The FCC did not like it when Comcast (CMCSA) started to shut off customers running video file-sharing services. Comcast said the programs use too much bandwidth. The agency said that people who pay for broadband should get it.

It is easy for the FCC to take its position. It does not have to pay billions of dollars to upgrade the infrastructure at Comcast or any of the other large cable companies.

Now that Comcast has been beaten around the head by the FCC, it has come up with a new program to cut off the problem that the heaviest broadband users create for all of the other customers on the system. The firm only has so much capacity to move data, voice, and video. Something has to give.

Comcast will slow down the connections of the bandwidth hogs when the broadband speeds for other customers are being compromised. According to Bloomberg, "Top Internet speeds for the heaviest users will be reduced for 10 to 20 minutes to keep service to other users flowing"

While the FCC may have problems with the new solution, it has not offered any "work-around" of its own. Broadband capacity at cable companies is finite. If the democracy of the internet is to be preserved 1% of the customers cannot eat up 30% of the capacity.

Perhaps the FCC can start its own cable company to provide better service.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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