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Comcast Raises Data Cap

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Comcast has just announced that it is raising its data cap from 250GB to 300GB. What kind of trickery is this? Thanks to Aaron Johnson for the linkage.

he first new approach will offer multi-tier usage allowances that incrementally increase usage allotments for each tier of high-speed data service from the current threshold. Thus, we'd start with a 300 GB usage allotment for our Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance Tiers, and then we would have increasing data allotments for each successive tier of high speed data service (e.g., Blast and Extreme). The very few customers who use more data at each tier can buy additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 for 50 GB).

The second new approach will increase our data usage thresholds for all tiers to 300 GB per month and also offer additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 per 50 GB). In both approaches, we'll be increasing the initial data usage threshold for our customers from today's 250 GB per month to at least 300 GB per month.
Click to expand...
 
I think I prefer the current system where there is a 250 GB "soft cap", where beyond that chances are they will never even notify you.

Kinda just seems like they're trying to monetize overages.
 
"In markets where we are not trialing a new data usage management approach, we will suspend enforcement of our current usage cap as we transition to a new data usage management approach, although we will continue to contact the very small number of excessive users about their usage."

So, if I read that correctly, they are removing the cap all together in areas that already have a 250G cap, but not the 300G cap?
 
Basically what they are saying is, in the interim before they implement this new policy, there will be no cap.
 
Screw comcast. I'm a former customer an dtheir bandwith cap was one of the things that made me anxious to leave.

Fios FTMFW.
 
MavericK96 said:
I think I prefer the current system where there is a 250 GB "soft cap", where beyond that chances are they will never even notify you.

Kinda just seems like they're trying to monetize overages.
Click to expand...

This is what it looked like to me. Ughh fuck, there's fewer and fewer ISPs I can go with every day.
 
Going to cancel comcrap if they try to charge me for data usage. They're just greedy and I don't support greed.
 
Hooray for an extra 50 gigs. Considering that 1080p TV tends to weigh in at no less than 2-3GB per hour I can occasionally switch from 480 or 720 for my internet tv. Such a BFD. Of course, Comcast has raised my bill to about $200 monthly for the privilege of using their cables and high speed internet is often spotty (with oddly conspicuous chokes on streaming sites) so all told... whoop-de-doo.
 
Lol. Yeah, oddly enough, for the last 5+ years of using Comcast I had zero problems, but in the last month or two since they forced me to switch to cable + internet to keep a discount (Either internet only for $75/mo or cable + internet for $50/mo :rolleyes:) I have had random disconnects and also TWICE now I have come home to find my internet down, and when I try to access a website it tells me my modem is not activated with Comcast. :rolleyes: So of course I have to spend an hour on the phone each time with a technician telling me to unplug everything and reboot my computer a half-dozen times, only to then find out that it was their system that fucked it up.

Next time I call I am demanding a discount and getting rid of cable, since they have not offered me anything in the way of free months of service for all the problems I've had.
 
Chihlidog said:
Screw comcast. I'm a former customer an dtheir bandwith cap was one of the things that made me anxious to leave.

Fios FTMFW.
Click to expand...

I've always had TimeWarner but FIOS is now available in my area. So quick question: Is FIOS better/faster/less delay/better pings/etc for online FPS games (on average)? Is there any noticeable advantages between fiber optic and coax in real life putting data caps aside as neither service currently has any?



Thanks
 
It's about time they increased the cap... It's been stuck at 250GB for half a decade, long before HD streaming movies became all the rage.
 
AnonymousUser said:
I've always had TimeWarner but FIOS is now available in my area. So quick question: Is FIOS better/faster/less delay/better pings/etc for online FPS games (on average)? Is there any noticeable advantages between fiber optic and coax in real life putting data caps aside as neither service currently has any?



Thanks
Click to expand...

Here in Jersey FIOS has no data cap. They're also faster and more reliable then cable. I have Cablevision in my area, but they're considered one of the better cable companies as they don't have a bandwidth cap.

If you have FIOS in your area I see no reason not to switch. Not unless you have an affair with the cable presidents daughter.
 
Thank god for FiOS. No caps , better speeds and pure fiber.

