Comcast data caps are coming in January all over the place

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It's $25 here but it requires that you us their modem/router combination (which basically broadcasts free internet to anyone nearby through the xfinity hotspot and is known to have countless security issues) and a bunch of other bullshit such as a lack of networking options and Xfinity knowing even MORE about what goes on in the house through their "free security" that comes with it.
I'm pretty damn open with my data but the last thing I want is for comcast to have such control over it. I like having my own network.

https://billfixers.com/blog/comcast-is-charging-some-customers-35-to-own-their-own-modem



Yes, I'm literally paying *more* to have unlimited data and own my own modem/router (both of which I paid for) but I wasn't in the mood to really argue last time.

You can turn off the hotspot and also turn the modem to bridge mode and control everything through your router. I've had it for a few years now and it isn't bad. Also, I believe they let you use your own modem now.
 
This is so weird we have AT&T Fiber 1 Gbps package and when I click on data usage details it lists AT&T Internet Basic 6 lol.

We are still getting 1 Gbps though.

The AT&T website sucks so bad.
 
This is so weird we have AT&T Fiber 1 Gbps package and when I click on data usage details it lists AT&T Internet Basic 6 lol.

We are still getting 1 Gbps though.

The AT&T website sucks so bad.
My only choices are Comcast up to a Gig or ATT 6Mbps dsl, lol
 
My only choices are Comcast up to a Gig or ATT 6Mbps dsl, lol

Our chooses are Spectrum or AT&T Fiber. Not 100% sure about Spectrum though. Not sure if they are allowed to provide service where AT&T fiber is ran.

Guessing they can sense we had 2 outlets in all rooms.
 
It's $25 here but it requires that you us their modem/router combination (which basically broadcasts free internet to anyone nearby through the xfinity hotspot and is known to have countless security issues) and a bunch of other bullshit such as a lack of networking options and Xfinity knowing even MORE about what goes on in the house through their "free security" that comes with it.
I'm pretty damn open with my data but the last thing I want is for comcast to have such control over it. I like having my own network.

https://billfixers.com/blog/comcast-is-charging-some-customers-35-to-own-their-own-modem


Yes, I'm literally paying *more* to have unlimited data and own my own modem/router (both of which I paid for) but I wasn't in the mood to really argue last time.

Jesus, fuck that.

I make sure the only thing my ISP sees is that all of the traffic on my network goes through Mullvad encrypted with 256bit AES.

I trust Mullvad about a million times more than I do Verixin, Comcast or any other telco/cable company

Anyone remember this bullshit?
 
I can get 1gbps for $100 through comcast.
My next, and only other landline option is 80mpbs for $50 a month.

It gets WORSE from there, a local wireless internet company wants $100 a month for speeds "good enough for 1080p video" and doesn't even MENTION a particular mbps rate anywhere on their website.

Yeah for all you know it can be a 1920 X 1080P with a 1 kilobit bitrate but technically a 1080P resolution Lol! So good enough for 1080P!
 
Don't think Verizon doesn't have the same idea. Only takes one company to pull the trigger and the rest will follow.

As others have said, depends on regional competition.
Can't speak for elsewhere in the US, but here in NYC, Verizon is in a price war w/Spectrum, and so I haven't heard a peep about caps from either company (Spectrum is currently offering 400Gbit connections for $69.99 & 940Gbit @ $109.99).
My understanding is that Spectrum is really trying to make the most out of their Time Warner Cable acquisition a few years back by "reclaiming" all the customers that went over to FIOS via a price war.
 
Charter is OK but as I said their system is archeoc and they don't certify any retail voice modems (EMTA) and the area I live in has sucky cell reception so I need the landline so I have to use their modem
 
#everythingidontlikeiscommunism

This is capitalism bud, get used to it
Wrong. It's local Communism, bud. If it were capitalism, any ISP that wanted to lay fiber could do so. Prices would be much lower and speeds much higher. That's how it works in Europe.

The telcos have contracts with local governments to prevent competition.

Atlanta City Attorney Misled Council on Comcast Reports - atlantaprogressivenews.com​

At stake was the Council’s approval of a seven year franchise agreement with Comcast, worth an estimated one billion dollars in revenue to Comcast and approximately fifty million dollars in fee revenue to the City.

I am all for capitalism - this ain't it.
 
Wrong. It's local Communism, bud. If it were capitalism, any ISP that wanted to lay fiber could do so. Prices would be much lower and speeds much higher. That's how it works in Europe.

The telcos have contracts with local governments to prevent competition.



I am all for capitalism - this ain't it.
I don't think you know what communism is, there would be public ownership of comcast under a communist society. This is literally state capitalism. Contracting a local government is a capitalist endeavor not a socialist or communist one where the government owns the means of production or workers do. Either way it sucks, but lets at least understand we're talking about an economic system and not a form of government.
 
