Comcast Lifting Internet Data Cap; Testing New Tiers

[ubercake]

Funny. I have yet to receive any correspondence from Comcast with regard to any bandwidth limit. I've only heard rumors and read articles about it.

No direct communication from Comcast though.

 

[g00fysmiley]

I liek tha tthey are increasing the cap but sad that there is a cap to begin with. to me i am betting the higher expence is to penalize people who have chosen to drop their cable and now use netflix/hulu plus and amazon prime instead of dishing out for cable. I did that about 2 month agoi and my data useage has skyrocketed now i'll have to keep a look out to make sure I don't go over from the constant streaming. also my sister who lives with me has freinds in multiple countries mostly in latin america and is contantly video chatting with them.... I've gotten the high data useage letters and file 13 them, getting charged extra might be the push i need to drop comcast completely and switch to dsl assuming they don't have limits, here's hoping the pilot fails cause sorry comcast the 90ish after taxes for internet is all you get without me dropping ya

 

[zaznet]

Those who are paying more for faster service should expect a higher data cap (since in theory they can reach that cap faster).

I would much rather a tiered system than cap and block but they have to keep it simple and keep it fair. Not sure the price per GB is reasonable but if I don't hit it I won't really care either.

 

[Guest]

I average 160 to 180 GB per month as indicated by Comcast (over the last year). My wife and I use Netflix and Huluplus and Pandora. We do not share files or do unlawful downloads. We rarely watch Comcast scheduled TV content, mostly Netflix. Also, we have 2 desktops and two laptops that get updated via the internet. My main point is we don't pirate data bits

 

[jackbling]

In nashville, if you sign your soul to the devil, they have 101mb; i have been close to purchase several times.

 

[thegh0st]

so in otherwords the ISP's are selling 6 lanes highways which are actually only the width of 3 lanes, then blaming the end user's when we actually try to drive 6 cars (our connections that is) down the highway?

it's a bunch of bulls#!*. if they sell you a 10Mb or a 20Mb download speed connection you should be able to use that connection full throttle on 24/7 the whole month. EVERYONE should be able to use whatever speed connection they have this way.

the ISP (connection providers) blaming some 10% or less internet hogs on slowing things down is there way of shifting the blame and playing a card trick distracting the average users from the actual problem which according to their own statements is them selling more bandwidth than they can apparently support or supply.

perhaps someone should just start a class action against the ISP's and tell them to shove it everyone knows where! sounds like a bit of selling what you can't provide or is that false advertising?

 

[Anomalyx]

The typical "median" customer eats up around 8 to 10 GB per month

B. (pause for emphasis) S.

My household of only my wife and I use 50 GB minimum per month, but it isn't uncommon for us to use nearly 200 GB. None of it is illegal, or even "questionably legal". That's what Netflix, Youtube, Pandora, Hulu, etc. do to your bandwidth.

Let's just say you have Comcast's 50 Mb/s line. Let's also assume it'll only give you 40 Mb/s (attenuation, etc. plus it makes it easier on Comcast for the sake of this demonstration). Converting Mb to MB makes this 5 MB/s. To accumulate 300 GB (307,200 MB) at 5 MB/s would take 61,440 sec (1024 min (17.07 hours)). In other words, it's entirely possible to eat through your entire cap in less than a day. And the worst part is that this isn't even the fastest internet plan Comcast has! That one (the 105 Mb/s) could be consumed in 6.5 hours if you had a perfect connection.

It depresses me how my area is stuck with the worst possible cable provider. It's also stuck with the worst possible DSL provider (AT&T... no cap, but I wouldn't be able to reach one anyways because it's so slow compared to what I pay for)

 

[thethirdrace]

First, I'd like to say I'm all for the "no data cap". I hate Comcast and I know how "evil" and greedy they can be.

Here in Canada, we DO have data caps. Mine is a paltry 90 GB/month. Using Netflix an hour a day use about 30 GB of this cap on a given month (To be fair, Netflix isn't HD in my case, but it would use double if it was). Windows update use about 1 GB, games installed via Steam about 30 GB. Visiting different web site thru the month and online gaming amount to about 5 GB.

Now, if you can do the math, this amount to about 66 GB/month of data (96 GB if Netflix was HD). You're telling me you cry because you don't have enough from using 5 times what I use (3 if Netflix was HD)? Go fetch some Kleenex little princess! I mean COME ON! You're spoiled, I can't see how you can logically complain with your stomach full... And to top it off, you get 50GB more for 10$!!!! I could only get 20GB for the same amount here and we have a hell of a good service compared to Comcast.

As I said, I'm all for the no data cap, but going over 300 GB of data in a month is a luxury. You use much more than the average person and to a point, it should reflect on the price you pay. Telecom company are greedy yes, but you have to realize you don't have such a bad deal here. It's like complaining that you still have to pay taxes on things you buy after you spent your fist million this month... Like you're gonna have some sympathy here...

