Comcast to impose home internet data cap of 1.2TB in more than a dozen US states next year

Yeah, you can still pay them to remove the cap. It's just a move for more money.
People who self-host stuff will be effected easily, as my traffic goes over 2TB+ a month.
I have 3 TVs at home, each streaming, 2 consoles, not counting the self-hosted, all of that uses about a TB a month.

edit: Since I moved I had to switch over to Spectrum, which does not have data caps due to a recent merger and agreement.



ProviderType of serviceData capMonthly data capOverage fees
AT&TDSL, FiberYes1 TB–Unlimited$10/50 GB
RCNFiberNoUnlimitedNone
XfinityCableYes1.2 TB$10/50 GB
FrontierDSL, FiberNoUnlimitedNone
Google FiberFiberNoUnlimitedNone
CenturyLinkDSL, FiberYes1 TB–UnlimitedNone
WindstreamDSL, FiberNoUnlimitedNone
SpectrumCableNoUnlimitedNone
Cox CommunicationsCableYes1.25 TB$10/50 GB
OptimumCableNoUnlimitedNone
Suddenlink CommunicationsCableYes250 GB–Unlimited$15/50 GB
MediacomCableYes60–6,000 GB$10/50 GB
EarthLinkFiber and DSLNoUnlimitedNone
Starry InternetFixed wirelessNoUnlimitedNone
Buckeye BroadbandCableYes10 GB–Unlimited$10/50 GB.
HughesNetSatelliteYes10 GB–50 GB (followed by internet slowdown)None
ViasatSatelliteYes40 GB–150 GB (followed by internet slowdown)None
 
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I work from home, my wife is right now as well. I have three kids with PC's, devices etc. We have no cable and use services like Hulu, Netflix etc.

I average 1.6 to 2.0 TB of data a month. I pay Comcast for their unlimited. My bill is currently $120 a month for Extreme Pro 600mps.
 
Same shit with mobile. It used to be 2000 minutes, and 2000 texts, unlimited mobile data. Then it went the other way around once companies realized people use more data than they talk. And now they're trying to do "unlimited" data with slowdowns unless you pay extra. Same shit with cable.
 
Its called "Capitalism" and they want to earn money. If all the companies agree on it then everyone will have higher revenue.

The bigger problem is the lack of competition due to many of these ISPs monopolizing their geographical regions. When there are no alternative options, you're at the mercy of the only ISP in town.
 
Comcast blows ass, so does AT&T

I'd never live somewhere where I couldn't get Wow! Internet. Best ISP ever. No data caps. No bullshit. Super competitive speeds and pricing.
 
Its called "Capitalism" and they want to earn money. If all the companies agree on it then everyone will have higher revenue.
Fuck them.

I live in italy and the last time i heard about data cap was like 10 years ago...every provider has unlimited data cap here.
 
Since working from home, I've been going over 1TB every month.

I work from home too but don't go over my cap. If I download a game from PSN I have to usually pay for the unlimited, but in non download game months I am pretty good.

But OTOH I don't have netflix or other streaming services nor a 4K TV or a seriesX/PS5.
 
Unfortunately in my town, Comcast is, by a landslide, the fastest ISP on offer. My only options are to ensure I don't go over the cap, or settle with less than half the speed.
Verizon's best service here actually offers 3/40ths the speed of my current plan, at a greater price. So um.
 
The concept of data limits is so backwards to me. Yet another cool thing about the world vs the states.
Yes, we, in the states, have the FREEDOM to choose, from 1 provider that has control over 1 area because they secretly agreed on staying out of each other's territories like the fucking mob. It's awesome.
 
I just got notified yesterday I was meeting this cap. I'm like "wtf is this". It took effect fucking yesterday for me.
 
Its called "Capitalism" and they want to earn money. If all the companies agree on it then everyone will have higher revenue.

It's called government enforced monopoly, and you as a consumer have to bend over and take it since other competition can't enter your market.
 
