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Comcast Is Raising Its Data Caps From 300GB To 1TB (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the binge-watching-Netflix dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Comcast has announced today it will be raising its monthly data cap of 300GB to 1TB beginning June 1st. They will however charge more to customers who want unlimited data. After June 1st, less people will need to buy unlimited data from the company. Previously, users were charged an extra $30 to $35 a month for unlimited data but now they will have to pay an additional $50 for unlimited data. "All of the data plans in our trial markets will move from a 300 gigabyte data plan to a terabyte by June 1st, regardless of the speed," Comcast's announcement today said. The reason for the change? Customers are exceeding the 300GB cap. In late 2013, Comcast said only 2 percent of its customers used more than 300GB of data a month. That number was up to 8 percent in late 2015.

6 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Seriously? In 2016? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Meanwhile... Google Fiber is rolling me out service where I can go through 1TB in an afternoon.

  2. "Unlimited nights and weekends" by jxander · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If broadband ISPs insist on having data caps (which they really shouldn't), they need to adopt a schedule like the old cell plans. Not necessarily the same "night and weekends" model ... but that old jingle was stuck in my head

    People who shape their traffic and plan large downloads at overnight aren't clogging up the lines. Why punish customers who are making their best efforts to not impact other people? We should be rewarding that behavior.

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    1. Re:"Unlimited nights and weekends" by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Interesting

      People who shape their traffic and plan large downloads at overnight aren't clogging up the lines. Why punish customers who are making their best efforts to not impact other people? We should be rewarding that behavior.

      Because they'll clog the lines during the overnight. Comcast has a ton of money. They can afford to install fatter pipes. If people only made a stronger demand for municipal service, the threat of actual competition would make pricing and service much more reasonable.

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      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:"Unlimited nights and weekends" by The+Raven · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They can't. Even if they thought it was a good idea systemically.

      • What's sucking most people's bandwidth? Streaming.
      • What can't you timeshift? Streaming.
      • What can you timeshift? Torrenting.

      So if they implemented time based data surcharges, they would drive users to piracy. Since Comcast and Time Warner both have significant media holdings, any policy that incentivized piracy (would be a non-starter.

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      "I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
    3. Re:"Unlimited nights and weekends" by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Looking at my usage in the TWC control panel, I regularly use 300 GB+ almost every month. All of which is streaming from Twitch or Youtube, web surfing, and gaming. Most of my entertainment is from those sources.

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  3. Re: Can we just have municiple broadband? by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Y'know, I'm a small government fan but also an aggressive anti-truster. Seems to me that we should just start threatening to smash the ISPs into tiny little pieces if they don't improve.