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Comcast To Charge $30 For Unlimited Data Over 300GB Cap
For some time, Comcast has been testing 300 GB monthly data caps in certain markets. An anonymous reader notes a policy change unveiled today that gives customers in those markets the ability to switch back to unlimited data for $30 extra. Previously (and currently, for customers who don't pay the extra $30), Comcast would charge $10 per 50GB above the cap. "Comcast's intent on this front has been clear for some time. Comcast lobbyist and VP David Cohen last year strongly suggested that usage caps would be arriving for all Comcast customers sooner or later. The idea of charging users a premium to avoid arbitrary usage restrictions has been a pipe dream of incumbent ISP executives for a decade." The new policy goes into effect on October 1.
That is no problem, but they must not be allowed to advertise it as an unlimited plan. It also indicates that the government must work on strengthening free competition.
I guess this is supposed to be inferred (and the second to last sentence mentions ISP) but it might have been good to clarify that this is a download data cap for cable Internet customers. Not a data cap for wireless cellphone data (transmitted over 3G/4G).
I switched from cable back to DSL when my local cable company added a 300 GB cap. My upload speed is slower, but I would rather have no caps than a bit more speed and worry that the kids are watching Netflix a few hours too many a month.
Better known as 318230.
The non-dick solution would to just be to keep the old system but cap the overage charges at $30, so you can get unlimited for $30/month without having to guess how much bandwidth you're going to use up to a month in advance.
Hell, I went through 100 GB in the last three days just picking up two new games on Steam.
For some ISPs, the caps don't apply between 2am and 8am. This is similar to "unlimited nights and weekends" cell phone plans. Does Comcast really need to cap usage when nobody's using the network, or is it just a money grab?
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
If this results in their advertising clearly stating what I get for my money, it is a very good thing.
TFA does state that they will email when adding each additional $10/50GB block to your plan.
Now, it we can get a bit more competition in each of our communities, we will be all set,
Because if it's not Internet3 strong, it's overpriced.
Had it with living in a third world country.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
A year from now, I look forward to hearing Comcast whine about how "No legitimate user could seriously expect to pay $30 for 1.5 petabytes per month. Obviously, unlimited didn't mean unlimited - We intended it to give only another 300GB. We need to limit these greedy users out of fairness to our other customers."
Fuck 'em. I don't know who to consider dumber - Comcast, or any of their customers who fall for this again.
Every time Comcast increases my bill, I drop a feature that costs the same amount. They're getting perilously close to the point where that feature will be "TV".
An open message to Comcast execs: be absolutely sure you're ready to make customers decide between your content and Netflix. I bet you'd be surprised how often the response won't be what you'd hope.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Comcast just officially killed 4k streaming. We'll be stuck in the dark ages of the Comonopoly while the world upgrades.
If other countries have 8000 mb/s and they're fighting for customers so much some people don't even pay a bill for the first year then afterwards it is only 20$/month, why can Comcast get away with this? Is it just that we're a wealthy country that they expect us to pay more? They sue legitimate competition away. How can we make competition in the telecommunication a political issue for the presidency this year?
Comcast offers 10mb/s for $90, and in foreign countries they get 8000mb/s for $20. We're getting charged 320,000% as much as they get charged in other countries, and this isn't counting the new hike.
God spoke to me
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Comcast gets to define what unlimited means. Deal with it, or start your own telecommunications corporation.
comcast only exists because government agencies are kind enough to allow comcast to run their wires across government property
this is not a perk that is available to the individual
a flat number was chosen to stop the Netflix data guzzlers
and yet they can stream the same data over the same cables from comcast's streaming service without affecting their data cap
and then they say that they are doing it because of capacity issues
The only reason they are making any changes is because the FCC is considering doing something.
As a point for comparison where I live there are two cable providers, Cox and Comcast, covering different parts of the city. Cox has a data cap, but it is 2TB. Also that is a soft cap. If you hit it, nothing happens. They may call and complain at you if you do it too much, but that's all. It is there to try and keep people reasonable, and so they can cut off someone in truly egregious cases (I've never actually heard of anyone getting cut off).
Now somehow both these companies can make money, yet only Comcast charges for overages and yet has much lower caps.
It is just a money grab. While some kind of soft cap or throttling can be needed to make sure people play nice (we can only have Internet fast and cheap if people share, otherwise the backhaul is prohibitively expensive) low hard caps with overage fees are just used to try and make more cash.
at that rate, you could watch HD content for 222 hours straight (9.25 days) before you'd hit your 300GB cap
Divide by the number of people in the house who watch Netflix. And subtract all other uses of the connection, such as operating system and application updates on all devices in the household, downloads of purchased video games, web surfing, YouTube, and video chat with relatives in another state.
they must easily have over a million accounts old enough to have originally hooked-up to 'unlimited' plans.
