It reflects another issue though which is that MAC address accuracy probably doesn't matter very much in a world without caps (it would make it hard to diagnose issues, but let's assume a relatively good uptime). That means there could be many, many incorrect addresses and Comcast won't find them until people receieve the wrong bill.

I've had an experience where they claimed a cable modem I had purchased from Amazon was their own (from the MAC address on the label). I had to call in several times because I had loaned the modem out to a friend and they refused to activate it because it was an "unreturned rental modem". They're not even able to keep track of their own inventory, I would hardly count on them keeping track of MACs of all modems for the purposes of data caps.

Could Comcast be lying to cover their asses? I hardly trust them to be open and honest.

I'm thinking it's more "who the hell cares about customers" rather than "lets screw this customer over".

Well, it's a bad process if it relies on that. One would think that this would be automated somehow when the tech comes out to install the modem. Given the error rate of typos and the size of their customer base, it could affect a lot of people.

Don't forget that this data might be relied upon for other things, such as identifying the subscriber account associated with DMCA requests or such.

Agree, there are many reasons to be upset at comcast, but this is was very simple problem to correct, and it's not like they were doing this intentionally. They even gave him three months of overages free, so he wasn't charged anything even if he hadn't figured it out. Are we really reduced to being outraged over clerical errors that are fixed before anything bad happens?

I think it's reasonable to be somewhat outraged due to the fact that there are actually very few end-users who would have had the skills to prove the metering problems. This guy was advanced enough to be gathering traffic statistics at the modem (way beyond 99.9% of users already) and he still got told the measurements were "probably" legit. He didn't get any consideration until, knowing full well that their numbers were off, he unplugged his LAN for an entire week to prove it.

If we're going to give them a pass on accidental billing, you can't make correcting the problem this user-hostile.

I'm concerned that there is a cap at all or more specifically there aren't any viable competitors (with a decent network connection without caps).

Comcast has pretty significant overlap with AT&T UVerse and Verizon Fios. Not in all markets, but in enough.

The real problem is that comcast is correct, most people don't use nearly that much data. So even if all the people who are effected leaves, you are only talking about losing 5% of their revenue. It's probably a net-positive in congested areas.

Who said it was simple to correct?