That's called Zero-Rating, it's been a thing for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-rating

In the net neutrality litigation back during the Obama administration, the FCC was trying to kill it off, or at least limit it because it is rife with abuse.



In almost every case where a municipality wants to roll out a broadband service, the local ISP monopoly will tie the project up in ugly legal battles to try and kill the project, or delay it as long as possible. I've followed a few such cases, and what would otherwise be a well planned and affordable internet service rollout ends up running into millions of dollars in legal fees defending against vexatious litigation from ISPs. The ones that did win out over monopolistic ISPs had internet service for the community that was orders of magnitude better than the crap the internet monopoly "graciously" provided.

One municipality I vaguely remember was somewhere I think in Alabama where the local ISP offered like a paltry 768k down and 128 or 64k up for like $70 a month. The municipal broadband was either like 100 or 1000 mbit for $20 a month after all of the dust settled.
Check out Chattanooga they have gigabit municipal broadband and it's extremely successful. There's going to be failures and successes, can't just focus on the negative.What's so infuriating about Comcast is they take government money to build out their broadband. So not only do they get tax payer subsidies, now they're charging data caps on top of it.

Here's a cool paper on municipal broadband if you're interested: https://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/fiber-fallacies-upenn-yoo-1.pdf
 
This is so ridiculous. All of these mergers and consumer are the ones who suffer.

How does one fight this change?
 
1.2 Tb seems fairly generous. We've got Comcast. I've got 2 high schoolers distance learning and the wife and I have both been working from home since March. We also have/use a bunch of different streaming services to include Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus on multiple 4K screens. We aren't TV nuts - probably only average a couple hours each of TV per day. Two of us are pretty active gamers.

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August took a dip in that we all took a week long camping trip. Seems we are fairly consistent between 800-900Gbs a month. I'd say I'm pretty much unaffected by this. When the wife and I eventually do eventually return to the office sometime next year along with the kids going back to school, our usage will probably dip back a bit as well.

Doubt we'll ever blow past 1.2Tb on a regular basis.
 
Don't think Verizon doesn't have the same idea. Only takes one company to pull the trigger and the rest will follow.
Comcast has had caps for years. The only thing that's changed is they use to give you 3 times before they charged extra...also if you went a year without going over the limit, it went back to 3x, so if VZ isn't doing it now, they probably aren't going to do it.
 
Just think of how many next gen consoles will be sold with bluray drives because of something like this.

I think the bluray industry is the one pulling the strings.
Won't change a thing (and it's not the studios, it's Comcast). People who buy Blu Ray/4k disks are doing so, because the PQ and AQ is superior to streaming. And for newer movies, there's always redbox, which is 2 bucks/movie per day and they regularly have coupons ranging from BOGO to 1.50 off a rental. Comcast has been doing caps for close to a decade. They just have lowered the grace period from 3 months to 1 (which sucks, but that's Comcast). If you're regularly going over 1.2tb, you're better off paying them for unlimited data. Personally, I set up a limit in my router so I know when I get close to going over (which is rare, but occasionally happens. I set it 200GB below so that if I hit that point, I'll know to be careful for the rest of the month (which was just a few away when it's happened). If cities were smart, they'd all work towards providing municipal fiber. Nothing cuts prices like competition.
 
If you're regularly going over 1.2tb, you're better off paying them for unlimited data.
As far back as they would let me look I haven't had a single month with less than 1.2TB of data.
Lowest use was 1.5TB back in May, most was 6.5TB in April. May was the low anomaly. Back to 4TB in June and mostly around 3TB since then. Used 2.4TB in November thus far, but I actually ran out of hard drive space. 😅 Got a 14TB HDD arriving soon and hoping on a new console so I expect expect December to be around 5TB at least...

At least comcast has yet to ever ask me what the hell I'm using my internet for.

I used over 300GB yesterday.

I'm looking at those new 4K Ultra HD LOTR and Hobbit Remasters like:

 
Damn.


I found a package in the pfSense repository called Traffic Totals which tallies and uses data from vnStat to give a total. it seems to work well.

By that Downstream + Upstream measure I've used 13GB in the 5 hours since I installed the package. Take that number /5*24*365/12 and we have a monthly estimate of ~1.8TB and I haven't even done anything yet...

Just wait for game downloads, streaming, or my overnight backup cycle to run...

I'd argue a 1.2TB cap is completely unreasonable.

So, it took me about a week after installing the traffic monitoring package to hit 1.2TB, and that was without even doing any major downloads or anything out of the ordinary for me.

This is definitely an unreasonable cap.
 
So, it took me about a week after installing the traffic monitoring package to hit 1.2TB, and that was without even doing any major downloads or anything out of the ordinary for me.

