Talk:Optimum Online

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Capping

The section on capping is extremely NPOV. Presumably, Cablevision has a point of view regarding capping that doesn't consider it 'arbitrary' (specifically regarding the Cablevision TOS).

I agree the section is completely biased and also misleading. Since when did text instance messaging and VoIP require sending huge amount of data?
It is not misleading. It is true. Users on IM can send files to each other, thereby potentially resulting in a cap being imposed upon them. I don't see how it is NPOV because it just mentions the facts, without saying that capping is bad. --Amit 20:36, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
I've been capped before, with the cap removed seemingly automatically shortly after I stopped my upload. I agree that the wording of this section is biased, and I'm not too sure about how accurate it is, either. I've put a disputed tag on it, will come back to edit sometime soon. Let's discuss! Nemilar 12:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
Huh. Before calling the section biased, try uploading like before again. You'll likely be capped in no time. And what does seemingly automatically mean? --Amit 15:14, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
I've been uploading a constant 175-200K for the past 2 days, no cap. By automatically, I mean without contacting OOL. Nemilar 23:24, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
Yes, but are you running any server software such as a torrent client that uploads to multiple users at the same time? --Amit 00:39, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
Running servers is in violation of the OOL TOS...I will admit to running a bittorrent client, however. That may or may not be all I am running. Nemilar 02:51, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
For all practical purposes for OOL, a server is a system that communicates with several other systems at the same time. A torrent client, therefore, is considered a server in their book. In any case, from the article:
The criteria for getting capped seems to differ from customer to customer. Cablevision claims that the decision is based on the CPU utilization of their gateway servers, and they cannot give a customer any parameters with which he can avoid capping. --Amit 05:36, 22 January 2007 (UTC)


What area do you guys live in? I'm not sure if it matters but I'm on the central New Jersey portion of the Optimum network, and I've never been capped. I use bit torrent pretty often, and leave it on over night sometimes uploading gigabytes of data in a single night. I've also uploaded 500+MB movies to my personal web space, and still was never capped. -Anonymous 5:37, 28, January 2007

I just got through a situation of being capped and the ordeal of getting uncapped. I run no servers but use my internet heavily, including none Cablevision VIOP, VPN with uploading files to my office, slingbox, and several other applications that utilizes the internet. I find that the current description on the main page to be completely accurate. There was no notification. Performance after being capped wasn't even good enough to surf web pages on the internet anymore. I called them before I found out the reason. I was told that I would be contacted in 24 hours. 24 hours elapsed and when I called back was told the department that handles the uncapping doesn't work weekends and that I would have to wait another 72 hours, that after I waited a full day at home waiting for a phone call that never came. OOL will not give specific reason for that triggered the cap or how to prevent future cappings. --69.114.73.182

It is interesting to know that you got capped even though you claim not to run any server software. Can you confirm that you do not use any P2P software whatsoever - because those would qualify as server software? --Amit 08:28, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
I just went through the ordeal of getting uncapped. I was NOT running an server or P2P software. I was in the process of backing up my music collection to Ourtunes.com when my service degraded. Even more annoying, Cablevision would not call me back on my cell phone because it was out of area (I just moved here). --Joecrow 19:48, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Jeff Frady- I've gotten capped for "bandwidth abuse". I was uploading too much.(even though the transfer rates were very low, I did it for a long time). When called, they said the next time I abuse too much bandwidth, my service with them will be TERMINATED.

Steve- The bias slant on the service is quite true. I have been Capped three times over the past year and I am threatened with termination next time and also must agree that they refuse to tell you how to avoid it. Upon realizing the problem, which I noticed when VOIP would break up during conversations, I was told a tech would call me in 72 hours ... 5 days later I called and told the ticket was still open and i would be contacted... on day 4 i was finally called and they fixed it. But I still dont know how to set my Torrent program and am in the process of switching to FIOS.

-Not logging in for obvious reasons. Here's how the throttling works. Our nodes are constantly monitored. When they get overloaded to the point that users service will be slowed down, whoever has been using the most upstream for the most time gets throttled down to 150kbps. The algorithm is balanced such that time counts for more- you are more likely to dodge being throttled if you upload at full speed for an hour than half speed for two hours. Downstream is *not* directly affected by this, your service cap will remain at 15 or 30 mbps. However, if you keep uploading to your new limit, there won't be room for ACK packets to go out and downloads will be affected... leave room for ACK, you'll be fine to download.

Also, when you call in... if the rep tells you 24 hours on your first call, he's an idiot. If its been a week of calling every couple days we might be able to get you a callbakc that fast, or sometimes even get someone on to handle it in five minutes if we've really dropped the ball(probably an idiot rep that didn't escalate the first call correctly- the more apologetic the rep you talk to is, the more likely the first one wasn't sent up properly). Standard is 2-4 days for residential accounts. Between calling back other subs that are throttled, and performing their other responsbilities, they very rarely will be able to get to you within a day even if they want to, so we'll only push that through in case of exceptional circumstances.

-as someone who formerly worked for the technical support department of ool, i can say that my experience with capping is that it's a lot rarer than would be indicated by the huge section it's given. I can also say that not a single person I've ever spoken to that was capped was innocent of violating the terms of service in one way or another. basically, it's hard to get capped, and it is based on the node and amount of sustained usage - no one gets capped on an empty node. I've heard many complaints about there not being a "set criteria" for being capped, but if there were one, instead of capping they'd drop the upload bandwidth for everyone. I'm sure 99% of the subscribers appreciate the 3mbit bursts that they're allowed a lot more than the 1% of people who think that now's the time to wire their entire security system to constantly upload video files to a central server. It's better to cap people who abuse the network than it is to make everyone else suffer. OOL could just give you crappy upload speeds, like everyone else.

The closest I've ever seen to an innocent party in the capping controversy is a few people running unsecured wireless networks, and that in itself is the responsibility of the user. Running a server won't get you capped, unless of course you're running one that has massive bandwidth utilization (like a streaming media or hi-traffic ftp server). Opening up port 80 for a web server won't get you capped. Keeping your shoutcast server running at 128bit stereo with 64 users at a time or seeding the latest crack for photoshop 24/7 probably will. Be glad you're not talking to HSD, there are worse things than getting capped. Sororyzbl 03:09, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Discontinuation

This needs to be rewritten. OOL no longer caps. This has been extensively talked about on the dslreports forums. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/ool Psilocybin (talk) 18:43, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Could you possibly provide links to a few pertinent discussion threads? --AB (talk) 20:24, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
Try http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19856830-OOL-Questions-about-upload-caps : —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.85.113.245 (talk) 12:02, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
The pertinent section has now been updated to mention that OOL no longer caps. The section is still in need of a general update though. --AB (talk) 19:49, 23 February 2008 (UTC)