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Fortunately if spectrum imposes a cap on me. I have other internet provider options.

To bad Google fiber is doing an extremely slow rollout in this city.
 
Data caps are a completely artificial fee. Unlike other utilities like water a fee for over usage makes sense as there is only so much clean water. Signal through a cable is nothing. If it sits idle you've essentially wasted it. The justification for data caps is to prevent slowdown but that was a concern during the early days of broadband now capacity is more than capable. The data caps used to target those extreme bandwidth users (you know who you are) are now insignificant, and now the mainstream user is the heavy users that stream netflix and youtube at 4k.

But also its not all on the company. The lazy consumer is also to blame. Comcast is big in my area despite another ISP that is not only cheaper but more reliable. Yes some places there is only a single provider but many places there is competition to comcast but people still stick with them.
 
I made it perfectly clear in my appeal that Comcast deserved it, and they upheld the suspension. Unbelievable.
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Only 90 dollars a month with a forced ten dollar monthly fee for a router you don't want bringing it to 100 dollars! What a bargain!
I don't get why people rent modems, just buy one, it's cheaper in the long run.
also, your username just reminded me that I need a new laser printer, thx.
 
I don't get why people rent modems, just buy one, it's cheaper in the long run.
also, your username just reminded me that I need a new laser printer, thx.
You can't. ATTs fiber ONT has a built in firewall that's EXTREMELY strong and protects against Mac Spoofing. Even if you wanted too you can't bypass it, not by a long shot. When my 5268 died they replaced it with a WiFi 6 Router that now has the ONT built in directly so there's no way around it. It's complete and total bullshit!
 
You can't. ATTs fiber ONT has a built in firewall that's EXTREMELY strong and protects against Mac Spoofing. Even if you wanted too you can't bypass it, not by a long shot. When my 5268 died they replaced it with a WiFi 6 Router that now has the ONT built in directly so there's no way around it. It's complete and total bullshit!
well, that blows. another way to get money from the consumer. I would say if they require you to have it, like it's a must, you shouldn't have pay for it.
 
Yep, fuck Comcast. I'm waiting for some other options in my area. Seems like the competition has been promising unlimited gig-speed fiber in my area for years now, but so far nothing.

I pay extra for unlimited gig-speed w/Comcast. And of course if I didn't rent their router I'd have to pay even more on top of that, which frustrates me even more because I'd much rather get my own gear to save money in the long run. I won't knock them for taking money where they can get it (with the arbitrary data cap), but like others said, there really isn't any other competition in my area. On top of that, Comcast donated something like $100M to #BLM this summer, so it's not like they are hurting for money.

Believe you me, as soon as I have a viable option I'm jumping ship from Comcast.
 
WTF I am a pleeb with 250GB LOL.

To me 1.2 TB seems like an ungodly amount of internet.
I thought so too at first. Then I read the tweet about 500 hours of HD video. And now I'm wondering just how much will internet cost a family in a year or two.

500 hours of HD sounds like a lot. But if a family has 3 TV's used by different people, it breaks down to 166.67 hours per month per tv. 166.67 divided by 30 = 5.55 hours per day per tv. That sounds like a lot of TV, but how much gets used up by gaming, devices, video conferencing, etc.? I don't know, but I won't be the least shocked if 1.2 TB becomes peanuts down the road, especially since I would assume 500 hours of HD is 1080P.
 
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I thought so too at first. Then I read the tweet about 500 hours of HD video. And now I'm wondering just how much will internet cost a family in a year or two.

500 hours of HD sounds like a lot. But if a family has 3 TV's used by different people, it breaks down to 166.67 hours per month per tv. 166.67 divided by 30 = 5.55 hours per day per tv. That sounds like a lot of TV, but how much gets used up by gaming, devices, video conferencing, etc.? I don't know, but I won't be the least shocked if 1.2 TB becomes peanuts down the road, especially since I would assume 500 hours of HD is 1080P.