This is definitely an unreasonable cap.
Sheesh, 1.2TB in a week? You sure that traffic monitoring app isn’t including local network (lateral transfers)? I could see that within your own network if you are moving data around, back-ups, or streaming HD video from a local box to devices around the house, but what are you doing on the Internet that requires that much downloaded data in just a week!? 😳
 
1.2 Tb seems fairly generous. We've got Comcast. I've got 2 high schoolers distance learning and the wife and I have both been working from home since March. We also have/use a bunch of different streaming services to include Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus on multiple 4K screens. We aren't TV nuts - probably only average a couple hours each of TV per day. Two of us are pretty active gamers.


Doubt we'll ever blow past 1.2Tb on a regular basis.
The thing is distance learning really doesn't use that much data in the grand scheme of things, gaming doesn't use much either unless you're actively streaming (like at a professional level) or getting multiple AAA titles every month, the 4k does use a lot though, but you saying you only average a couple hours a day, which IMO is very light viewing that's like 1 movie or 2-4 shows and you're pushing 800+ a month? Imagine if you binge watched shows or hell just doubled your TV watching (watched movies instead of playing games) you'd probably eclipse that 1.2TB limit no problem. And ultimately this is the problem because the CABLE COMPANY who wants you to pay for their entertainment is also the one supplying your internet, and internet plans are WAY CHEAPER than cable TV plans, so they're trying to fight cord cutters ultimately. Granted the "average" cord cutter isn't going hit that, but COVID level of Gollum recluse (saw the LOTR comment made by someone) you're going to easily hit 1.2TB a month, that's "only" about 5.5 hours of 4k streaming per day... and that's fairly compressed 4k streaming too.
 
Sheesh, 1.2TB in a week? You sure that traffic monitoring app isn’t including local network (lateral transfers)? I could see that within your own network if you are moving data around, back-ups, or streaming HD video from a local box to devices around the house, but what are you doing on the Internet that requires that much downloaded data in just a week!? 😳

I feel like you are setting me up for a pr0n joke here, but... :p Nope. I set it up just to monitor the WAN interface.

This is predominantly between my stepson streaming games outbound, the household consuming music and video content, and my overnight ZFS backups.

Distance Learning and two adults working also plays a part. Fiance's work involves all day video chats (better her than me). I'm mostly in conference calls with screen shares. Stepson is in remote classes with school. (though last week was shorter than most due to Thanksgiving.
 
So, it took me about a week after installing the traffic monitoring package to hit 1.2TB, and that was without even doing any major downloads or anything out of the ordinary for me.

This is definitely an unreasonable cap.
I don't agree with the caps, but are obviously doing more than what you are saying here.
 
I got the first "you're almost at your data cap" email from Comcast ever. I've gone near or even over my supposed cap plenty of times before. I'm thinking the Denver Comcast might actually be ready to enforce caps after ignoring them for years. If this becomes a problem, it'll be time to pull the infamous "I want to cancel my service" ploy to get them to cut me a deal.
 
I feel like you are setting me up for a pr0n joke here, but... :p Nope. I set it up just to monitor the WAN interface.

This is predominantly between my stepson streaming games outbound, the household consuming music and video content, and my overnight ZFS backups.

Distance Learning and two adults working also plays a part. Fiance's work involves all day video chats (better her than me). I'm mostly in conference calls with screen shares. Stepson is in remote classes with school. (though last week was shorter than most due to Thanksgiving.
No pr0n jokes, but I did consider a few... :D. Video chats are pretty low bandwidth actually - most are 720p and heavily compressed to boot. Unless you are doing 4K cameras... I’ve got basically the same level of use that you do, minus the ZFS backups. (I back up to a separate physical drive that I hook up locally every so often and then place it where I can get at it if needed... nothing fancy that really needs daily backup. Are your backups full, incremental or differential? Sounds like you are firehosing your entire drive with non-differential backups. Would probably be more cost effective for you to set up a small backup server in your garage or shed and do local backups to it rather than over the net.
 
#everythingidontlikeiscommunism

This is capitalism bud, get used to it

actually capitalism would offer the option at a cost and include competition, no option, no competition, is pretty much communism.
 
I got the first "you're almost at your data cap" email from Comcast ever. I've gone near or even over my supposed cap plenty of times before. I'm thinking the Denver Comcast might actually be ready to enforce caps after ignoring them for years. If this becomes a problem, it'll be time to pull the infamous "I want to cancel my service" ploy to get them to cut me a deal.

