Class action lawsuit filed against Comcast
It should come as no surprise that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Comcast regarding the speed of its service. Gilbert Randolph, LLP has filed the suit in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of a client and the residents of the District.
The complaint alleges that Comcast is supposed to provide the “fastest Internet connection” and “unfettered access to all the content, services, and applications that the Internet has to offer.” The firm alleges that these claims are false because Comcast impedes access to P2P (peer to peer) applications.
When it comes to P2P applications, Comcast isn’t exactly the forgiving type. The company supposedly sends “reset packets” which that tell the transmitting computer(s) to stop sending data. Therefore, “users of peer-to-peer applications are denied full access to the Internet despite paying for a service that Comcast promises is “unfettered” and the “fastest” available.“
A spokesperson from the firm said that the company claims it does not block access to any applications but that’s not the case. It’s not so much the fact that the company is doing this but that it does so in an “underhanded and deceptive manner.”
The plaintiff in the case, Dr. Snider, said, “I’ve been a Comcast customer for several years, and I feel betrayed.” A lot of other customers are right there with him, for the same or different reasons.
The company was adamant that it does not block or throttle P2P traffic in any way shape or form. It finally admitted said actions to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) but did not reveal the extent of those activities.
Comcast claims that it does so because P2P applications place additional burdens on its network and named BitTorrent as one of the main offenders. BitTorrent called the actions by the company, “anti-competitive.”
Now that Comcast has attracted the attention of the court system, the FCC and Congress, maybe it will change its way. The Executive Director of the Open Internet Coalition, Markham C. Erickson, ended by saying, “if Comcast doesn’t change its behavior, the word ‘Comcastic’ is going to become a synonym for fraud.”
It’s Comcastic alright, but not in the way Comcast meant it. The problem is that if you live in an area where Comcast service is offered, it’s unlikely you have any other choices for a service if you want all three (phone, Internet, cable). It seems the company also has a way of locking out competition too, perhaps that should be brought up in the case as well.
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March 13th, 2008
I am pleased to hear about this lawsuit filed against Comcast. I now have Comcast for all three services and I looking into what can be done regarding them selling customer phone numbers and possibly the “lock-out” of competition. I have had their phone service for six days. NO ONE has the phone number, YET I have received four calls from telemarketers asking for me or my husband. Too say that I am livid is an understatement…did I mention that the number is unpublished!! I’ve read other blogs online and apparently this has been happening for some time. Something needs to be done about Comcast.
June 2nd, 2008
I have comcast and am unable to use Skype because of this, is there a way to join this class action? I am in Chicago
June 4th, 2008
had service for 20 days canceled due to poor picture and service dropping intermittently. refused to pick up dish that they installed on my roof wanted me to pay $100 for them to pick it up and wanted me to sign a waiver if there are holes in my roof. Well of course there will be holes since those idiots drilled into the roof. I wnat the damn dish gone and repair to my roof.
June 4th, 2008
had service for 20 days canceled due to poor picture and service dropping intermittently. refused to pick up dish that they installed on my roof wanted me to pay $100 for them to pick it up and wanted me to sign a waiver if there are holes in my roof. Well of course there will be holes since those idiots drilled into the roof. I wnat the damn dish gone and repair to my roof. I am in Texas
June 25th, 2008
I want to join the class action aginst comcast. A news story with information on this would be very helpful.
July 29th, 2008
Comcast stole my money and terminated my services, their contact is misleading and they are the big dog and they always win.
September 29th, 2008
I’d love to see this case extended to also take a look at the unfair practice of ISPs, especially Comcast, barring its users from running servers on their connections. Considering how much I shell out to them per month, I should be able to host whatever I want on my own equipment, and it should be illegal for them to tell me any different.
I would personally testify to the fact that Comcast is anti-competitive, in part because of their AUP (acceptable Usage Policy), but mostly because of the underhanded practices of their NOC staff. Blocking ports should only be done upon a customer’s request, never because the ISP has decided to do it for you. I run an email server (a legitimate Exchange server for my technical community), along with a small webserver farm, and a series of Linux based chat servers (running UnrealIRCD & TeamSpeak Server). So far, comcast has blocked my email server twice, the 2nd time being after I had taken meassures to ensure that there was no erroneous port 25 traffic (gathered by running ‘tcpdump port 25′ from my Linux based edge router). As a senior network administrator myself, I know what they are doing, and it should be illegal. For that matter, the AUPs of most ISPs here in the USA should be called into court. These companies are raking in billions per year on their services, and you can’t tell me that they can’t afford to continually upgrade to keep up with increasing demand. They just released an addendum to their AUP which goes into effect on October 1st, 2008, which creates a 250GB cap per user. 250GB seems like a lot. Try running a tech shop on a 250GB cap. Not to mention, with more and more real-time video streaming sites, video conferencing communities and such developing at a steady rate, how long will it be before Comcast is forced by need to re-examine this 250GB cap as being far too little for the average user, much less, the power user.
