Comcast gets closer to nationwide data caps with expansion in 18 states

[NWCorona]

Source: Arstechnica



Comcast is bringing data caps to a bunch of new cities beginning November 1, roughly doubling the number of markets where it imposes data limits and overage fees. As before, customers will be allowed to use 1TB of data per month before being hit with overage charges of $10 for each additional 50GB. For an extra $50 per month, customers can purchase unlimited data.

Prior to the expansion, Comcast said it was enforcing data caps in 14 percent of the markets in its 39-state territory. Instead of immediately imposing caps nationwide, Comcast has been steadily rolling them out to new markets since 2012, usually adding a few at a time and gauging customer feedback before expanding to more. The caps were originally 300GB a month, but as more customers started exceeding them, they were boosted to 1TB (downloads and uploads combined) this year. Comcast says more than 99 percent of its customers use less than a terabyte of data.

Here are the newly capped areas, according to a Comcast FAQ: Alabama (Dothan); California; Colorado; Florida (North Florida, Southwest Florida and West Palm); Southeastern Georgia; Idaho; Indiana (Indianapolis and Central Indiana, Fort Wayne and Eastern Indiana); Kansas; Michigan (Grand Rapids/Lansing, Detroit, and Eastern Michigan); Minnesota; Missouri; New Mexico; Western Ohio; Oregon; Texas (Houston); Utah; Washington; and Wisconsin.

Comcast's data caps already existed in these markets: Alabama (excluding Dothan); Arizona; Arkansas; Florida (Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, and Miami); Georgia (excluding Southeastern Georgia); Illinois; Northern Indiana; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Southwestern Michigan; Mississippi; Tennessee; Eastern Texas; South Carolina; and Southwest Virginia.

Read more: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/10/comcast-gets-closer-to-nationwide-data-caps-with-expansion-in-18-states/

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This is a direct move to counter the cord cutters.

[Cal Carpenter]

1. "Comcast says more than 99 percent of its customers use less than a terabyte of data"

I hope this is true, because I'm surely not one of the 1% in this category, but I will be PISSED if I have to worry about hitting limits. We stream a lot of Netflix and Hulu. But we also work 60+ hrs a week out of the home so it's not like we are doing it all day.

Anybody in the areas that already have this with observations to share? Is this going to effect the average home consumer?

[NWCorona]

3. Personally I think this is just the first step and that ceiling will slowly creep down.

1T is a lot of data and that's coming from a data hog!

[Crash2Parties]

29. It's a lot right now. What happens when the next super-duper HD format comes out?

[cstanleytech]

6. It probably is true to an extent however they want to prevent more customers from

cutting their cable tv in favor of going online for all of their entertainment thus the artificial data caps will slowly creep into more and more areas and I doubt the feds will get involved any time soon if at all as comcast spends alot of money to pay the varies politicians off in this country at the local, state and federal level.

[alarimer]

13. I actually checked mine and I am well below that.

Somewhere around 200 GB every month. I'm not in one of the areas with caps yet, probably because there is some competition with Verizon FIOS. I would jump on the chance to dump Comcast if I could.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I'm not in any of the mentioned areas

although am in the home city for Comcast (Philly). Just looked at mine and I did about 35 GB last month and the highest I did was 154 GB in July - probably when I streamed one UHD movie from Amazon (through Prime membership).

For those with Netflix - I can see them maybe hitting those much higher levels if they are streaming HD series and/or UHD/4K movies quite a bit, particularly if they are doing so on multiple TVs (family account, etc).

[Massacure]

27. I don't have Comcast, but I do know how to do math :)

Netflix standard definition (720p) uses .7 gigabytes an hour.
Netflix high definition (1080p) uses 3 gigabytes an hour.
Netflix ultra-high definition (4k) uses 7 gigabytes an hour.

Thus you can stream 1428 hours of standard definition, or 333 hours of high definition, or 142 hours of ultra-high definition on a terabyte of data. I believe Comcast when they say 99 percent of its customers use less than a TB of data.

[Cal Carpenter]

28. Okay, thanks for that info

I don't think I'm doing nearly that much watching.

I probably could have googled for info and even done the math ( ) but I appreciate you doing it for me!

[4lbs]

2. I switched internet providers because of a relatively low data cap.

My previous provider had a 350 GB monthly data cap, but I had been using on the order of 800 to 900 GB per month it appeared.