 

[thethirdrace]

Another thing I forgot in my last post, there are only 2 ways you can use more than 300 GB in a month: illegal file sharing or you're trying to replace your TV.

In the first case, you can't justify your demands since they are from illegal activities... In the second case, a typical TV bill is at least 40$ so you should "pay" for this kind of service no matter where it comes from, be it directly from your cable company or from the net itself.

I know there are a ton of places that pay less for internet than US and Canada do, but you have to realize they are a freakin billion in 2 square miles (figuratively speaking). It's normal they don't pay as much as we are.

Granted though, we should pay less for basic internet. I'd say something like 0.10$/GB with a minimum of 15$ to cover the network expanses would be an appropriate asking price, not over 60$/month...

 

[extremepcs]

I wonder if there are caps / warning letters or other hate mail in areas where Comcast actually has competition and not a monopoly.

 

[MaddPuppy]

The ISP (connection providers) blaming some 10% or less internet hogs on slowing things down is there way of shifting the blame and playing a card trick distracting the average users from the actual problem which according to their own statements is them selling more bandwidth than they can apparently support or supply.>>>>>> If you have 95% of users downloading/uploading only 50 - 75 MB of their 250MB Limit ( That leaves 175 - 200 MB Unused) and 4% using 200 - 250MB. Then how does the 1% that end up using 300 - 400MB Slow the system does when they is already overhead left from 95% of the users?????

 

[thethirdrace]

[citation][nom]MaddPuppy[/nom]The ISP (connection providers) blaming some 10% or less internet hogs on slowing things down is there way of shifting the blame and playing a card trick distracting the average users from the actual problem which according to their own statements is them selling more bandwidth than they can apparently support or supply.>>>>>> If you have 95% of users downloading/uploading only 50 - 75 MB of their 250MB Limit ( That leaves 175 - 200 MB Unused) and 4% using 200 - 250MB. Then how does the 1% that end up using 300 - 400MB Slow the system does when they is already overhead left from 95% of the users?????[/citation]

Easy, the same principle applies to roads.

First, they build 2 lanes roads expecting to not have more than 2 cars at the same exact time in the same exact place on the road. Instead of trying to get 100 lanes for 100 cars to pass at the same time, they expect them to wait their turn and follow each others so they can all pass the same spot in a decent amount of time, not the exact same time.

Second, they also decide the number of lane for a road on an expected "decent" amount of time to wait if there is congestion. If they know 10000 cars are coming at 8 AM sharp every day, they won't build a 1 lane road.

What you can conclude is that roads are the perfect example for the data network. They build them on an expected average use. Since data hogs use way way much more data than the average Joe, they upset the balance claiming the road for themselves more often than not.

If you ask me if ISPs are right to ask more of those data hogs, I'd say yes because it makes sense. If you ask me if the price they ask to use their network is fair to the average Joe, I'd say NO those freakin greedy bastard!

 

[Guest]

A: Just have Netflix mail you your Movies... B: Hulu Sucks: More Commercials than on TV... C: Go Outside (I know it's scary but just try it!)

 

[kittle]

i dont care for data caps either
but what I hate EVEN MORE is getting a surprise $500 cable bill at the end of the month cause of some screwy policy change and a legit big download.

I would much rather have my sevice temporarily shut off when the cap is reached. Then i call in: "wtf is wrong with my internet?" ..... "your over your monthly cap, do you want to purchase more?"
then I have a choice - pay the extra $$, or go without.

 

[thethirdrace]

[citation][nom]kittle[/nom]i dont care for data caps eitherbut what I hate EVEN MORE is getting a surprise $500 cable bill at the end of the month cause of some screwy policy change and a legit big download.I would much rather have my sevice temporarily shut off when the cap is reached. Then i call in: "wtf is wrong with my internet?" ..... "your over your monthly cap, do you want to purchase more?"then I have a choice - pay the extra $$, or go without.[/citation]
Playing devil's advocate here, for you to get a 500$ cable bill at the end of the month you would have to use 2300 GB considering a 100$/month for subscription to a 300 GB plan and 10$ extra for each extra 50 GB. Possible but you would kinda deserve it.

I agree with you though, when you hit your data cap your account should be shut off until you reach the cable company and agree to authorize the extra fee for more GB this month. It's amazing that no government ever passed a law against surprise bills for smartphone/internet... Hmm, I think there is a provision here in Canada, but that's not an official law.