What kills me the most is that Comcast advertises their service as ‘The one for power users’, but with this new 250GB cap, what they’re doing is charging us more to run out of our alotment more quickly.
If only there were another choice… but,if you want Broadband in Little Rock, AR, you have to deal with either AT&T or Comcast’s duapoly.
October 31st, 2008
I have three service with comcast for my business when i switched my service to comcast because of high speed internet thier phone was working but not the internet i called them for it they told me i have a negetive very weak signal by sending the tech to my place for over 10 times steel my internet is slow and they issued som credit to me but this credit did not applay on my account so icalled they said is OK we fixed it but for some reason allways shoes pass due on my account and i call again and again untile they cut my bussiness phone line for two days i called their service department i was so angry about it they worked with me they said they are sorry and your phone is working now after i hung up with them i realized they did not fix my phone yet so i called againe and the tech deprtment told me i have to talk to billing deprment and he will connect me to them but he connect me to 911 instead the billing department can you figure the confusion for me to explaning my phone problem to 911 and then i call them againe and againe untill i god my phone back I am in manassas va but if i can be part of a class action law suite againgt comcast any where i will be there
November 26th, 2008
Greetings- I am writting to ask if I can join this class action lawsuit to sue comcast for fraud. They owe me lot of money and will not give it back. They claim each month to charge a month in advance and if I am a week late, comcast double my charges instead of charging the usual fee of 7 to 20 dollars.
Thank you all
Pls. respond ASAP.
December 23rd, 2008
I want to join too. I have a homebased website business and they block uploads and downloads of files to the server. It’s not just bit torrent apps. They block anything big. I paid for their upgraded service only to have it finally be 6mbps – which is their lowgrade service (I’m paying for 16mbps but never get it – not even close). Weekends and holidays are awful, I’m lucky if I get 5mbps down and 1 up with lots of disconnects. We have no other “high speed” option here – they have the entire market. I hope they get hanged high for their deceptive practices.
January 16th, 2009
I now get junk phone calls which had stopped after the new law went into effect. apparantly it does not apply to internet phone. I also have had many outages and no rebate on the bill for loss of servce, some times for most of the day. Frequent crashes of internet connection for no reason Just what you would expect when they have the monopoly in the area. Then the best now i get a phone call from some company doing a survey of comcast customer rating of service. Probably to support their defense in a lawsuit. Well needless say they didnt get high marks. Even if a lawsuit is won most customers will never see much from a class action, and the service will be the same. What is really needed is some competition in the market.
January 26th, 2009
JANUARY 26, 2009
MY NEIGHBOR TOLD ME ABOUT THIS SUIT YESTERDAY. I HAVE BEEN BATTLING COMCAST FOR A YEAR AS OF 1-11-08, WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT THE CABLE FROM THE POLE TOMY HOUSE WAS OVER 15 YEARS OLD. NO WONDER WHEN WE SIGNED A CONTRACT FOR DIGITAL IN APRIL 2004 THAT NOTHING EVER WORKED. EVERY MONTH WITHOUT FAIL, PCS OFF, TVS NOT WORKING BECAUSE OF DVRS NOT WORKING. BACK AND FORTH I WENT WITH THEM FOR 4 YEARS! THEY BLAMED EVERYTHING BUT THEMSELVES UNTIL A TECH (YOUNG) CLIMBED THE POLE AND TOLD ME THE CABLE WAS OLDER THAN HIM! A JOKE BUT THEN HE SAID AT LEAST 15 YEARS~~TOO OLD FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION. IT TOOK HIM OVER AN HOUR TO GET SOMEONE ON THE PHONE TO ORDER THE CABLE REPLACEMMENT! GO FIGURE. THAT WAS SUPPOSEDLY DONE ON 11~2007. SO WE PUT UP WITH ALL THE CRAP UNTIL AFTER THE HOLIDAYS. ON 1~11~2008 A 19 YR VET TECH TOLD ME THE CABLE ON THE POLE WAS EXTREMELY OLD~SO MUCH FOR IT BEING CHANGED IN NOVEMBER! HE NO SOONER CHANGED IT THAN MY TV PICTURE HAD SO DRASTIC AN IMPROVEMENT IT WAS LIKE GOING FROM BLACK AND WHITE TO COLER IN A BLINK!!! NO LIE! NO EXAGGERATION!! NO DIGITAL TRANSMITTED TO MY HOUSE FOR 4 OF THE LAST 5 YEARS I WAS CONTRACTED FOR IT!!