I had Comcast , Uverse , Time Warner and Cox over the years (in different states) and Uverse was very stable but the most expensive with the worst HD quality. Comcast had the best speeds (besides FiOS) and better HD quality but tons of downtime on the network (sometimes lasting days and one stretch of time with random intermitency drop outs for 3 and half months straight until I harassed Comcast for months into fixing it) , Time Warner was my first broadband provider and for years worked flawlessly even in horrible weather conditions then suddenly they sucked and started doing some very questionable business practices. Cox I can't really complain about much , decent service , decent speeds and there was downtime but nothing like Comcast.

The bottom line is this , like it or not if you are a heavy bandwidth user its cheaper to go with a business level internet connection. Comcast offers them for premium yes but compared to paying overages its a much safer bet. And as a side benefit you'll get priority customer service and your own agent to call , so if there is an outage you get a direct line to someone versus waiting in line for a tech to tell you what you already know. Until these broadband providers fess up and admit that caps are a money grab then we'll have to keep dealing with them. I can see every provider at some point in the future having caps (except pure fiber services like FiOS , community fiber services) so its a reality your going to have to face.
 
I think this is in response to Netflix bitching about the fact that Comcast wasn't capping its own cable services to its TV-subscription customers, but was capping its Internet customers at 250GB, otherwise. Netflix was bitching about that on the theory that it was costing Netflix streaming customers--and wasn't "fair"--ie, Comcast wasn't abiding by "net neutral" policies, etc. (Even though you could watch two HD movies per day, every day for 30 days, assuming an average length of 90 minutes per movie, and still only consume ~207GBs of Comcast's 250GB cap.)

What I read was that in response to these allegations by Netflix, Comcast has of right this minute dropped all Internet caps. The 300GB limit mentioned by Comcast is a "new plan" they are floating a PR balloon for--to see how well it goes down before they actually implement it. Their new, as-of-yet-unimplemented plan calls for raising the cap to 300GB and actually charging customers $10 more for every 50GB block they use beyond 300GB. Whereas with the old cap of 250GB, nothing really happened if a customer exceeded it.

That's what kind of pisses me off at Netflix--it should have known that Comcast's 250GB "cap" wasn't really there--it was a "soft cap" and in name only. Which does nothing except make sense since according to Comcast's own numbers, even including Comcast Internet's Netflix customers, only .01% of Comcast's base would exceed 250GBs a month on a regular basis. That was such a small number that "doing something about it" would have cost Comcast more than it was worth.

People may not realize it, but with "friends" like Netflix bitching about things for their own selfish reasons, Internet broadband customers like us are getting the shaft, instead. The soft cap was better for everyone--so why did Netflix have to bitch about it? After complaining, Comcast had to do *something* different or risk more government fingers in its pie, ostensibly to regulate things for the consumer that are supposed to be positive but often turn out to be negatives, instead. I'm a Netflix subscriber and like the service, but I don't care much for Hasting's big mouth...;)
 
AnonymousUser said:
I've always had TimeWarner but FIOS is now available in my area. So quick question: Is FIOS better/faster/less delay/better pings/etc for online FPS games (on average)? Is there any noticeable advantages between fiber optic and coax in real life putting data caps aside as neither service currently has any?



Thanks
Click to expand...

Let me post you this (my current connection) and you tell me the advantages :



That's my FiOS connection , 150/35 package (so the upload is even better than provisioned for). Its pure fiber optic to your residence and once its there it gets converted to copper via the ONT (Optical Networking Terminal) and through a QAM box (for TV service). There many advantages over cable (which uses copper almost entirely) and each fiber connection to the hub is a dedicated line so you get a dedicated connection to the hub through the fiber junction near by.

Network outages? Only if the power gets knocked out (even then the ONT comes with a 6 hour battery back up).

Honestly if you can get FiOS in your area , don't even think about it , just sign up. The only downside I can think of is that Verizon's billing department is full of idiots. But considering the quality of service you get (and that many people would kill for it) its completely worth while.
 
Godmachine said:
Let me post you this (my current connection) and you tell me the advantages :



That's my FiOS connection , 150/35 package (so the upload is even better than provisioned for). Its pure fiber optic to your residence and once its there it gets converted to copper via the ONT (Optical Networking Terminal) and through a QAM box (for TV service). There many advantages over cable (which uses copper almost entirely) and each fiber connection to the hub is a dedicated line so you get a dedicated connection to the hub through the fiber junction near by.

