Comments on: What the Web Is Saying: Comcast vs. Level 3

By: A Play by Play on the Comcast and Level 3 Spat : Tech News «

A Play by Play on the Comcast and Level 3 Spat : Tech News « — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:40:32 +0000

[...] 30: Commentary on the web accelerates with some accepting the commercial disagreement argument, and others seeing in the move [...]

By: Maggie Rulli

Maggie Rulli — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:09:10 +0000

I appreciate that you told the whole story from all over the web. There has been so many 100% negative blog posts about comcast, it’s refreshing to see both sides of the argument. Although let’s be honest… bottom line is that I won’t be happy paying more for my netflix.

By: Observant

Observant — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:04:32 +0000

Something no-one has thought to bring up. While Comcast (and other cable operators) do host some small websites and have some symmetric customers, the vast majority of the internet service they off to their customers is asymmetric.

My TWC connection is 768kbit/s upload, and about 8mbit/s download or about 10:1, yet according to Comcast, there is too much imbalance at 5:1. If a customer’s connection is 10:1, how reasonable is it for a peer to exchange 1:1 or even 3:1 traffic?

By: Joe Wagner

Joe Wagner — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:45:08 +0000

So long as Comcast is charging Level 3 based on the quantity of traffic and not its content, then it sounds fine to me. Also assuming Level 3′s deal is no better or worse than that of other Comcast customers.