I noticed intermittent loss of connection happening more frequently. When I called them, they told me I was greatly exceeding my monthly allotment. As a result I was getting temporary timeouts (an hour or so) and bandwidth throttling. I told them, when I first subscribed and updated my service 4 years ago, I wasn't told about this. They then said, well it is in now, and I was more than doubling it for the past 18 months. They said, while I haven't been charged for the excess usage, they may institute a $10 fee for each additional 100 GB of usage. Well, for me that's almost an additional $50 per month.

So, I quit them and went with another one that gives me 1 TB (1024 GB) monthly.

1 TB monthly is about 33 GB per day on average, with a 30-day billing cycle.

If I ever foresee regularly using a great deal more than that, I can go to unlimited data for an additional $25 monthly with my new provider. That would also include a 50% increase in bandwidth, from my current 25 Mbps to almost 40 Mbps.

[NWCorona]

4. 350 gigs is nothing!

We use Chromecast and that bypasses native resolution restrictions that some carriers have in place. The data use can be an eye opener for sure.

[cstanleytech]

7. I wish I had an 800 to 900 cap, ATT uverse caps us at 600gb and they are the only option

where I live as the local cable company flat out refuses to provide service in this subdivision.

[displacedtexan]

5. My neighbors (SF, CA) just got Sonic fiber optic internet for $40 per month

My Comcast hasn't had a limit so far, and we're paying around $70 per month for basic cable, which is 50+ channels, and high speed internet. We stream Netflix and Amazon Prime and only watch cable for local news, cable news, and random cable channels like FX, AMC, etc.

If we change to Sonic internet, it would cost us more to add Sling and Hulu to our Netflix and Amazon than we are paying now for TV, and we wouldn't have as many channels as we have now. We're going to wait and see, but it's nice to have options if Comcast caps us.

[NWCorona]

8. That's not a bad deal an I'd never say that it wouldn't be ideal for some.

My biggest complaint about Comcast was their data speeds and the fact that if you have a WiFi router it's a public hotspot as well. Most people don't know that.

[displacedtexan]

9. We bought our own router and returned their $10 per month POS router.

Our signal hasn't dropped once since, and here you have to give them permission to make your signal a hotspot.

[NWCorona]

11. Smart move using your own router!

[Crash2Parties]

30. I've dealt with Sonic for personal and business use

They are professional, knowledgeable and one of the better companies I've encountered. I only wish I could still be a customer of theirs but we moved from the area.

2:30 am

Sonic: "Sonic support, how can I help you?"
Me: "Our connection keeps dropping to 2Mbs"
(geek handshaking commences & we assess each other's knowledge level)
Sonic: "Let's run some tests"
(we run tests)
Me: "Yup, it's at our end, I see way too many dropped packets after the router, looks like it's failing. The backup is on order, I'll have to brick & mortar one tomorrow."
Sonic: "I have a loaner here if you want to come and get it, just drop it back off after you pick one up. Knock on the side door of the building."

Twenty minutes later, our network was happily connected to the world again.


And that was my WORST experience with them.

[MrScorpio]

10. Fuck this shit nt

[NWCorona]

12. I don't even use Comcast and I said the same thing.

This is the trend with both home based Internet as well as mobile.

[Wounded Bear]

14. Just got the email informing me of this...

probably won't affect me personally, because I'm low usage.

But it's the start of the elimination of net neutrality.

[Egnever]

15. All they are doing is opening the door for Google.

This is a short sighted attempt to retain profits.

Competition is coming.

Some Internet service providers currently cap data downloads at 250 GB per month. You can download that much data on a 1 gig connection in about 33 minutes. Good thing there is no limit on your data downloads with Google Fiber!

Google is expanding their fiber It is not in very many places now but if it is an option for you it can't be beat. Even the threat of google coming to a city is forcing many providers to up their game.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-25/google-gets-beaten-to-the-punch-by-at-t-on-super-fast-broadband

In the first quarter, Google parent Alphabet Inc. poured almost $280 million into capital expenditures primarily related to the fiber venture, which has resulted in lower prices for customers in its target areas. Markets that Google enters enjoy a $20-a-month drop in prices on average, Entner said.

[inanna]

24. I think you're right. n/t

[FrodosPet]

17. If a private individual is close to a terabyte a month

Perhaps they should consider listening to online radio while talking to friends, or perhaps reading an old fashioned book, instead of spending every waking moment watching "Net TV"?

http://am1670.org

YMMV

[NWCorona]

20. In some cases we are talking about a family sharing the data.

[Crash2Parties]

31. Yup. Our family just might be able to top a TB/month, or come fairly close based on our firewall log

Too many Aspie / geek genes.

