Comcast Network Management
Comcast is committed to providing the best online experience possible for all of its customers. The company uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards.
Managing the network is essential as Comcast works to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all its customers.
Recent News and Posts:
Data Usage Meter Pilot Market Deployment
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Today we announced the start of a pilot market deployment of our data usage meter for our High-Speed Internet Service. This deployment begins today for customers in Portland, Oregon. We currently anticipate deploying this usage meter beyond the pilot market beginning in the first quarter of 2010. You can find FAQs here, and an independent analysis of the usage meter by NetForecast, Inc. here. The usage meter looks like this. Feel free to visit our customer support forums if you'd like to ask us more questions.
Comcast Participates in MIT Internet Traffic Analysis Study
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The MIT Internet Traffic Analysis Study (MITAS) is a new research project at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence laboratory (CSAIL). The goal of this project is to undertake novel empirical research of ISP traffic data. Data will be collected from at least six participating ISPs, including Comcast, and the project hopes to add more ISPs. Better data and collection methodologies are needed to inform the industry, the network research community, and policy discussions about appropriate technical and business approaches to traffic management.
Detailed traffic data will be collected from ISPs over time, enabling researchers to formulate empirically valid characterizations of both aggregate traffic patterns, as well as a traffic profile for the average users. It is important to note that no personally identifiable information about any participating ISPs' users will be used in this project.
More information about the MITAS research project can be found at the MITAS website, at http://mitas.csail.mit.edu.
Service Notice Trial Begins
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Today we announced our new Constant GuardTM security program. We are also testing a feature of Constant GuardTM called a ?Service Notice,? designed to send customers a message when we believe their computer has been infected with a virus or other malware. For additional information, please visit our blog post on this subject.
Prior to the start of this trial, we developed the a draft document with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) regarding remediation of malicious bots, available for review and comment by the Internet community at http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-oreirdan-mody-bot-remediation. In addition, for the same purposes, we have developed a draft document with the IETF which describes in detail how the Service Notice system works, available at http://www.ietf.org/id/draft-livingood-web-notification-00.txt.
Domain Helper National Rollout Begins
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
In July 2009, we announced our market trial of our new Domain Helper service, designed to help customers find Web sites they want when they mistype an address in the web browser's address bar. Based on the success of the market trial, we have decided to roll out the service to our entire network. Customers will receive an email explaining the service and how to opt-out shortly, but can certainly opt-out now as well. Please note that customers with statically-configured Comcast DNS servers are opted-out by default.
For additional information, feel free to visit our original blog post or our most recent blog post this subject. To find out how Domain Helper works, please click here.
Domain Helper Market Tests Begin
Thursday, July 9, 2009
At Comcast, we are constantly looking to deliver a better high-speed Internet and online search experience. That is why we have begun market testing Domain Helper in selected areas to help customers find the Web sites they want when they mistype a Web address name in a Web browser?s address bar. Those market areas are: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Some customers will not want the assistance of Domain Helper, so there is an easy way to opt-out of this when you receive the suggestion Web page (or by visiting the opt-out page now -- note also that customers with statically-configured Comcast DNS servers are opted-out by default). We have also developed the first draft of a new best practices document with the IETF regarding these types of services, available for Internet community review and comment at http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-livingood-dns-redirect-00.
We hope our customers find this to be a valuable tool. For additional information, feel free to visit our blog post on this subject.
Network Management Update
Monday, January 5, 2009
In March 2008, we announced that by the end of the year Comcast would switch to a new network management technique for managing congestion on Comcast's broadband network. Effective December 31, 2008, we have completed this transition, which is now part of our daily business operations for managing congestion on our network. The approach is designed to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that all of our high-speed Internet customers have fair and equal access to the Internet and to bandwidth resources.
On these Web pages, we have provided information and FAQs about congestion management and we have posted copies of the documents we filed with the FCC that also describe it in great detail. Please read more about network management or read some FAQs.
Additional FAQs Posted on Security-Related Port Blocks
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
As part of continuing efforts to increase our transparency on our network management methods, we have updated and expanded our FAQs. We have recently published a new FAQ regarding the network ports which are blocked for security reasons, in order to protect our customers. It is available at here in our FAQs.
Network Management Update
Friday, November 7, 2008
Comcast is pleased to announce that we have successfully completed the trial of our new network management technique. We are now following through on our commitment to implement this new technique for managing network congestion across all areas of the country by the end of this year.
We will gradually transition to the new technique over the next few months and will conclude no later than December 31, 2008. The new technique is currently being used in the following areas: Minnesota, Indianapolis and Muncie, IN, Paducah, KY. Please click here to check for updates on the status of the transition to the new technique.
More questions? View our Network Management FAQs
IETF 73
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
IETF 73 will include P2P and network management-related topics, as a follow-up to the 72nd IETF meeting in July, 2008. The 73rd IETF meeting will take place in Minneapolis in November. We anticipate participating in a variety of working groups relevant to this topic, including Techniques for Advanced Networking Applications(TANA) and Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) Birds of a Feather (BoF) meetings. In preparation for the ALTO BoF, where P4P-like mechanisms are being discussed, we have submitted in Internet Draft describing our recent P4P technical trial results, which is available here.
Network Management Update
Friday, September 19, 2008
Today, Comcast provided additional information to the FCC about how we manage congestion on our network, including detailed information about the future congestion management techniques we announced in March. More information and copies of these filings are posted here.
Network Management Trial Expansion
Thursday, July 31, 2008
We are expanding our previously announced network management trial to the areas of Colorado Springs, CO, East Orange, FL, and Lake City, FL. We expect to continue these trials for at least 30 days as we evolve the new protocol-agnostic network management technique.
These trials which started in March 2008 are ongoing in the previously-announced markets of Warrenton, VA, and Chambersburg, PA
IETF 72
Monday, July 21, 2008
IETF 72 will include P2P and network management-related topics, as a follow-up to the IETF P2PI Workshop in May. The 72nd IETF meeting will take place next week in Dublin, Ireland. While some of this follow-up work will occur in regular IETF workgroup groups, most of it will take place in the Techniques for Advanced Networking Applications (TANA) and Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) Birds of a Feather (BoF) meetings. Comcast is participating in IETF 72.
Network Management Trial Update
Monday, June 2, 2008
The company announced in March 2008 that it will switch to a new network management technique by the end of the year for managing bandwidth use and congestion. The new network management technique is designed to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that all Comcast High-Speed Internet customers have fair and equal access to the Internet and to bandwidth resources.
View full article on the trial, or see details of how the technique works.
Top 5 FAQs
Why does Comcast manage its network?
What does Comcast mean when it says it manages its network?
How does Comcast manage its network?
Does Comcast discriminate against particular types of online content?
Downloads
IETF Draft - Service Notifications
IETF Draft - Congestion Management
FCC New Network Management Technique 