Network outages? Only if the power gets knocked out (even then the ONT comes with a 6 hour battery back up).

Honestly if you can get FiOS in your area , don't even think about it , just sign up. The only downside I can think of is that Verizon's billing department is full of idiots. But considering the quality of service you get (and that many people would kill for it) its completely worth while.
Click to expand...

Actually, you are lucky
Or perhaps I am unlucky

I suffer with FiOS, as it dies every day or few days. The ONT automatically goes into sleep mode for whatever reason and my internet dies. Resetting it does nothing, and the ONLY fix that myself and the other tech's have figured out is to have a network tech login to the ONT to check the log.

By logging in, the ONT wakes up. I have no idea why, none of the tech's have any idea why.

I've had probably every tier tech come out and take a look. I've had every piece of equipment replaced one at a time. I've had the cross connects rebuilt so many times.

I wish I had as stable FiOS as you do. I often wish I had comcast again (I was removed for using 1tb/month)
 
Godmachine said:
Let me post you this (my current connection) and you tell me the advantages :



That's my FiOS connection , 150/35 package (so the upload is even better than provisioned for). Its pure fiber optic to your residence and once its there it gets converted to copper via the ONT (Optical Networking Terminal) and through a QAM box (for TV service). There many advantages over cable (which uses copper almost entirely) and each fiber connection to the hub is a dedicated line so you get a dedicated connection to the hub through the fiber junction near by.

Network outages? Only if the power gets knocked out (even then the ONT comes with a 6 hour battery back up).

Honestly if you can get FiOS in your area , don't even think about it , just sign up. The only downside I can think of is that Verizon's billing department is full of idiots. But considering the quality of service you get (and that many people would kill for it) its completely worth while.
Click to expand...

I was very disappointed to learn that Verizon has no plans to expand FiOS roll-outs beyond their present state--so I hope this isn't actually true...! Post is from 2010--so I don't know--it seems like FiOS would make a strong competitor everywhere in the US! Have you heard anything?
 
WaltC said:
I think this is in response to Netflix bitching about the fact that Comcast wasn't capping its own cable services to its TV-subscription customers, but was capping its Internet customers at 250GB, otherwise. Netflix was bitching about that on the theory that it was costing Netflix streaming customers--and wasn't "fair"--ie, Comcast wasn't abiding by "net neutral" policies, etc. (Even though you could watch two HD movies per day, every day for 30 days, assuming an average length of 90 minutes per movie, and still only consume ~207GBs of Comcast's 250GB cap.)
Click to expand...

WaltC said:
What I read was that in response to these allegations by Netflix, Comcast has of right this minute dropped all Internet caps. The 300GB limit mentioned by Comcast is a "new plan" they are floating a PR balloon for--to see how well it goes down before they actually implement it. Their new, as-of-yet-unimplemented plan calls for raising the cap to 300GB and actually charging customers $10 more for every 50GB block they use beyond 300GB. Whereas with the old cap of 250GB, nothing really happened if a customer exceeded it.
Click to expand...

That is wildly inaccurate. Comcast has stated that if a customer goes over the cap even after 1 warning that their service is subject to termination for a full year. Go read Comcast's own FAQ on this. Comcast may have done this to some how please Hastings but its a drop in the bucket. Netflix uses lots of bandwidth and it directly competes with Comcast's own TV service product. Every provider is bleeding business , the loses right now aren't as bad as expected but they are getting worse. Caps are a way to control customers "cutting the cord" and have always been as such , with a side benefit of reducing infrastructure cost as well. Charging $10 per 50GB of land line data is absurd. So for $70 extra a month you can have 600GB of data usage. That means your suddenly cheap 10-15 meg service has now jumped in price near equal to those supposed great $99 package deals Comcast loves to push. I'm sorry , I fail to see how that is anything but highway robbery of the customer.

WaltC said:
That's what kind of pisses me off at Netflix--it should have known that Comcast's 250GB "cap" wasn't really there--it was a "soft cap" and in name only. Which does nothing except make sense since according to Comcast's own numbers, even including Comcast Internet's Netflix customers, only .01% of Comcast's base would exceed 250GBs a month on a regular basis. That was such a small number that "doing something about it" would have cost Comcast more than it was worth.
Click to expand...

