Price of Mozy.com. Online Back-Up Help me understand

[dhilberg]

I've not gotten any notices, I'll have to look into my service agreement. I don't recall any caps ever being placed on my bandwidth. That's not to say they haven't changed something.

In your area, what happens when you go over 250GB? Do they charge you by the GB or do they just shut your service off?

I haven't seen any changes here either. Yet.

But is the cap on uploads? They've been talking about capping downloads for a while because mostly of people downloading movies and such (at least that's the official story) but I don't remember reading anything about downloads.

Check out the article I posted above. The cap is on all bandwidth that passes through the modem, up and down.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Check out the article I posted above. The cap is on all bandwidth that passes through the modem, up and down.

Thank you.

 

[inTempus]

If you have large amounts of data you want to backup online, you might want to consider using external hard drives instead if you have Comcast. Not sure about Comcast in your area, but around here they just implemented a monthly cap of 250GB on data transfers. So backing up 400GB of images online wouldn't even be possible here. And if they haven't implemented it in your area yet, chances are it's coming.

I've not gotten any notices, I'll have to look into my service agreement. I don't recall any caps ever being placed on my bandwidth. That's not to say they haven't changed something.

In your area, what happens when you go over 250GB? Do they charge you by the GB or do they just shut your service off?

I initially heard about this not from Comcast, but in an article on El Reg a couple weeks ago.
Comcast trials bandwidth cap meter • The Register

According to the article if you go over the limit:

Under current policy, Comcast phones customers after they exceed the cap, and if they exceed it again within six months, their accounts are subject to termination.

The article also mentions:

This morning, the US cable giant announced a pilot launch of the web-based meter in Portland, Oregon, saying it would reach the rest of the country "after a short period."

I received an email this morning, explaining that the bandwidth meter for our area is up and running (the El Reg article mentioned it, but I checked two weeks ago and it wasn't available here yet, only in Portland), which is what prompted me to comment in this thread.

Apparently they announced the cap last year (I think the article says Oct. 2008), but I don't recall getting an email or anything. Usually they email that kind of stuff.

EDIT: I found the Comcast Acceptable Use Policy, talk about the cap a bit:
https://customer.comcast.com/Pages/HelpNFC.aspx?print=false&id=aup-lite

EDIT 2: Keep in mind the cap is for residential customers. I don't know about the business customers.

Thanks for the info.

Humm, I could upload 400GB it seems then get a warning. I would only have to do the upload of all my image files once. After that it's just maintaining the updates which wouldn't come anywhere near their capped limit.

 

[iflynething]

Wow. I see what happens when I don't come back for a couple days, it goes to page 2!

I thought caps could be imposed but is there a way to find out. I think my best route right now is just to do the back-ups to some externals.

I'll have to get some the first of the year after taxes or so.

~Michael~

 

[dhilberg]

Check out the article I posted above. The cap is on all bandwidth that passes through the modem, up and down.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thanks for the info.

Humm, I could upload 400GB it seems then get a warning. I would only have to do the upload of all my image files once. After that it's just maintaining the updates which wouldn't come anywhere near their capped limit.

You're welcome.

Hehe, or you could do part of it at the end of one month, and the rest at the beginning of the next, since it's reset each month.

That's a ton of data to send over the wire though. At your upload rate--which is pretty fast--it will take you just shy of 11 days to upload that 400GB (if my math is correct), provided your speed remains constant.

I would just get two external 1TB HDDs. Backup everything identically to both, store one in a safe deposit box, and keep the other onsite for more regular backups. That's three identical copies (counting the workstation), including one stored off-site, which is a pretty reliable setup. Hard drives do fail, but the chances of three HDDs failing at the same time is pretty low. Even if your house succumbed to some disaster (God forbid) you'd still have the one copy in the safe deposit box.

The problem with that option though is updating the off-site HDD frequently, especially if your bank is a ways off.

 

[itznfb]

The best way to do this is to determine what you REALLY need to backup. Like, what are you really going to lost without if you lose everything to fire? That is the only type of data I would store off-site. I use DVDs for that kind of stuff and just put it in a fire proof safe and also store a copy in private storage on my GoDaddy storage.

BTW.. I have Comcast and I've never had any extra fee or cap imposed for exceeding any cap. And I guarantee if there is a cap I've exceeded it 10 fold.

 

[dhilberg]

BTW.. I have Comcast and I've never had any extra fee or cap imposed for exceeding any cap. And I guarantee if there is a cap I've exceeded it 10 fold.

I thought the same thing until I viewed my Comcast usage meter. Last month I only used 8GB. And after viewing my router logs, it's about that each month for the past year (8-10 GB/month). And my family uses the Internet a lot: Uploading photos, school, general web surfing, email, Wii gaming, etc. I have a small webserver and an NTP server running on the network, two other desktops, and a laptop.

According to Comcast there is a cap on all residential users nationwide that began Oct. 1, 2008, so obviously you haven't gone over it or you would have most likely been contacted (according to them anyway).

 

[jbylake]

In addition to the aforementioned suggestion to get 1 or 2 1TB HD's, since they are really pretty cheap now, I would consider this.

Was just reading an article in one of the PC mag's I have laying around, about the astounding rate that these online back-up services are going out of business. In the midst of this, I see Mozy, doing a commercial, here, about every day. I'm wondering what business model they have that's going to make them a commercial sucess, over others?

Further, it was mentioned that many people got their required on-line storage going out of business notification. Many of them (emails) got tossed by user's spam filter, and they didn't respnd in time, therefore losing their entire back-up.

J.:mrgreen:

 

[iflynething]

I see alot of commercials about the online back-ups just don't ever hear of them going out of business. At that point, there is nothing you can do is there?

~Michael~

 

[jbylake]

I see alot of commercials about the online back-ups just don't ever hear of them going out of business. At that point, there is nothing you can do is there?

~Michael~

I think in their user agreements, they are required to give a certain amount of warning (time wise), if they terminate service. At least that's what I "gleaned" from the article I read. In that amount of time you are able to download or recover your back up's. After that time expires, then you are pretty much screwed.

J.:mrgreen:

 

[iflynething]

I see alot of commercials about the online back-ups just don't ever hear of them going out of business. At that point, there is nothing you can do is there?

~Michael~

I think in their user agreements, they are required to give a certain amount of warning (time wise), if they terminate service. At least that's what I "gleaned" from the article I read. In that amount of time you are able to download or recover your back up's. After that time expires, then you are pretty much screwed.

J.:mrgreen:

Wow, no fun. I couldn't imagine getting back 400GB or more from online, if that was your only back-up

~Michael~

 

[godofdeath]

You might consider ZenOK Online Backup too, it includes 150GB of storage space for $34 per year. and a Free Antivirus software with anti spyware. quite good for a cheap and free software.

 

[KmH]

Anymore, as soon as I see an old dead thread has been dredged up, I think - Spammer! (Reported so TPF management can decide.)