Bandwidth Caps Around the World Compared To US

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How bad do we really have it when it comes to bandwidth? I don't know, for what I pay, I feel like I am getting pretty good speed / bandwidth (25Mbits for $49.99). What are you guys getting?

It goes without saying that America’s Internet infrastructure (and pricing models) can vary wildly from those found in the rest of the world. But let’s not end the comparison with just a throwaway statement like that: How do American ISPs fare against their cross-cultural brethren? Does it get much worse than this… or better?
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Getting 25 mbit (which normally is actually 30mbit during off peak times.) for $44.95 through Charter. This required a 2 year agreement. (Reg. 49.95)
 
I have never had a problem with bandwidth caps, I think I pay a fair price for my bandwidth.

What I think most people have a problem with is DATA CAPS. Thats some bullshit to tell me I can only download 250GB a month.
 
XvMMvX said:
I have never had a problem with bandwidth caps, I think I pay a fair price for my bandwidth.

What I think most people have a problem with is DATA CAPS. Thats some bullshit to tell me I can only download 250GB a month.
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I too have a problem with the data caps, not the bandwidth. Although I wouldn't call 250gb BS - that's a ton of content, I would just like to use more than that. ;) Unfortunately, most ISPs don't give you a reasonable rate structure for additional GB's (if at all)
 
Steve, did you read your own story?

This isn't about line speed.

It is about the monthly data cap in GB, in how much you can download in one month before you cap kicks in.

Mine (Rogers Canada) is 60GB/month, then $2/GB beyond that.

It is even worse on DSL where Bell lowered the cap to 25GB/month after netfilx started offerring all you can watch video for $8/month. Total bullshit, monopolistic nonsense. Bell is also a satellite TV/VOD provider and is killing competition.
 
I live in the UK, just came back from New Zealand for a trip.
Lovely country (love the South Island), but 1 reason why I would not emigrate there is the crappy bandwidth caps they have
 
my plan is 100MB down for $160 a month plus tax. I share it with my room mate and it has no download limit :)
 
I'm pushing the 250gb/month limit almost every month with comcast. A while ago, a couple of months after I first signed up with comcast, I did 1TB in a month and got the call comcast. I've broken it a few times since then but havn't recieved any other calls or had my service suspended. At the time I was told there is no ability to pay for extra bandwidth. The limit is terrible, even if it better than most of the world.
 
Wow;... 160 bucks a month, that's pretty effin expensive.
 
Speaking about cross cultural breathen - my cable company in Poland offers 60 Mbit/s (120 from 0 to 8 am) for 35 euros per month (all taxes included)
And that's with no caps, and 6 mbit upload.

Almost all ISPs removed bandwidth monthly caps during price wars few years ago and noone even tries to reintroduce them back.
 
I pay 29.99€ a month for unlimited access. I feel sorry for those who have had data caps forced on them... There's no way I could go back to that.
 
$30/mo for 20m down/768k up from Qwest. Realistically my down speed is about 14mbs, though.
 
I pay SOOO much here in Canada.
Not only is it Canada, but it's rural, so it's even worse.
I get 10Mbps down and 1Mbps up.
200GB cap, and I pay ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!
...
PLUS 13% in HST TAX!
 
I live in Canada, and yes, the internet services provided here are a joke.

Rogers just scams people out of money, but since they share their profits with key politicians, they are allowed to do so.
 
Snowdog said:
Steve, did you read your own story?

This isn't about line speed.
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There is always one in every crowd. :rolleyes:


It is obvious that everyone here understands that we are talking about speed / bandwidth caps here. The article plainly states this is about bandwith caps.

Everyone here also understands that a 100Mbit connection will tear through that 250GB cap (If you have one) pretty damn fast.

Speed of your connection is relevent to your cap. A 56k dial up guy doesn't have to worry too much about blazin' up that 250GB cap.

Finally, no one here is posting comments based solely on "what Steve says." We post snippets of the articles here and trust our readers to READ THE ARTICLE before they comment.
 