 

[Shin-san]

The cap for the $99/mo 50 mbit plan should be higher than the $49/mo plan

 

[primum_postremo]

For all of those saying they deserve it or this or that.. Or basically on the side of the ISP's.. How much do you honestly think it costs to transfer a GB of data? Last I checked in the most costly market it was around 9 cents per GB. In the US and yes the US has more area so it's a tad higher than the UK or Japan. But even here in the great big expanse of the US it's at most 3 cents per GB. So if every comcast user did in fact hit their 300GB limit. That would cost them around 9 bucks per subscriber. Before you say the 3 cents doesn't account for maintenance and other things.. It does. It also accounts for paying off or whatever you want to call it.. The infrastructure.

Also did you all some how forget about the 200 billion we gave them to roll out fiber to the door? That's roughly 1,000 dollars per household. Did they do that? No. They put the money to their bottom lines and added it to their profit margins which are already extremely high. Take the 9 bucks deal. So they are charging you 50 bucks a month or how much ever but you will only ever use 9 dollars with out getting charged more. To come close to them actually losing money on a customer you would have to download roughly 1.67 TB of data a month on average.

Also to the few that said they enjoy natural monopolies.. Sorry but that is false. They collude with other ISP's and government to maintain the monopolies. Basically it goes like. Hey X I won't take over this area if you don't come into this area and we can both keep the prices higher.

Why do governments allow this? Especially the state and local? Because they get kinda bought off with free/reduced price public access and the warning systems. Yeah it's a shitty deal. It's like saying please mr ISP do some public good perty please and they are like not unless we can keep prices insanely high and keep raising them.

Oh and they have the tech to roll out even faster internet and still make a profit. The cost per GB would be even lower. Right here right now I'd be willing to bet it's well below the 1 cent per GB at this moment with their current tech. If they took the 200 bil we gave them they could very easily run fiber to the door even with adding in equipment to change the fiber to ethernet. Since not every one has a fiber network card. But now you can get those for what 120 easily? Likely 50 or less wholesale so they could even throw that in and still make a few hundred percent profit. But no they want the profit margins to be in the thousands and tens of thousands.

Oh and for those that think the 8 GB a month is the actual average user. Which is bullshit. Even if you make it a yearly average. Think of it like this.. You are paying 50 bucks a month for what costs them 24 cents. Again likely a hell of a lot less by now.

All this back and forth about caps or no caps or tier but no cap or cap but no tier. Is all playing right into their hands. Divide and conquer.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]thethirdrace[/nom]Another thing I forgot in my last post, there are only 2 ways you can use more than 300 GB in a month: illegal file sharing or you're trying to replace your TV.In the first case, you can't justify your demands since they are from illegal activities... In the second case, a typical TV bill is at least 40$ so you should "pay" for this kind of service no matter where it comes from, be it directly from your cable company or from the net itself.I know there are a ton of places that pay less for internet than US and Canada do, but you have to realize they are a freakin billion in 2 square miles (figuratively speaking). It's normal they don't pay as much as we are.Granted though, we should pay less for basic internet. I'd say something like 0.10$/GB with a minimum of 15$ to cover the network expanses would be an appropriate asking price, not over 60$/month...[/citation]
You fail to realize that the internet companies know that TV is being replaced by internet streaming. They know that games are being purchased online instead of in retail stores. They know that cloud data storage is being pushed. That's why they want caps in place NOW so that when the majority of the population heads this way, they've got a way to make extra profit above and beyond what they would have made.

For cell phone companies, two of their biggest revenue generators that had little to no cost to implement was texting and going over your minutes. Often times they charged more than 10x the price it would normally cost to deliver the services. ISPs want the same thing.

Years ago I paid $50 a month for 100 minutes on my cell phone. The salesman told me I had free evenings after 6pm, so that's when I called people. Turned out it was free after 8pm and I got a $300 bill. If I had an upgraded package, I'd have been paying $65 a month, which is only $15 more for another 100 minutes, yet they charged me $250 more. They charged me 5 months of service for going less than 100 minutes over. That's not even getting into the texting side of it.

That's what the ISPs want to do. It's free money.

 

[Guest]

So.. In conclusion has anyone here actually experienced a warning or anything of the sort? I hear so many people complain about it. Yet I've never met a single person (that frequently downloads large files) get bickered at for going over caps. Hell, I think I used at least 500gb last month. I download A LOT of shit. Call me a "Data Hog", but if I'm only 1% of the rest of you, what harm am I in all reality?
Do I think there should be a cap??
Nah.
Am I complaining?
Obviously not... I've never been warned/charged/disconnected, etc. for going over.
I'm proud to have a $30/mo internet connection with speeds up to 1-3 mbps
I'm poor, it's cheap, and above all I love it!

 

[Guest]

His is total bs. At my house we don't torrent, but there are five of us constantly using Hulu and Netflix and similar. Comcast kicked us off and I'm never going back even without caps. They actually told us well, if you sign up for cable you won't have to use so much bandwidth... Yeah, screw you, comfinity.