turns out they have 24/3 in my area now for about the same price, but no caps....
...and that's where I is now.
So of course I panicked a bit.
The dude told me that I could check my current monthly usage online at their site, so I went there and looked..and looked, and looked to no avail for any usage meter. Tried their silly online chat thing to find it only to be told that it was "rolled out in Virginia last month" and it might not be available in my area yet. So I check my router and since I was a bright puppy who put DD-WRT on it has some decent monitoring features. I check and sure enough last month it was 866677MB, and this month we're currently at 213924MB.
After a bit of panicking I poke around further in DD-WRT and see my last 8 months or so of usage, I note something odd...can you see what it is?
Last month was a bit on the large size for us, but nothing out of the ordinary. We've been using well over their cap for quite a while, why they hassling us now?Aug 09 - 427487
Sep 09 - 574691
Oct 09 - 750379
Nov 09 - 583838
Dec 09 - 496725
Jan 10 - 471111
Feb 10 - 661132
Mar 10 - 866677
Apr 9 so far - 213924
So I go back to my buddy on the phone, well a new buddy. He informs me that since they don't have working usage meters in my area that he doesn't think they'd suspend us, but when I mention they already said they would he explained that either our account went past some invisible threshold to be noticed or else traffic in our area increased so they'd lowered the invisible threshold...but either way the only way he could guarantee that we kept our service was if we stayed under 250GB/mos.
Thanked him, hung up, went hunting up AT&T Uverse stuff. Turns out they have 24/3 in my area now for about the same price, but no caps....
...and that's where I is now.