16 Down / 2 Up @ Now with a price hike $77 250GB Cap with Comcast. vs 6 Down / 1 Up @ $35/Month w/ ATT with 100GB cap (Which i'm assuming is live now?)

Living in the middle of nowhere, I get reamed either way by comcast or att.
 
50 down /10up 250gb cap for $99 never hit the cap have come close at 230gb but that was restoring 5 machines steam accounts/win updates and my normal netflix/2 xbox 360's on live and other net usage. i usually average about 180 dl a month
 
I have AT&T's U-verse at my new apartment because they have a bullshit contract with TVMax (or whatever they just changed their number to). The max plan I can get with tvmax is like 6MB down for around 50usd. AT&T's U-verse gets me 13MB down (max speed as their line is crap, and I live in Houston with plenty of fibre around so I blame the complex) and 1.5 up for 45usd a month. Frankly, yes, that is too much money for too little speed. Since the article was about the data cap though, yes, AT&T recently implemented a data cap of 250GB a month but that was like a month or so ago. No calls from them yet but since I cut cable from my life and use Netflix/Hulu and game a lot (computer and 360), I expect I go over 250GB a month, though probably not ridiculously so. Data caps are bad, bad things and unless you're just stressing the system by keeping a p2p program running 24/7, that shouldn't be something that the company is allowed to bitch about since they have the bandwidth for it or should be reinvesting their money into the fiber we paid for over a decade ago.
 
Steve said:
There is always one in every crowd. :rolleyes:
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You posted an article about data caps, then said what line speed you are getting... Which then prompted the next person to indicate their line speed as well...

I just wanted to steer back to the real issue. Data caps.
 
23/3 for ~$76/mo (after all fees and taxes, etc) with AT&T Uverse. I have yet to receive any sort of notification about the bandwidth caps that were being discussed a few months ago... :confused:
 
20/1.5 with no cap on data through the local Insight Communications cable company. Its the small part that is still not owned by Comcast which is why there is no cap. I pay $60/mo.
 
:(
OldSchool said:
23/3 for ~$76/mo (after all fees and taxes, etc) with AT&T Uverse. I have yet to receive any sort of notification about the bandwidth caps that were being discussed a few months ago... :confused:
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That's because they have not told anyone except in their advertisements. I had DSL with them, and knew nothing about the cap. I got HAMMERED (I had to download all my steam games again). They would not let it slide either until I threatened to leave. I told them not to cap me, or I leave.

So now... 15/3MB $65 NO CAP! Cox Communications. They're pretty decent company. ATT is the DEVIL!
 
Snowdog said:
You posted an article about data caps, then said what line speed you are getting... Which then prompted the next person to indicate their line speed as well...

I just wanted to steer back to the real issue. Data caps.
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Try "steering" another one of my threads anywhere by saying I didn't RTFA and see where that gets you. No one else seems confused. Thanks for your "guidance."
 
for anyone with comcast, ask about business class internet. at my old house we had $60 regular internet that was capped at 250GB/month. if yuo get a cable tv/phone/internet package it was cheaper, but just the cable internet by itself was $60. when i called and asked how to have a higher/no cap, the lady told me we could get a business class line, which was exactly the same but with no cap, for the same price. did that and super glad we did. got a better modem from them, and wayyyyyy better service. if you have the big package, you might not be able to do it, but if you have only the cable internet by itself, it might be free for you to remove your cap. :D
 
I have the 12/3mb with COX, and even though they are suppose to have a cap, they have never sent me a warning, even though I know I've blown through it some months.
From what I've read, they don't worry too much about the cap unless you are always way over.

The automatic extra charges some companys have for going over the cap in a single month is just wrong. If they can charge you for going over, then they should have to give you a refund when you are under your cap.
 
ekuest said:
for anyone with comcast, ask about business class internet. at my old house we had $60 regular internet that was capped at 250GB/month. if yuo get a cable tv/phone/internet package it was cheaper, but just the cable internet by itself was $60. when i called and asked how to have a higher/no cap, the lady told me we could get a business class line, which was exactly the same but with no cap, for the same price. did that and super glad we did. got a better modem from them, and wayyyyyy better service. if you have the big package, you might not be able to do it, but if you have only the cable internet by itself, it might be free for you to remove your cap. :D
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The business class is ok but the modem they give you is HORRIBLE. Which modem did they give you?
 