So what? In my experience, Comcast is far less likely to use contracts longer than a year with an early termination fee than the phone company is. Most customers I imagine are on month-to-month terms. This means if Comcast wants to end unmetered plans, a customer can just choose to cancel service.
Comcast gets to define what unlimited means. Deal with it, or start your own telecommunications corporation.
In most of their markets Comcast has been granted a monopoly by the local authorities so you couldn't legally compete with them even if you had enough money to.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Switched to a business plan and now I have unlimited data, a static ip, and a dedicated channel on the coax without sharing it with my neighbors. You are locked in for two years, but the service is great compared to the consumer offerings. The consumer service slows to a crawl at night due to everyone watching movies and gaming. My service is exactly the same speed.
ATT better they have a max overage fee vs a pay up front to be cap free.
it is Comcast policy that static IPs require a modem rental and that can run you $10-$20 mo on top of your base rate.
You mean using the product he paid for, oh corporate bootlicking AC?
Personally, I think it's the ones burning up 300+GB/month and countless hours of their lives watching fucking TV who are firmly attached to the corporate teat.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
If they're going to give you a deal for unlimited data if you sign up for a multi-year Triple Play contract.
And then have you re-negotiate for a "promotion" every six months or so. That re-negotiation bullshit is why I cut the cord in the first place.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
Anyhow, I went to their local office to sign up for service and get my equipment. I asked the rep specifically and in no uncertain terms, "is there a data cap?" The answer was no. To be sure, I explained what I meant - some limit over which I would be charged extra. The answer was still no. This was in June.
In December, I got an email announcing the "great news" that the cap was being raised from 250 to 300GB! So I called them and pointed out that this was complete and total BS, as I had been assured that no cap existed, so they weren't actually raising it they were creating it. The response was, "Oh, there was always a cap, we just didn't enforce it." I asked who was lying to me, the person telling me there was always a cap, or the manager at the service location. Not receiving an answer, I suggested they fuck themselves, sideways, with a chainsaw. Several later calls ended the same way.
I stopped peering linux and other 100% legitimate torrents just in case. I got a call one month that I was exceeding the cap, and had another long phone battle and had to threaten to take it up with the FTC to get them to waive it. I again recommended chainsaw insertion several times. Most conversations I had with Comcast involved that recommendation, as well as pointing out how they lied to me on several occasions.
My new provider, Charter, makes "No Cap" part of their marketing. They have yet to lie to me about anything. Comcast did try to extract an "early cancelation" fee from me when I moved, despite the fact that I made every effort to retain the service, and it was they who broke the contract by refusing to provide service at my new address. Also, when I told them I was moving, I told the woman they better not try to charge such a fee after I made a good faith effort to continue service. She said they wouldn't, since it was their fault and not mine. I was then transferred to someone who said, "$250". They appear to have dropped it.
Comcast lies. The way they do business is abhorrent, and it needs to stop. If someone is filing a class action suit, let me know. I want in.
No, if I'm paying for 75 megabits per second, and using it, I'm getting what I paid for. The monthly total is irrelevant.
Oops, did I say "peering" when I meant "seeding"?
That's what my ISP does, and I am pretty sure most/all do up here in Canada. Not sure if it is a legislative thing, or just a competitive thing. You get X amount of cap (depending on your package and how much you pay), and if you go over, you pay some exorbitant amount per GB, however it is capped I believe at 50$ or something like that (might be slightly more now). Presumably if you keep doing it, they probably have written in the 8000 page EULA that you agree to a larger more expensive package or something.
Dump just enough cost onto everyone's internet bills that suddenly it's no longer more cost effective to cut the cord. (Since Comcast's video services are, of course, not counted against your cap.)
Brilliant! I'm sure they'll make a lot more money on cable subscriptions from this.
https://www.opensecrets.org/or...
Seems pretty close to equal D and R, a little more R, but it isn't as clear cut as that only accounts for 1/3 of their political donations (they hat 2x the amount in PACs).
https://www.opensecrets.org/or...
And that one says mostly D, but it is still pretty close split.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
300GB might be plenty for people who are just browsing the web and checking their e-mail. But I just checked, and my average usage over the last 3 months is 700GB. That's for 3 people, streaming Twtich and Netflix and Pandora, and downloading games from Steam. I don't think this is an extreme use case, this strikes me as average. There is a helpful note on my usage page which states "Enforcement of the 250GB data consumption threshold is currently suspended". I think that, instead of up-charging people who go OVER 300GB, they should be offering a deal to people who stay UNDER 300GB.