On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Vivien M. wrote:
Just out of curiosity, was this an ISP in Ithaca, NY or nearby? (The description seems to match someone we've done business with there)
Vivien
Oh, it's not limited to a single ISP. It never was. I fail to see why people are arguing about "unlimited" as a marketing term. The fact is that all providers will use vague language to attract customers and then redefine those terms in their TOS and contracts. It's the nature of business. What needs to be addressed is the product itself. In this case, the cable internet service is what Comcast or any other cable provider defines it to be. If they wish to limit their product to exclude NAT/firewalls/multiple computers/etc, that's their decision. They need to, however, make that policy known. I wholeheartedly disagree with the practice of some ISPs (including cable companies) to target "power-users" who don't fit the traditional, undisclosed mold and drop them. The ISP business is about figuring out what your average customer will use, budgeting a little extra, and hoping they don't use more. If they do, you MUST increase capacity to support them. If this means taking on additional costs and passing these costs off to customer, so be it. Unfortunately, without competition in the cable market, unfair business practices will continue. And without other high-speed options open to many, they will have no choice but to buy cable internet access and conform to the rules, both written and unwritten. -Mike /-----------------------+-----------------------\ | Mike Joseph | Netaxs, Inc. | | Network Engineering | ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | (610)825-9800 | | mjoseph@netaxs.com | www.netaxs.com | \-----------------------+-----------------------/