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Comcast To Charge $30 For Unlimited Data Over 300GB Cap

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

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.

9 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Limited unlimited by dshk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Limited unlimited by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem is that often they have been granted monopoly status but rarely are they held to the same standards that other monopoly utilities (power, gas, landline phone, etc.) are held to, such as requiring universal coverage within their service area rather than just the most profitable parts, approval required from some governing board before rate hikes, etc.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  2. They almost got it right by mattventura · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. I can already see the Slashdot headlines by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  4. Comcast giveth and I taketh away by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?
    1. Re:Comcast giveth and I taketh away by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Informative

      Netflix is always dropping content to rotate in content they didn't already have (note I didn't say "new" content). They've always operated this way. The other option is to charge more and have a larger selection. I think I'm with most people in saying I would rather them rotate in new content than have a totally static library of movies after they hit the limit of what they can afford to license.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
  5. 4K streaming? by Jumunquo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comcast just officially killed 4k streaming. We'll be stuck in the dark ages of the Comonopoly while the world upgrades.

  6. Just a money grab by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  7. Not everyone lives alone by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.