Comcast to Go With 250GB Cap for Broadband

You knew it was coming and here it is. Beginning on October 1, Comcast will change its Acceptable Use Policy to include a monthly threshold (or cap) of 250GB a month for broadband.

Comcast had recently been smacked down by the FCC for throttling some users for excessive usage and had revamped their policies on that front after the reprimand so that excessive (in Comcast’s eyes) users would be basically shut off for a 20 minute window of time.

The latest news about the 250GB cap will affect any prolific broadband user. Silicon Alley Insider has a good post that lays out some typical usage patterns for media consumption, and let’s face it, this is all about media consumption on the Internet in the future. Unless Comcast plays fast and loose with the metering, you’d have to really be pounding the net to bump up against 250GB in typical usage, although I can imagine scenarios where this will occur.

I happen to agree with Om Malik that if Comcast is going to ‘meter’ a user’s access, then Comcast (or any provider) should provide the user with some from of metering their own usage.