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Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Comcast to launch meter to track Web usage

By | December 3, 2008, 5:25pm PST

It only seemed fair that Comcast would give its customers a way to track their Web usage, seeing how the company imposed a a 250 GB limit on the Web data that its customers use in a month. But when the company announced that limit earlier this year, there was no system in place to help customers monitor their usage.

An entry on the DSL Reports blog today said the company plans to launch a tracking service via a customer’s comcast.net account as early as January 5. The blog reports that the meter will have a three-hour delay and will also retain three months worth of bandwidth usage records. Comcast told CNET that the meter will first go through some employee testing before its made available to high-speed Internet customers.

As much as I still think a cap on usage is a form of stifling innovation, I applaud Comcast for being responsive to concerns that most users have no idea what their true usage is and probably have no concept of the difference between a gigabyte and a gigabit. While most customers come no where near the 250 GB limit - Comcast says about 1 percent do - it’s good to know there will be a tool in place to help users to track their usage.

If you’re interested in what your usage is like, check out a comparison of bandwidth meters by CNET’s Seth Rosenblatt.

Also see: Comcast’s speedier Internet - and its limits

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Sam has been a technology and business blogger for more than 18 years.

Disclosure

Sam Diaz

Sam Diaz has nothing to disclose.

Biography

Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger, reporter and editor at ZDNet, the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News and Fresno Bee for more than 18 years. He's a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a graduate of California State University, Fresno.

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RE: Comcast to launch meter to track Web usage
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
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Just "Web Data"?
dizzle@... 3rd Dec 2008
Fantastic! That means BitTorrent & Usenet usage is
unlimited. Muhahaha :P
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RE: Comcast to launch meter to track Web usage
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
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