ISP hassle and data stream encryption?

Jan 18, 2005 1 Replies

I'll try to make this short. I've been without broadband for a few years



after having DSL for a few years. During that time i've been stuck on



dialup and ISDN. When i finally got the chance to get broadband, i



jumped on it. My broadband is wireless. I have an antenna on my roof



that connects to a local access point in town. Well after being in



connection hell these past few years, i freakin went ballistic once i



had the SPEED again. So in the first month, I dl'd about 700



gig(Conservative guess). My ISP kinda flipped and threatened to cancel



my account. This is a local ISP btw. He complained that my stream was



"constant" and that violated the agreement. This apparently causes



congestion on the access point with a business that pays big time $$$$



for access.I agreed to tone it down (basically until i had all the



facts). I went today to talk to him about the agreement. This is what



he highlighted in my copy: " I undertand this is a limited access single user account" and "No Web server, game servers, or servers of any kind are allowed and



violator's acces will be terminated" IMO, this agreement is extremely vague. I thought i would listen to him



first before i attacked it. His language and tone (and the network



tech's) indicated that they knew what i was downloading. They didn't



say it directly, but that's the picture i got. I'm still waiting on him



to contact me to see what options i will have. So my questions are:



  1. Any recommendations on software that i could use to encrypt my

stream or should i go with a usenet that has the option.



  1. Opinions on the "agreement"? I am (as well as them) under a 3 year

contract. I have NO OTHER options for broadband. Cable or dsl is not an



option. If i have to, i'll take this to court.


The question is what are you doing to rack up that kind of bandwidth usage? If it's streaming media or something like that, and that kind of usage is prohibited in the terms of service, then you're in trouble. However, I'm not sure why you think what he underlined is vague. It's very specific to me, and probably to most. He thinks you're operating a server, so are you or not?

Any ISP can in fact know exactly what you're doing over their network just by looking at their access logs. This is entirely what was at issue when the RIAA started going after individual users. The ISPs had that information all along, but initially fought before turning it over. Once they were forced to, the RIAA had no difficulty determining who had been sharing files.

Lastly, though, save the money on a lawyer or the time in court. You've got no case because you didn't buy a service with any kind of guarantees.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required