eBuzz - Following Up on Comcast

Following Up on Comcast

A couple of weeks ago we reported on Comcast's refusal to name the point at which users are cut off from service for 12 months. Apparently we weren't the only ones disturbed by the giant's arbitrary usage policy, as reported in this week's Game Daily:

"Charlie Douglas, a spokesperson for Comcast Corporation, called back to clarify what "excessive usage" means and why the company's actions to end its relationship with these customers is good for gamers. First, Douglas defines Comcast's "excessive use" as any customer who downloads the equivalent of 30,000 songs, 250,000 pictures or 13 million emails in a month. In short, even if you played a marathon World of Warcraft session for weeks while downloading the massive amount of demos on Xbox 360 and sprinkled with the not so massive amount of demos on the PlayStation Network, you are still not close to getting banned.

Douglas said that Comcast's actions to cut ties with excessive users is a "great benefit to games and helps protect gamers and their game experience" due to their overuse of the network and thus "degrading the experience."

While this may come as a relief to those anxious to continue playing World of Warcraft or Everquest, those of us who continue to use Comcast's services for work — in other words, those most affected by Comcast's clarification of the number of emails being received as a cut-off point. With spam — the unintentional reception of hundreds if not thousands of emails a week — at all-time highs, it seems that perhaps the company could also consider the needs of those of its customers not using the Internet just for play.

And that's our take on the news today!

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