THEY KEPT TELLING ME THEY WOULD REIMBURSE ME FOR MY TROUBLE FOR THE YEARS I HAD DIGI. AT THAT TIME I BELIEVED THE CONTRACT WAS SIGNED IN 2005. THEY WERE HAPPY WITH THAT, BUT DECIDED THAT SINCE I HAD A FEW MOS. WHEN I WASN’T CHARGED FOR IT BUT RECEIVED IT BECAUSE THEY RECODED MY SERVICE INCOPRRECTLY (DON’T U LOVE IT!) THOSE MOS. WOULDN’T COUNT. THAT PROMPTED ME TO GO THRU ALL OF MY STMNTS AND GUESS WHAT I FOUND? MY CONTRACT!! 4~23~2004! THEY OWE ME ANOTHER 12 MOS.! THEN THEY BLEW ME OFF. I SOUGHT FCC HELP AND WAS TOLD BY THEM THAT I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A LETTER FROM COMCAST DETAILING THE REIMBURSEMENT. NO LETTER! THEY BLOW OFF THE FCC!! THEY MUST BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOD! I NEED AN ATTORNEY AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS HAD THE SAME ISSUES. LET’S GET THE THIEVES!!!!
TERI C.
January 26th, 2009
JANUARY 25, 2009
MY NEIGHBOR TOLD ME ABOUT THIS SUIT YESTERDAY. I HAVE BEEN BATTLING COMCAST FOR A YEAR AS OF 1-11-08, WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT THE CABLE FROM THE POLE TOMY HOUSE WAS OVER 15 YEARS OLD. NO WONDER WHEN WE SIGNED A CONTRACT FOR DIGITAL IN APRIL 2004 THAT NOTHING EVER WORKED. EVERY MONTH WITHOUT FAIL, PCS OFF, TVS NOT WORKING BECAUSE OF DVRS NOT WORKING. BACK AND FORTH I WENT WITH THEM FOR 4 YEARS! THEY BLAMED EVERYTHING BUT THEMSELVES UNTIL A TECH (YOUNG) CLIMBED THE POLE AND TOLD ME THE CABLE WAS OLDER THAN HIM! A JOKE BUT THEN HE SAID AT LEAST 15 YEARS~~TOO OLD FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION. IT TOOK HIM OVER AN HOUR TO GET SOMEONE ON THE PHONE TO ORDER THE CABLE REPLACEMMENT! GO FIGURE. THAT WAS SUPPOSEDLY DONE ON 11~2007. SO WE PUT UP WITH ALL THE CRAP UNTIL AFTER THE HOLIDAYS. ON 1~11~2008 A 19 YR VET TECH TOLD ME THE CABLE ON THE POLE WAS EXTREMELY OLD~SO MUCH FOR IT BEING CHANGED IN NOVEMBER! HE NO SOONER CHANGED IT THAN MY TV PICTURE HAD SO DRASTIC AN IMPROVEMENT IT WAS LIKE GOING FROM BLACK AND WHITE TO COLER IN A BLINK!!! NO LIE! NO EXAGGERATION!! NO DIGITAL TRANSMITTED TO MY HOUSE FOR 4 OF THE LAST 5 YEARS I WAS CONTRACTED FOR IT!!
THEY KEPT TELLING ME THEY WOULD REIMBURSE ME FOR MY TROUBLE FOR THE YEARS I HAD DIGI. AT THAT TIME I BELIEVED THE CONTRACT WAS SIGNED IN 2005. THEY WERE HAPPY WITH THAT, BUT DECIDED THAT SINCE I HAD A FEW MOS. WHEN I WASN’T CHARGED FOR IT BUT RECEIVED IT BECAUSE THEY RECODED MY SERVICE INCOPRRECTLY (DON’T U LOVE IT!) THOSE MOS. WOULDN’T COUNT. THAT PROMPTED ME TO GO THRU ALL OF MY STMNTS AND GUESS WHAT I FOUND? MY CONTRACT!! 4~23~2004! THEY OWE ME ANOTHER 12 MOS.! THEN THEY BLEW ME OFF. I SOUGHT FCC HELP AND WAS TOLD BY THEM THAT I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A LETTER FROM COMCAST DETAILING THE REIMBURSEMENT. NO LETTER! THEY BLOW OFF THE FCC!! THEY MUST BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOD! I NEED AN ATTORNEY AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS HAD THE SAME ISSUES. LET’S GET THE THIEVES!!!!