Ya I don't have a family and don't do much Netflix really so I can't really picture it. The one thing that hits me is if I download a game, but thats PS4 so I can't imagine what these PS5 games are going to be like.

And to think back in the day downloading a 1 MB JPEG took a few hours and was like a great accomplishment. LOL I remember one of my buddies got "high speed" interent and downloaded a song in like 20 minutes and I was super impressed.

Should put things into perspective for anyone complaining. We had to deal with 14.4 and 56 K modems. You had to wait an entire day to download one VCD 240P quality movie, and then burn into onto a DVD.
 
Ya I don't have a family and don't do much Netflix really so I can't really picture it. The one thing that hits me is if I download a game, but thats PS4 so I can't imagine what these PS5 games are going to be like.

And to think back in the day downloading a 1 MB JPEG took a few hours and was like a great accomplishment. LOL I remember one of my buddies got "high speed" interent and downloaded a song in like 20 minutes and I was super impressed.

Should put things into perspective for anyone complaining. We had to deal with 14.4 and 56 K modems. You had to wait an entire day to download one VCD 240P quality movie, and then burn into onto a DVD.

Oh man, those days where you came home from school and couldn't use the net all day because you couldn't tie up the phone lines, then at night, all of your crew was on IM and in chat rooms, then you'd download some songs from Napster, that took about 20-30 min a pop, and you realized that it was the wrong song because some asshole thought it would be funny to rename them. Ahhh... you spoiled little shits these days, you don't know how good you have it.
 
Oh man, those days where you came home from school and couldn't use the net all day because you couldn't tie up the phone lines, then at night, all of your crew was on IM and in chat rooms, then you'd download some songs from Napster, that took about 20-30 min a pop, and you realized that it was the wrong song because some asshole thought it would be funny to rename them. Ahhh... you spoiled little shits these days, you don't know how good you have it.

They will never have to deal with this



And by "songs" I am sure you meant "porn" LOL.
 
And by "songs" I am sure you meant "porn" LOL.

Hell yeah, you download an .avi filed named "hot chicks getting wet and wild" and after 20-30 min of downloading you go to fap with your newly downloaded material and it's little baby chickens swimming in a pond.

those were the real troll days.
 
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Ya I don't have a family and don't do much Netflix really so I can't really picture it. The one thing that hits me is if I download a game, but thats PS4 so I can't imagine what these PS5 games are going to be like.

And to think back in the day downloading a 1 MB JPEG took a few hours and was like a great accomplishment. LOL I remember one of my buddies got "high speed" interent and downloaded a song in like 20 minutes and I was super impressed.

Should put things into perspective for anyone complaining. We had to deal with 14.4 and 56 K modems. You had to wait an entire day to download one VCD 240P quality movie, and then burn into onto a DVD.

Oh those sweet times where it took days to download a DVD quality movie. I remember the first time I got 1Mb/s broadband and watching downloads in awe, now it only takes a couple minutes to complete a 9 gig Blu-ray copy. It was annoying when the internet would get cut off because somebody tried to ring you or make a call, especially if you were in a decent AOL room!
 
Oh those sweet times where it took days to download a DVD quality movie. I remember the first time I got 1Mb/s broadband and watching downloads in awe, now it only takes a couple minutes to complete a 9 gig Blu-ray copy. It was annoying when the internet would get cut off because somebody tried to ring you or make a call, especially if you were in a decent AOL room!
I remember when you went to download any large files, like movies or games, they would be split into 2mb individual files, so that you can download it bit by bit.
 
I'm actually surprised there were states with no data caps. 1.2TB was an upgrade here in Colorado after they removed unlimited data during the early months of the pandemic. The previous cap was 1TB. They also dropped the unlimited upgrade charge from $50.00 to $30.00.
 
I'm using just under 1 TB a month on unlimited and they bottle neck me after the 300gig mark or so. As soon as I get capped again, I'm out and leaving for another provider.
 
Thankful fiber came to my area and doesn't have caps; think Comcast lifted their cap when they did too.. convenient!
 
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