Funny thing is, without caps the Internet is an amazing agent of change. My oldest child no longer backs up to our home server, instead she takes her entire profile or home folder and puts an encrypted copy in two different clouds so she can access it anywhere. Somehow she also keeps them sync'd. Meanwhile, her old parents think that's too transitory & need to be able to see and touch the backup hardware with all our precious data.

The amazingness of this newly connected modern world isn't just the hardware or the always-on high speed connection; it's also being able to move whatever data needs to be moved without unduly worrying about cost, especially when encryption adds so much overhead.

[roamer65]

23. Or SiriusXM via satellite, rather than internet streaming.

This move will backfire on Comcrap. There will be a lot of people who cut their cord completely.

[Egnever]

25. Silly

4k streaming will eat bandwidth pretty quicky (close to 20 gigs an hour) and it is going to be more and more prevalent as we move forward.

If you are renting or buying from Google play or Amazon 4k movies are 70-100 gig each.

Not hard at all when combined with all the adds served on websites these days to eat a terabyte in a month.

Webpages today eat insane amounts of data compared to the dial up days and that trend shows no indication of slowing.

[PersonNumber503602]

35. WHAAAAT? HOW DARE YOU RECOMMEND I GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!!!

I actually come very close that 1TB area, but I don't watch a whole lot of TV online (or in general)

I send a lot of large files (legally) back and forth. That actually doesn't fully account for the 1TB, but throw in the occasional movie/tv show stream and of course educational video streams, then it gets up there. Oh, I also watch lots of p0rn.

[airplaneman]

18. I got my notice from Comcast today actually.

If you exceed the 1 TB of data there is a $200 overcharge fee plus $10 for each 50 GB you exceed the 1 TB. Yes you can opt for the $50 extra a month for unlimited. I think the next step will be to reduce the amount to 1/2 TB. Ultimately this screws anybody with a website that gets a lot of hits or attempting to provide video or news to a large audience. I also use about 3/4 TB a month and already pay about $80 per month. I will not pay the extra money.
I am going to think about starting some other hobbies and just not use the internet as much.
I wont sit idle and let these crooks take more and more of my money. I ultimately see this as an attempt by the halves to keep out anybody else from getting in. Overcharging is the mode that is creating the income inequality problem. Fair and reasonable pricing with competition is not happening. I don't have other choices that are any better.
-Airplane

[Crash2Parties]

32. Add in end-to-end encryption (think VPN, etc.) and usage goes up even more.

Where we are now, the city made a long term deal years ago to grant Comcast an exclusive contract in trade for a then-fast 5Mbs connection to city hall, fiber to the homes of the City Council and a bag of magic beans. To avoid monopoly lawsuits, they made provisions for the local landline carrier to provide a 1Mbs DSL connection for around $89/mo. Except whenever people call to ask about it, said carrier says they are too far from the CO, as they've not invested any money in their infrastructure here since the Comcast deal. I can't even dream of hanging anything off our IP as Comcast won't open the ports & won't run a business line here (see: lack of infrastructure investment in an effective monopoly).

[roamer65]

19. Over the air and SlingTV is enough for me.

I don't agree with their move, but I am well below their cap.

They call and try to milk me for more than just internet, but I won't budge.

[musiclawyer]

21. If you have a choice. Cancel.

If you don't. Let Comcast know how you feel and write your ciongress person
This is a bald attempt to stop cord cutting. But it won't and will backfire.
Throttling is not the answer. And sets a dangerous precedent. I cut the cord for PS Vue. Never going back. If there is 1% that is clogging up the lines then and them a bill. Don't throttle the rest
1TB is not excessive for a family of four--teen, and commuter college student in the house.

[William769]

22. I am in S.W. Florida which is on the list but I still have unlimited data.

[turbinetree]

26. Dear Comcast, you are an oligarpghy and need to be broken up,

you keep forgetting that the internet was created by the people of this country that funded this through the government.

I want my internet service to be net neutrality, your grubbing right wing corporation should be under investigation, for not paying your fair share in taxes, the same money that you are now trying to blackmail the citizens in this country by doing what you are trying to accomplish, you treat the citizens of this country like you are invasion force against the citizens, like you are going across the beaches and we are the enemy.

[airplaneman]

34. someone tell me if I am wrong.

I have Comcast blast which they say is a download speed of 100MB per second. On the speed test it is usually in the 80's MB per second. For math purposes say 50 MB per second. That means I can download 1 GB in 20 seconds (1000/50) at that speed. 1024GB becomes 20,480 seconds or 341 minutes or 5.7 hours per month. That is not a lot of time. So why is this no big deal. It seems that they are not being realistic or fair. Unless I am doing something wrong.
-Airplane