TERI C.
April 14th, 2009
Very much interested in going after and breaking comcast ir regards to their bamdwidth and accounting practices.
June 2nd, 2009
Does anyone know the status of this lawsuit, and how one can join the class action against Comcast — would be very glad to know.
September 30th, 2009
I have had Comcast for sometime now and have serious issues with them. One instance I had to make a payment which was paid and 2 days later my services was shut off and the equipment was picked up. The agent that picked up the equipment had my 14 year old son sign the receipt for it. I did work for Comcast for awhile as a contractor and I am aware of their policies and procedures. It states on their pick up and delivery sheets that an person has be home at this time and have to be 18 years of age or older now explain to me how a 14 year old boy can sign for anything.I had complained to a supervisor about this and it was documented that this had happened and all they gave me was 2 day credit for missed services. The agent had to come back out and rewire my home all over again because the agent that picked up the equipment cut all the cable outside my home. Another instance was that I paid a bill in full then was shut off and was told that I had to pay a reconnection fee of $150 “deposit” plus my bill which I never have received due to it being out of the billing cycle. If this is not the way how the Mafia acts then I don’t know what is. Comcast is the only service around .I have communicated with other providers and they will be coming to my area soon but until then I have to deal with it. If there is any way to be added to the class action suit please let me know at the provided e-mail address.
October 6th, 2009
I have Comcast basic cable….. I have never had a problem with the cable BUT two years ago I got internet service from them. for two years I thought everything was fine you know
I got the 16mbps cable package work fine so I thought .little slow for my needs but I also had a older computer. 2g of ram and all that , so I blamed it on my computer BUT I since upgraded my computer it now runs a 3.5gh processor, 8g of ram. and low and behold my internet works the same.
I’ve done speed test at different times of the day and never goes over 4 to5 mbps.
I called Comcast to try to fix the problem ….I told them that I am paying for 16mbps (internet service)
and that it never test more than 4 to 5 that there might be something wrong with my line.
they told me that that is the way it works , that the service comes with 8mbps and with power boost it goes to 16. power boost is supposed to kick in when you need it but how does it know when you need it. now I am waiting for the power boost to kick in. yeah right.
I think that if you pay for 16 you should get 16 if I wanted 4 to 5 I would get a lower package.
is there anything I could do about that?
October 23rd, 2009
Well I am back again with another issue with Comcast. I had service after the first tidbit I had complained about then my services were completly shut off. This was a complete inconveince. I had to go to a friend’s house to use their phone to call them about what was going on. I finally got in contact with customer service and informed them my service was not on. They proceded to run tests from their end to find out that it was from the pole. They in turn informed me that it will be 3 days before a tech can come out to fix the problem. I stated that would be fine and proceeded to make arrangements to pay my bill on a later date which was confirmed in their system. Well when the day the tech came to my house to fix the issue he stated to me that another tech had tapped into my line to give another customer service by this time I was infuriated but I let the tech continue with his job. My services got back up and running for a total of 9 hours then it went back down. remember earlier I asked to pay my bill on a later date yeah right. I was shut off and I could not get in contact with customer service because every time I was asked to enter my phone number by the automated system it will state that my services were interuppted even after I asked Comcast if I was able to pay it on a later date and was told it would be fine. I tried hitting 0 just to get a person but I was sent back to enter your phone number. I was totally pissed by this time and disconnected all the boxes and modem. I called a competitor and I have no problems. Then Comcast had the nerve to call me and ask for a payment for services that I did not have anymore. What a crock of !@#*. Comcast sucks and will not get my business. Oh almost forgot if anyone don’t know Comcast is owned and ran by Time-Warner.So for those of you who in the other states besides Illinois, Wisconsin , Minnesota you guys have to watch out because they might try this with you. I hope they get their pants sued off of them
November 17th, 2009
Hey, is there anything going on about the lies they tell you to get hooked up. We were given prices and they have changed the “deals” before our first bills. They are getting away with tons of stuff.
