Hoser
12-04-2001, 07:43 PM
You can no longer suck everthing you want off @Home news servers. I found out today when I tried to connect. Here's the new informaton off their web page (http://home-help.excite.com/people_chat/newsgroups/ng_bytecap.html)
Excite@Home is implementing a byte-cap on the Usenet service that will limit subscribers to 3GB of Usenet content over any three day window. The Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) has been revised to reflect the change in Usenet usage policy.
Background of @Home Usenet Service
@Home provides Usenet access as part of the basic Internet access package to all @Home broadband subscribers. The @Home Usenet service has traditionally allowed unlimited downloads of Usenet News content. This resulted in some users downloading excessive volumes of News, using up a disproportionate share of the network bandwidth.
The byte-cap will limit per-subscriber Usenet downloads to 3GB over any three day window and is designed to curb excessive bandwidth consumption by a small percentage of News users. Bandwidth will be freed up for the general purpose use of mainstream subscribers, which includes Web browsing, email, and other highly requested services.
Who will this impact?
Usenet News users who try to download more than 3GB over a three day period will be impacted. Based on historical data, this represents 3% of Usenet News users. This change will be transparent to the majority of Usenet users.
To put this byte-cap in perspective, 3GB is a very generous amount of usage which will allow users to download about 60,000 images, or about 6,000 minutes of MP3 music.
How does the byte-cap work?
News users will be able to download up to 3GB over three days. This will be implemented as follows:
The clock starts when the News user downloads News for the first time.
As the user continues to use the service, the total volume downloaded is tracked.
If the amount downloaded reaches 3GB within three days since the start of the clock, the user gets an error message and is denied further access to the service until the end of that three-day period.
At the end of three days from the start of the clock, the clock is reset and access to News is restored if it had been previously denied.
What will happen if you go over the limit?
An error message appears telling you "Usage limit exceeded: please try again after XX hours." Usenet users who reach the 3GB limit within the prescribed three-day window will have their access to News servers shut off for the remaining hours (XX) of the window.
Note: Because a wide choice of news reader software is available to read and post news, this byte-cap error message is displayed by each news reader somewhat differently.
What are the advantages of this policy?
This change will prevent bandwidth abuse by a small number of Usenet users who consume a disproportionately large share of the bandwidth. As a result, mainstream @Home subscribers will see better bandwidth throughput and enjoy a better broadband experience overall.
Excite@Home is implementing a byte-cap on the Usenet service that will limit subscribers to 3GB of Usenet content over any three day window. The Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) has been revised to reflect the change in Usenet usage policy.
Background of @Home Usenet Service
@Home provides Usenet access as part of the basic Internet access package to all @Home broadband subscribers. The @Home Usenet service has traditionally allowed unlimited downloads of Usenet News content. This resulted in some users downloading excessive volumes of News, using up a disproportionate share of the network bandwidth.
The byte-cap will limit per-subscriber Usenet downloads to 3GB over any three day window and is designed to curb excessive bandwidth consumption by a small percentage of News users. Bandwidth will be freed up for the general purpose use of mainstream subscribers, which includes Web browsing, email, and other highly requested services.
Who will this impact?
Usenet News users who try to download more than 3GB over a three day period will be impacted. Based on historical data, this represents 3% of Usenet News users. This change will be transparent to the majority of Usenet users.
To put this byte-cap in perspective, 3GB is a very generous amount of usage which will allow users to download about 60,000 images, or about 6,000 minutes of MP3 music.
How does the byte-cap work?
News users will be able to download up to 3GB over three days. This will be implemented as follows:
The clock starts when the News user downloads News for the first time.
As the user continues to use the service, the total volume downloaded is tracked.
If the amount downloaded reaches 3GB within three days since the start of the clock, the user gets an error message and is denied further access to the service until the end of that three-day period.
At the end of three days from the start of the clock, the clock is reset and access to News is restored if it had been previously denied.
What will happen if you go over the limit?
An error message appears telling you "Usage limit exceeded: please try again after XX hours." Usenet users who reach the 3GB limit within the prescribed three-day window will have their access to News servers shut off for the remaining hours (XX) of the window.
Note: Because a wide choice of news reader software is available to read and post news, this byte-cap error message is displayed by each news reader somewhat differently.
What are the advantages of this policy?
This change will prevent bandwidth abuse by a small number of Usenet users who consume a disproportionately large share of the bandwidth. As a result, mainstream @Home subscribers will see better bandwidth throughput and enjoy a better broadband experience overall.