Comcast Rolls Out Data Usage Meter In Portland, Oregon

The residents of Portland, Oregon are the first lucky Comcast users in the country to get the chance to try out Comcast's newly deployed (and long expected) data usage meter. For users who have long been trying to guesstimate how close they are to their allotted 250GB limit and the overage charges that could result from using too much bandwidth, the meter should come as a welcome tool.

The meter is designed to be pretty simple to use. According to the Comcast Blog, the data is refreshed about every three hours. The median usage for most users is somewhere around 2-4GB each month.

Portland users can access the meter by logging in to Customer Central at http://customer.comcast.com and clicking the Users and Settings tab. Next, click View details in the My devices section (located toward the upper right hand of the screen) and you'll be directed to the meter page.

Right now, the meter shows the usage in the current calendar month. As time progresses, the meter will show the most recent three months of use including the current month. The meter is designed to measure all data usage over the cable modem.

Although no exact timeframe has been set, Comcast plans to roll out the data usage meter nationally after "a short period."