November 24th, 2009
Wow im glad to see that there is a place to have all of these people vent, but really shut up please. no body wants to hear all of this crying and complaining about your life story. if you have a real legal issue then file, i did, and lost, but would love to join a class action lawsuit and actually get something done! But am disappointed at the fact that i cant find the information on how to do so because everyones life story is posted. and to the people that say that the law should be changed to control the companies terms and conditions… 1st of all you dont have to be a customer of the company and they have the right to refuse service to anyone they want. 2nd of all if you want the law to be changed in such a way you dont sue the company thats not going to get you too far for such issues because of their terms and conditions laid out in their agreement. your best bet would be to write your government officials and get them interested.
December 4th, 2009
I’m sick of Comcast “high-speed” internet. My connection is dropped constantly and when I am connected it’s not that fast. I’m sure there is a problem with the lines outside my house, but Comcast won’t send a tech unless I’m home. My hunch is that they want access to my house so they can blame the problem on a splitter (which they installed) or some other “inside” issue. Comcast is a shady outfit.
February 23rd, 2010
is there any way that i can join or begin a lawsuit against comcast… it is ashame how they fraud and deceive their customers, I had comcast for over a year and I had not installed there virus/firewall protection, their internet slowed so nerve wrecking that I called and asked what was wrong, they made a claim that i was paying for whatever speed, than they talked me into downloading theit ‘free’ mcafee secuitiy system – a day later my pc caught a virus and when i called comcsst they had me call mcafee and i was told it would be 90.00 removal, etc, that comcast security was limited.. and i said but i had NO PROBLEMS with virus till i got them…this is distressing to talk about…but i got back with comcast and theyu sent a technicial who was supposedly properly removing the virua and installing the mcafee again – 2 days later i got a popup virus called “security 2010″ it wanted 89.99 for protection it placed so many popups on my computer everytime i tried to close it out 2 more would pop up, when i tried getting into mcafee this would always popup. after a few days my computer completely crashed it cost me almost 100.00 to get it swept and to have norton placed on it. My speed is still slow and I am disgusted and stressed out trying to talk with comcast (SCUMCAST) I need to know what ate my options, I hope someone will be so kind as to give me some advice and help me to get retribution for all the cost and to compel them to restore the ‘high speed internet’ which i initially was to be paying for. PLEASE HELP 2/23/2010. THANKS.
February 23rd, 2010
when does this lawsuit expire I wish to aid against comcastfraud and deception of their customers, I had comcast for over a year and I had not installed there virus/firewall protection, their internet slowed so nerve wrecking that I called and asked what was wrong, they made a claim that i was paying for whatever speed, than they talked me into downloading theit ‘free’ mcafee secuitiy system – a day later my pc caught a virus and when i called comcsst they had me call mcafee and i was told it would be 90.00 removal, etc, that comcast security was limited.. and i said but i had NO PROBLEMS with virus till i got them…this is distressing to talk about…but i got back with comcast and theyu sent a technicial who was supposedly properly removing the virua and installing the mcafee again – 2 days later i got a popup virus called “security 2010″ it wanted 89.99 for protection it placed so many popups on my computer everytime i tried to close it out 2 more would pop up, when i tried getting into mcafee this would always popup. after a few days my computer .
January 31st, 2011
i am looking to participate in the class action lawsuits but dont know how..can someone help.comcast went from good to just plain screw you over unless your rich……..what a slap in the face to the people who have had comcast for along time….thousands of dollars waisted…….HELP!!!
January 31st, 2011
i have a question how do i get in on this class action lawsuit, because i have been having problems with comcast for years and it seems like i have to call them up atleast every week and complain about how crappy my connection is.
April 19th, 2011
I have had comcast for two years. Well I have paid my bill faithfully every month and the amount I own them. Well there telling me that I have a over due balance of 99.08 and that’s unbelievable. How can they get away with taking my money like that. I go to the university of phoenix for my MBA. Well how can I go to school and worry about making it for my family. If there is a lawyer out there that is brave enough to take on comcast with me let me know. because I want these bastard for taking my money. They should not be aloud to take advantage of the people that are paying for there paychecks. I NEED HELP IN MUSKEGON MICHIGAN. TO GIVE COMCAST WHAT THEY DESERVE!!!
May 3rd, 2011
Comcast is crooked.