I got one Sunday as I was making use of left over bandwidth to update a bunch of games over the finals days of November.. Looks like its sent out when you have about 100GB left.
 
actually capitalism would offer the option at a cost and include competition, no option, no competition, is pretty much communism.
Again, I answered this above. This is monopoly capitalism or state capitalism. It's a private industry contracting its services, it's not owned by the government.
 
my choices are

Comcast 200mbps $60 a month
Century Link 3.5mbps was $40 a month

I can use my T-Mobile as a hot spot and that will net me 153GB of streaming data... I use this when I go out of town and want to watch a streaming service. $20 a month...

I live in a modular home community so we do not have the freedom of any other providers. 3 years ago Comcast came in and upgraded the entire infrastructure in the community and yes I max out my internet download speed every single time i download something big.
 
I got one Sunday as I was making use of left over bandwidth to update a bunch of games over the finals days of November.. Looks like its sent out when you have about 100GB left.

Yup, seems like it. First time I've ever seen anything like that from Comcast. In Denver they at least have some competition (in most areas), so they don't usually throw their weight around.
 
I got a notification on the 28th that I had gone through 75% of the allotment. I don't even feel like I've been doing much this month, but...okay.

I have Backblaze and I shifted around a bunch of files, so I suspect a decent chunk of it was re-uploading backups.
 
Thinking about it, I did have to re-download all of my PS4 apps to the PS5 this month. Still, I've gone well over my cap per Comcast's own tracker on multiple occasions. I usually don't, but I have a feeling they're just now starting to enforce what they never cared about before. Get some extra $ out of the cord cutter crowd.
 
i guess I should be thankful I at least have Comcast Business

Not bad for a month.. i need to try [H] next month
Capture3.JPG
 
No pr0n jokes, but I did consider a few... :D. Video chats are pretty low bandwidth actually - most are 720p and heavily compressed to boot. Unless you are doing 4K cameras... I’ve got basically the same level of use that you do, minus the ZFS backups. (I back up to a separate physical drive that I hook up locally every so often and then place it where I can get at it if needed... nothing fancy that really needs daily backup. Are your backups full, incremental or differential? Sounds like you are firehosing your entire drive with non-differential backups. Would probably be more cost effective for you to set up a small backup server in your garage or shed and do local backups to it rather than over the net.

Looks like my suspicions that the stepsons activities were significant were correct.

He left for his dads place for a week on Sunday, and daily traffic use went from a high of 287GB down to just under 90GB.

I may also have dropped someting on the storage server that was synced to backup last week. Can't remember. It only sends the differential between the current and the most recent matching snapshot on either side, at the block level though, so it should be fairly efficient.
 
actually capitalism would offer the option at a cost and include competition, no option, no competition, is pretty much communism.

LOL okay bud. Pretend capitalism that has never, nor ever will exist. Monopolies are a natural consequence of market capitalism and no amount of theoretical objection from right librertarians will make that not true. Also, I love when people criticize communism by describing capitalism.
 
LOL okay bud. Pretend capitalism that has never, nor ever will exist. Monopolies are a natural consequence of market capitalism and no amount of theoretical objection from right librertarians will make that not true. Also, I love when people criticize communism by describing capitalism.

Nothing exists in its pure form, but just like communist idealists, there is ideal capitalism as well. take your politics to the soapbox.
 
I feel like you are setting me up for a pr0n joke here, but... :p Nope. I set it up just to monitor the WAN interface.

This is predominantly between my stepson streaming games outbound, the household consuming music and video content, and my overnight ZFS backups.

Distance Learning and two adults working also plays a part. Fiance's work involves all day video chats (better her than me). I'm mostly in conference calls with screen shares. Stepson is in remote classes with school. (though last week was shorter than most due to Thanksgiving.
If you're using 1.2TB in a week, you're using way more than average, and you should just pay the extra 30 bucks for unlimited data. I can't even imagine using 6 or 7tb of data in a month.
 
Financially on Comcasts end, how does having a data cap promote growth in profit if 99.9% of users don't touch 1.2 TB a month?
 
Financially on Comcasts end, how does having a data cap promote growth in profit if 99.9% of users don't touch 1.2 TB a month?

99.9% not touching 1.2 TB a month most likely isn't true, but
The $30 is another "upgrade" they can pressure people people into paying for even if they won't hit the cap. They can also use it to leverage people into upgrading to the higher tier without limits, etc.

Comcast probably makes most of their money selling people extras they don't use. There are plenty of paying $300 a month for cable TV that watch 3 channels.
 
99.9% not touching 1.2 TB a month most likely isn't true, but
The $30 is another "upgrade" they can pressure people people into paying for even if they won't hit the cap. They can also use it to leverage people into upgrading to the higher tier without limits, etc.

Comcast probably makes most of their money selling people extras they don't use. There are plenty of paying $300 a month for cable TV that watch 3 channels.
$300 a month just for tv? I pay about $310 for xfinity tv without hbo or other premium channels, Gigabit internet and two cell phones. All through comcast.
 
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