Comcast has disabled a throttling system that it deployed in 2008 in order to slow down heavy Internet users.  

Comcast's network is now strong enough that a congestion management system isn't needed, the company says. The system has been "essentially inactive for more than a year," and is now disabled entirely.  

Yet the nation's largest cable operator still imposes data caps and overage fees in 27 states, claiming that it limits the amount of data customers use each month "based on a principle of fairness."  

Comcast initially deployed its congestion management system after it was caught throttling BitTorrent traffic over a decade ago. The system deployed in 2008 was application-agnostic. Instead of targeting specific online services, Comcast used the system to slow down heavy Internet users regardless of which applications they were using.  

News of Comcast disabling the 10-year-old congestion management system came in a company announcement Monday.