Comcast Sued for BitTorrent Throttling, Mulls Data Caps

The ISP still struggles to address network traffic management issues.

Despite declaring plans to now undertake a "collaborative effort" with BitTorrent Inc. to address network traffic management issues, Comcast is now the target of 3 class action lawsuits in California, Illinois, and New Jersey for falsely promising "unfettered access to all the content, services, and applications that the Internet has to offer."



Comcast, which has some 14 million broadband subscribers, was found to have been throttling BitTorrent traffic late last year, and soon after became the subject of an FCC investigation and several public hearings.

"Comcast's clandestine techniques are similar to those used by totalitarian governments to censor the use of the Internet," reads the complaint filed in Illinois.

"No doubt Comcast would characterize the behavior as illegal and malicious hacking if perpetrated by others on Comcast and its customers."

Comcast is also reported to be looking at consumption-based billing plans similar to what Time Warner began testing out late last week in Beaumont, Texas. There customers must choose from packages that range from $29.95 p/month for a 768kbps connection and a 5GB monthly cap to $54.90 p/month for a 15mbps connection and a 40GB cap. They are also charged an additional $1 for each GB that exceeds their limit.

So far a Comcast spokesman said it is also evaluating a 250GB/mo limit, but so far it has not made a decision.