Of course its there .. why do you think its not? You really don't have any experience going over Comcast's cap have you? I've went over my cap by 56GB one month and 72GB the next , my modem got turned off and I was called by a tech from Comcast asking why I was going over my data cap. He told me not to go over it again and if I did my service would be terminated for a year. Go check out Dslreports.com for similar stories. Comcast doesn't threaten everyone but they did with me , for going my cap for 2 months straight by what I consider to be not much bandwidth. I was using Netflix , along with my mother , brother and girlfriend. Guess that's my bad and my lack of responsibility right? Yea..:rolleyes:

WaltC said:
People may not realize it, but with "friends" like Netflix bitching about things for their own selfish reasons, Internet broadband customers like us are getting the shaft, instead. The soft cap was better for everyone--so why did Netflix have to bitch about it? After complaining, Comcast had to do *something* different or risk more government fingers in its pie, ostensibly to regulate things for the consumer that are supposed to be positive but often turn out to be negatives, instead. I'm a Netflix subscriber and like the service, but I don't care much for Hasting's big mouth...;)
Click to expand...

Netflix is one of the very VERY few providers sticking up for consumers by forcing the "Cap" issue. While not everyone uses 250GB a month , if you live with a couple of people and just use your connection for legit purposes than you can quickly see that cap just using Netflix in HD alone. Comcast doesn't "have" to do anything , it certainly doesn't need caps with DOCSIS 3.0 in place , caps are a money grab and a form of control to prevent "cord cutters" and that's all it is for any land line provider. Advocating for the ISP's makes little sense in the data "cap" argument.
 
danyune said:
Actually, you are lucky
Or perhaps I am unlucky

I suffer with FiOS, as it dies every day or few days. The ONT automatically goes into sleep mode for whatever reason and my internet dies. Resetting it does nothing, and the ONLY fix that myself and the other tech's have figured out is to have a network tech login to the ONT to check the log.

By logging in, the ONT wakes up. I have no idea why, none of the tech's have any idea why.

I've had probably every tier tech come out and take a look. I've had every piece of equipment replaced one at a time. I've had the cross connects rebuilt so many times.

I wish I had as stable FiOS as you do. I often wish I had comcast again (I was removed for using 1tb/month)
Click to expand...

Check the DSLreports forums and sign up. Go ask a tech in the tech support forums and lay out your entire problem. I had a small issue resolved that way and it got resolved in about 3-4 days after they sent 2 installers to check my ONT. It sounds like a bad ONT to me.
 
250GB ! you guys are lucky !

/rant

Here in Quebec, Canada there is a duopoly on internet infrastructure: one cable company and one phone company.
For the cable, they have a cap of 50GB (combining inbound/outbound) on their standard "high speed" 8Mbit offering. Service is not cheap 40-50$/mo and after this threshold, they charge an extra 0.07$ for every MB ... YESS megabyte !! until you hit the roof of 50$ extra, which is about 7GB.

At least the cable infrastructure is quite good, they offer 120Mbit cable for 'only' 150$ /mo, with a bandwith cap of 200GB...

Now you can laugh !! :eek:
 
WaltC said:
I was very disappointed to learn that Verizon has no plans to expand FiOS roll-outs beyond their present state--so I hope this isn't actually true...! Post is from 2010--so I don't know--it seems like FiOS would make a strong competitor everywhere in the US! Have you heard anything?
Click to expand...

Well Verizon spent $28 Billion rolling out fiber across the country for FiOS and right now they have zero plans for expansion. However they have contracts to honor so keep checking. You'll know that FiOS is in your area when you get a flyer on your door or you call them up and ask.

Verizon is currently dumping most of its efforts into LTE networking. However FiOS is currently quite successful for them and since DSL is being ignored , its an important revenue stream that they can't ignore.
 
Godmachine said:
That is wildly inaccurate. Comcast has stated that if a customer goes over the cap even after 1 warning that their service is subject to termination for a full year.
Click to expand...


