Dave, Is this the article?
sfgate.com
ExciteAtHome, the Redwood City company that
sells high-speed Internet access over cable TV
lines, has been quietly imposing limits on how fast
customers can send data over the Internet.
The company, which advertises speeds up to 100
times faster than a traditional modem, has begun
imposing an ''upstream cap'' that affects the speed
with which e-mail or files can be sent from a user's
computer.
The limit is part of an ExciteAtHome internal
strategy called ONadvantage, which caps
''upstream data'' at 128 kilobits per second. That's
still more than twice as fast as 56.6K dial-up
modem, but significantly slower than the 225 Kbps
to 1-megabit- per-second speeds AtHome users
pay for. For instance, a 1-megabyte file -- such as a
30-slide PowerPoint presentation -- would take
four to eight seconds to transmit at speeds of 1
megabit. At 128 Kbps, that same file would take
about 62.5 seconds.
Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of marketing for
ExciteAtHome, said the cap was implemented to
stop a small number of customers who were
hogging bandwidth and making it harder for other
customers to get fast Internet access.
The cap, which was discovered when an internal
AtHome memo was leaked to an AtHome Internet
users group, has sparked an outcry from
subscribers who say they feel cheated out of the
lightning-fast speeds that AtHome promises. The
memo also shows that AtHome instructed its
customer service representatives to avoid telling
customers about the cap.
''I don't think it's fair that they sold me
something and now they're going to take it away,''
said Martin Blackstone, an AtHome subscriber in
Orange County's Tustin Ranch.
An upstream cap of 128 Kbps was instituted in
Fremont last December after bottleneck problems,
but the cap now is going to be rolled out to all
AtHome communities across the country, according
to the memo.
Download speeds -- which affect how fast
customers can access Web sites and receive
information from the Internet -- are not affected by
the cap.
According to the memo, ONadvantage -- which
stands for Optimized Network Advantage -- was
instituted to help ensure the speed of the overall
AtHome network.
AtHome said it is trying to protect subscribers
against ''certain customers'' who are ''abusing the
network'' by running servers out of their homes, thus
hogging bandwidth. By operating a server, a
customer could host Web sites, something
AtHome's subscriber policy forbids.
''Fewer than 1 percent of our customers do things
that are precluded by our Acceptable Use Policy,
like run servers,'' Rosenberg said. ''That takes up a
disproportionate amount of upstream bandwidth
and lowers the speeds for the average consumer.''
AtHome's speeds are affected by how many people
use the service at a given time. Customers access
the Internet by using a cable modem that sends and
receives information via cable TV lines. AtHome
contracts with various cable TV providers across
the country to sell the service. In the Bay Area, it
operates through TCI Cable.
Cable TV lines serve an entire neighborhood,
however, so instead of a dedicated cable for each
user, between 500 to 1,000 users can connect to
AtHome's service via the same fiber-optic line.
Customers split the bandwidth, so the more people
using the service, the slower it goes.
The upstream cap is the latest attempt by AtHome
to handle its growing volume of subscribers. In the
three years since it was launched, AtHome has
signed up more than 460,000 customers. While that
amount is far less than the company originally
anticipated it would have by now, AtHome has
disclosed in financial filings that its network has had
trouble accommodating large numbers of users at
the same time.
To help keep the network running smoothly, the
company previously placed a 10-minute limit on the
TV-quality video its customers can download off
the Internet.
AtHome's latest cap has rankled customers who
say they enjoy the service but are upset with the
company's decision to continually impose limits and
hide it from subscribers.
The internal AtHome memo instructs customer
service employees to avoid telling customers about
the cap.
''The best ONadvantage explanation is to avoid
talking about it to begin with -- if possible,'' the
memo states. ''ONadvantage should be kept
low-key in the eyes of the subscriber. Ideally, the
customer will experience the advantages of
ONadvantage program without ever knowing it
existed.''
Rosenberg said the company never meant to
conceal the cap and said all AtHome customers
should have been alerted through an e-mail from
their cable provider.
''The intent of the document was not to hide in any
clandestine manner the activities which we're
implementing,'' Rosenberg said. He added,
''Ninety-nine percent of our users will get better
service after the upstream cap.''
But some customers are getting slower service, and
several AtHome subscribers who contacted The
Chronicle said the limit has interfered with their
attempts to send certain files, such as PowerPoint
presentations.
''I've certainly noticed a slowdown in upstream,''
said Dave Roznar, an AtHome customer in
Portland, Ore. ''Plus, if you hit the upload cap, your
download speed slows, too, so it can take forever
to check e-mail or look at news.''
Roznar, who's been a subscriber for more than a
year, said the company's handling of the situation is
unacceptable. He said customers, who pay $40 a
month for the service plus a $150 installation fee,
should have been consulted before the cap was
imposed.
''I'd rather that they didn't impose a cap at all
because, quite frankly, all their talk of being up to
100 times faster than a traditional modem is not true
and this just slows it down even more,'' Roznar
said.
Gene Shklar, vice president of marketing for San
Mateo's Keynote Systems, which tracks Internet
performance, said that while 128 Kbps is below
cable modem speed, most users who are just
sending e-mail and surfing the Net probably won't
notice the cap. Only those are trying to send large
files or operate their own servers would bump up
against it, he said.
''Most of the data flows downstream. In standard
interactions with Web sites, there is very little
flowing upstream,'' he said.
But some customers question the timing for the cap.
AtHome has talked about rolling out a program
called AtHome Professional, which would allow
customers to pay extra for additional bandwidth so
that they can transmit data at faster speeds.
Blackstone, who hasn't gotten the cap yet, but
expects to see it soon, said he understands that
AtHome is trying to protect the network's speed.
However, he said, all customers shouldn't be
punished just because a few people may be
misusing the service.
''This isn't kindergarten. They are punishing people
who have paid $150 to get this installed and have
done nothing wrong,'' Blackstone said. He said he'd
rather pay a little extra per month than have
AtHome limit how fast he can send files.
''I would have been happier if they said, 'We
messed up. We didn't plan our bandwidth
appropriately, so we're going to charge $10 more
per person and give you the same speeds,' ''
Blackstone said. ''To do it this way is ridiculous.
We're paying for speeds we're no longer getting.'' |
