Comcast mulling Net usage cap to discourage 'excessive' use

As more consumers download movies and music online, Internet service providers have to grapple with how to manage their traffic so that bandwidth hogs don't slow down the network for the lighter users among the company's 14.1 million subscribers.

For years, Comcast directly called customers who used up several times more bandwidth than the typical subscriber's 2 gigabytes per month -for instance, by downloading hordes of movies. The big users were asked to reduce their use or have their accounts canceled.

Some Comcast customers have griped that the company hasn't been more forthcoming about the bandwidth ceiling at which they would get a call. Comcast's shift aims to improve transparency.

Comcast and other ISPs, however, may be acting too late to change consumer behavior, said Phil Redman, research vice president at Gartner Inc.

"Once you're on an unlimited plan, it's hard to go back," he said. "On the wireline side, it's almost an inalienable right to use as much bandwidth as you want for a set price."

A report that Comcast was considering limits on monthly use appeared in the online tech forum BroadbandReports.com and was confirmed Wednesday by the company.

Jennifer Khoury, a company spokeswoman, said Comcast is "currently evaluating this service and pricing model to ensure we deliver a great online experience to our customers."

Comcast describes excessive users as those who send, for instance, 40 million e-mails or download 50,000 songs a month.

One option is to cap the bandwidth usage at 250 gigabytes per month. If the 250 gigabytes is allotted for just downloads, that's enough to handle about 50 high-definition movies, 250 standard-definition movies or more than 6,000 songs every month.