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Rumor · Feb 28, 2008, 03:22 AM

Gilbert Randolph: Gilbert Randolph LLP Announces a Class Action Lawsuit

This is all over the ways they decided to block torrent traffic. First they denied it, then when caught, they said it improved the overall internet experience for the "average" customer.

I know that in class action suits, usually the attorneys are the ones who make out monitarily, but perhaps this could change the way Comcast is offering their service?

Kerrigan · Feb 28, 2008, 04:22 AM

tl;dr

Rumor · Feb 28, 2008, 04:35 AM

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

tl;dr

IceEnclosure · Feb 28, 2008, 05:26 AM

too long; didn't read?

peeb · Feb 28, 2008, 12:08 PM

The main benefits of class actions is usually to create behavior change, not really to benefit the members. That's not the worst thing though.

Doofy · Feb 28, 2008, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

tl;dr

Summary: "You're throttling my torrent bandwidth. You must die, bitches"

starman · Feb 28, 2008, 12:34 PM

On one hand, I feel this is stupid because I'd bet the people bitching were people trying to download the latest hot movie from torrents.

On the other hand, there are a lot of legit uses for P2P services, like for Linux distros and such.

Was Comcast wrong? Probably in so much that they should have at least said "this is what we're going to do". I can't see how anyone wouldn't think that throttling P2P traffic wouldn't be noticeable. But, was Comcast instantiating a new policy without telling its users? Were they testing out new packet shaping software that did something bad? I don't know if a whole class action lawsuit is needed.

Doofy · Feb 28, 2008, 12:38 PM

I wonder what ISPs think consumers want 2 mbps+ lines for? Email? IRC? NN?

ShortcutToMoncton · Feb 28, 2008, 12:54 PM

Downloading legal movies from iTunes?

greg

starman · Feb 28, 2008, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

I wonder what ISPs think consumers want 2 mbps+ lines for? Email? IRC? NN?

If you ask goMac, he'll have you believe they're prepping for destroying BluRay with HD downloads

imitchellg5 · Feb 28, 2008, 01:39 PM

I don't care about torrents that much, but ever since Comcast took over Adelphia here our service has been horrid. Internet goes down two to three times a week, sometimes for over an hour.

Rumor · Feb 28, 2008, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by starman

On one hand, I feel this is stupid because I'd bet the people bitching were people trying to download the latest hot movie from torrents.

On the other hand, there are a lot of legit uses for P2P services, like for Linux distros and such.

Was Comcast wrong? Probably in so much that they should have at least said "this is what we're going to do". I can't see how anyone wouldn't think that throttling P2P traffic wouldn't be noticeable. But, was Comcast instantiating a new policy without telling its users? Were they testing out new packet shaping software that did something bad? I don't know if a whole class action lawsuit is needed.

There are a tone of legit uses for torrent type traffic. A few of us tried to use it to transfer large mod files (300mb to 700mb) between a select group. I had to bow out because it didn't work well for me.

olePigeon · Feb 28, 2008, 03:08 PM

If you deal with stock video, torrent is one of the best ways to go. There are a number of services that use Peer-to-Peer to legally exchange stock video and hi-res photos. When you're dealing with hundreds of megabytes (and even gigabytes) torrent is a really good way to exchange files.

Big Mac · Feb 28, 2008, 03:18 PM

If they want to filter content, then they lose their ability to claim common carrier status and various groups can go after them for sundry types of objectionable content.

Laurence · Feb 28, 2008, 03:40 PM

They are NOT throttling bit-torrent. They are preventing seeding altogether. These things are very different. If they want to throttle any connection as bandwidth requires that is OK. If you read their EULA they have always had that right. Even their new EULA does not say that they have the right to block connections. That is what they are doing.

There are a few bad things that will happen to them if this continues. They will lose customers (obvious), they will lose common carrier status (They could be sued if some random person uploads porn to some completely random site), they will be continually sued. (Laywers cost money!)

I'm sure there are more negatives and really no positives. They aren't saving bandwidth as the bit-torrent users just use ssh tunnels or some other method of getting around the problem. People will always want more and more bandwidth and they will get it, if not from Comcast then from Verizon FIOS. Comcast has a monopoly in many areas right now, but that is changing and the change is accelerating!

olePigeon · Feb 28, 2008, 05:18 PM

My torrent does not work at all. It just sits at 0KB/sec. It doesn't download and it doesn't seed.

Comcast claims they only "throttle" during peak hours. My torrent doesn't work at any time of the day. They're a bunch of liars.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2008, 07:31 PM

I hate Comcast, with quite a passion. However, I also hate most lawyers, and I'm tired of making them wealthier with this type of ****.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2008, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by starman

On one hand, I feel this is stupid because I'd bet the people bitching were people trying to download the latest hot movie from torrents.

On the other hand, there are a lot of legit uses for P2P services, like for Linux distros and such.

Was Comcast wrong? Probably in so much that they should have at least said "this is what we're going to do". I can't see how anyone wouldn't think that throttling P2P traffic wouldn't be noticeable. But, was Comcast instantiating a new policy without telling its users? Were they testing out new packet shaping software that did something bad? I don't know if a whole class action lawsuit is needed.

doesn't Blizzard still distribute patches via torrent?

starman · Feb 28, 2008, 07:35 PM

Yup. What I don't understand is why there weren't a lot of complaints to Blizzard from Comcast customers.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2008, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by starman

Yup. What I don't understand is why there weren't a lot of complaints to Blizzard from Comcast customers.

If you bitch at Blizz CS they'll point you to the direct download link.

starman · Feb 28, 2008, 07:39 PM

Well, my point is that it would have been all over the WoW news sites and the WoW forums, and it wasn't.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2008, 08:01 PM

Not to be argumentative (not this time), but I do remember quite a bit of flack about it, at one time. Not to mention, a lot of people put up with 12hr+ downloads for patches without being too vocal. Seems that many got used to the "patch day blues".

starman · Feb 28, 2008, 08:04 PM

Hmm. Weird. I'm on Comcast and I know lots of people in my guild that are and nobody said a word.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2008, 08:07 PM

I'm not 100% sure if it was Comcast's fault at the time, actually. Much of it could have been contributed to the average person's inability to configure a router properly.

Laurence · Mar 1, 2008, 03:20 PM

I definitely agree with Shaddim, I have never heard of comcast blocking BT downloads, only seeding. If you want to verify whether its your router or ISP blocking something, just plug the cable/dsl modem directly into the ethernet port on your computer and disable the firewall. I wouldn't recommend running this way long-term, but if it fixes your torrent download issues then it proves that its a setting on your router that is causing the issue, not your ISP.

Cold Warrior · Mar 1, 2008, 03:35 PM

Correct. They don't block downloads -- just the uploads. They forge TCP headers and inject a false RESET command into the uploads, so that both sides give up on the connection. Uploading, even just a fraction, is the best way to get good down speeds on BT. Blocking uploads reduces down by about 80% in my experience.

Eriamjh · Mar 2, 2008, 09:34 AM

Doesn't every upload result in a download (unless you're sending to a fileserver).

andi*pandi · Mar 2, 2008, 10:05 AM

I can only upload while I'm downloading. I don't want to be a bad seed(er) but I am.