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.


More questions? View our Network Management FAQs

Other recent news and posts

DOMAIN HELPER Market Tests Begin
Thurs, July 9, 10:30 AM EST

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
Mon, Jan 5, 2009 9:00 AM EST

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
Tues, Nov 11, 2008 8:00 AM EST

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 http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/What-ports-are-blocked-by-Comcast-High-Speed-Internet

IETF 73
Tues, Nov 4, 2008 09:00 AM EST

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
Fri, Nov 7, 2008 9:00 AM EST

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

Network Management Update
Fri, Sep 19, 2008 8:00 PM EST

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. View full article.

Network Management Trial Expansion
Thurs, July 31, 2008 10:00 AM EDT

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
Mon, July 21, 2008 09:00 AM EDT

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
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 09:00 AM EDT

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.

How Does the New Network Management Technique Work?
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 09:00 AM EDT

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.