Comcast Tries to Set Up an “Internet Toll Booth!”

Grrrrr! This is the kind of thing that is SO frustrating! An ISP charges you ONCE for service, they shouldn’t be able to come back and say, “Oh by the way, we NOW want to charge you because you are using too much bandwidth!”

FCC getting involved in Level 3, Comcast Internet traffic spat

“Comcast is being criticized after it has decided to charge Level 3 Communications a surcharge for ‘excessive’ bandwidth usage. According to the cable provider, Level 3 is sending about five times as much data to Comcast as is going the other way, it said in a statement.

Under protest that it violates open Internet principles Level 3 is paying the surcharge. It claims Comcast essentially gave the company an ultimatum to accept its terms, which Level 3 had no choice but agree to or face possible disruptions. Comcast’s move has also spurred the FCC to ask for more information on the deal.

Level 3’s core business previously entailed the carriage of Internet traffic across the US, but it has increasingly turned to a distribution model in order to expand its business. Netflix’s popular streaming video service being one of its chief customers in this space. Obviously this change will also boost the amount of bandwidth that Level 3 would require.

‘Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content,’ Level 3 chief legal officer Thomas Stortz said in a statement. ‘This action … is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access markets.'”