Comcast Xbox Fine Print Removes "Private IP" Reference

After coming under fire for its Xbox Live streaming service, which apparently tapped into a private IP network, because of potential net neutrality issues. Critics slammed the service because in the Xbox Live FAQ, Comcast said its content was "being delivered over our private IP network and not the public Internet." That raised concerns that Comcast was not playing by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Net neutrality advocates said Comcast was delivering a product that had an unfair advantage over other online video streaming services. However, that sentence about the video being delivered through a private network has been removed from the FAQ, assumedly to take away attention from the issue. Of course, though, the actual video delivery method hasn't changed. Comcast is just rewording its verbiage on its website. There is still some cause for criticism.

The issue is that Comcast subscribers who stream over Xbox Live will not have that data counted toward their 250 GB monthly bandwidth cap. Meanwhile, if they stream throuh Netflix or Hulu or other service, it will. If you were a Comcast subscriber, which service would you choose? To make things clearer, the service's FAQ now reads, "The Xbox 360 running our XFINITY TV app essentially acts as an additional cable box for your existing cable service, and our data usage threshold does not apply."

[via GigaOM]