6mbits Comcast, but it's the only option. According to the website, I can't even get business class. :(
 
XvMMvX said:
I have never had a problem with bandwidth caps, I think I pay a fair price for my bandwidth.

What I think most people have a problem with is DATA CAPS. Thats some bullshit to tell me I can only download 250GB a month.
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Only 250? In Canada the scum ISPs attempted to make it only 25 and may eventually succeed. I believe the reason they want to do this is to destroy Netflix and similar services and not because of high cost to them.
 
50/5mbps, no cap, $130/month from Cox. It is business class service, hence the price, and the lack of cap. Worth it, IMO.

FYI though Cox's consumer caps seem to be "soft caps". I know multiple people on Cox consumer class and mostly it just seems like they'll yell at you if you do a bunch of torrenting. They don't seem to charge extra or shut your line down, they'll just let you know it is a problem. I presume if it goes on for multiple months they take stronger action though.
 
FireBean said:
So now... 15/3MB $65 NO CAP! Cox Communications. They're pretty decent company. ATT is the DEVIL!
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nutzo said:
I have the 12/3mb with COX, and even though they are suppose to have a cap, they have never sent me a warning, even though I know I've blown through it some months.
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Where do you guys live?

I am in Vegas (Cox) with no cap. I specifically asked about caps and was told there are no bandwidth caps.
 
FireBean said:
:(

That's because they have not told anyone except in their advertisements. I had DSL with them, and knew nothing about the cap. I got HAMMERED (I had to download all my steam games again). They would not let it slide either until I threatened to leave. I told them not to cap me, or I leave.
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The thing is, I am quite certain I have gone over 250GB in a month since these plans were supposed to have gone into effect. Also, in the control panel for my account on their web page it says I have no data cap. Maybe they are rolling it out slowly across the country and haven't gotten to my area yet?
 
Sycraft said:
50/5mbps, no cap, $130/month from Cox. It is business class service, hence the price, and the lack of cap. Worth it, IMO.

FYI though Cox's consumer caps seem to be "soft caps". I know multiple people on Cox consumer class and mostly it just seems like they'll yell at you if you do a bunch of torrenting. They don't seem to charge extra or shut your line down, they'll just let you know it is a problem. I presume if it goes on for multiple months they take stronger action though.
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I recently read an article that said Netflix uses the most bandwidth now and not torrenting.
 
Snowdog said:
Steve, did you read your own story?

This isn't about line speed.

It is about the monthly data cap in GB, in how much you can download in one month before you cap kicks in.

Mine (Rogers Canada) is 60GB/month, then $2/GB beyond that.

It is even worse on DSL where Bell lowered the cap to 25GB/month after netfilx started offerring all you can watch video for $8/month. Total bullshit, monopolistic nonsense. Bell is also a satellite TV/VOD provider and is killing competition.
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I guess all that yelling to Harper<Clements<crtc, before the election paid off for some of us. My extreme with shaw went upto 25 dl and 2.5 upload (15m/800kbs and shaw raised the cap from 100 gig to 250 gig.
Another coincidence from Telus, The OECD came out with a report slamming Canada with some of the highest cell phone roaming charges in the world, $28 avg vs $9 avg for the rest of the world. The same day Telus changed to $12 avg. It seems that if an outsider belittles these companies, actions happen. CBC said that Rogers and Bell were revamping their costs also, you might want to check this out Snowdog.
 
Steve said:
Where do you guys live?

I am in Vegas (Cox) with no cap. I specifically asked about caps and was told there are no bandwidth caps.
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I'm in Nebraska and have had Cox since they took over the network from the @Home bankruptcy. I too have occasionally put up some massive numbers per month and never had a warning about network usage.
 
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