Things have changed--get current...;)

Guy, I sympathize with you, but you have to realize I've read a lot of posts by people who claim to have broken the cap--several times--with no ill effect at all. Perhaps you were simply more egregious than they, I don't know. And now...it's a moot point.

The thing with Netflix is well-known. In certain areas, Netflix buys its bandwidth through a 3rd party which buys its bandwidth directly from Comcast. Hastings has been very vocal about the "unfairness" of all of that. The situation has to do with people running their xboxen on Comcast cable in order to access Netflix.

I didn't mean to "trip your trigger," etc.
 
WaltC said:
Things have changed--get current...;)
Click to expand...

Ugh...from that article:

How should journalists headline their stories today? "The headline today should be that there isn't a cap anymore. We're out of the cap business."
Click to expand...

That is incredibly disingenuous. Yeah, sure, there's no cap... if you want to pay an infinite amount of money for infinite bandwidth. :rolleyes:
 
DeftonesXP said:
250GB ! you guys are lucky !

/rant

Here in Quebec, Canada there is a duopoly on internet infrastructure: one cable company and one phone company.
For the cable, they have a cap of 50GB (combining inbound/outbound) on their standard "high speed" 8Mbit offering. Service is not cheap 40-50$/mo and after this threshold, they charge an extra 0.07$ for every MB ... YESS megabyte !! until you hit the roof of 50$ extra, which is about 7GB.

At least the cable infrastructure is quite good, they offer 120Mbit cable for 'only' 150$ /mo, with a bandwith cap of 200GB...

Now you can laugh !! :eek:
Click to expand...

Is that Rogers? I can't recall, but I did read something similar from another poster on another site--so forgive me if that's not your ISP. Your post is much appreciated by me--it's often, and erroneously, circulated in the US that "most everybody else" around the world has no cap at all and that US ISP's are the pits. It's always nice to see things in their proper perspective. US ISPs surely aren't the best, but they surely aren't the worst, either--and by a substantial margin it would appear.
 
MavericK96 said:
Ugh...from that article:



That is incredibly disingenuous. Yeah, sure, there's no cap... if you want to pay an infinite amount of money for infinite bandwidth. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I agree completely. It's like suddenly all of these marketing people think everyone else is a complete idiot, and they tailor their PR remarks accordingly. I have this theory that ties it all to an Apple ascendant on the strength of its cell-phone sales....j/k...or maybe not...;)
 
JediTerminator said:
It's about time they increased the cap... It's been stuck at 250GB for half a decade, long before HD streaming movies became all the rage.
Click to expand...

Make no mistake, this is a very clear cut reduction in the monthly data cap.

Right now when you go past the 250GB "cap", this is what happens: Nothing

If you're pulling something like 400GB+ multiple months in a row, AND your node is crowded to the point where they are looking for easy solutions to the problem - they might give you a call and issue you a verbal warning. In any case, your bill will remain exactly the same.

With this change, the very instant you pass that 300GB/month threshold, they will start billing you for extra data usage as if you were on a cell-phone data plan.

They are pushing this gradually and desperately trying to sell this as an improvement over the previous system, but it's just one big step toward the ultimate end-game of having home internet connections billed primarily based on usage.

I'll bet that in 10 years they will have "generously" increased the cap to 400-500GB, but content and the internet itself will have evolved to the point where an average family could use that in a week or two. $100+ extra in internet overage fees per month will be common and people won't think twice about it.
 
More data, but we will throttle torrents, ports used for encypted traffic such as 1194 and so on!
 
I was using an average of 500GB a month from Comcast for more than a year before they gave me a warning. After that I moved to the Business Class internet which is way better and faster. Also if there is any problems they come within 4 hours to fix it. The only downside is that you have to make a 36 month contract.
 
Godmachine said:
Well Verizon spent $28 Billion rolling out fiber across the country for FiOS and right now they have zero plans for expansion. However they have contracts to honor so keep checking. You'll know that FiOS is in your area when you get a flyer on your door or you call them up and ask.

Verizon is currently dumping most of its efforts into LTE networking. However FiOS is currently quite successful for them and since DSL is being ignored , its an important revenue stream that they can't ignore.
Click to expand...

Verizon dropped our state lot a hot rock and left us to Frontier, who I prompted got rid of for their price increases and poor service. If FiOS isn't in your area, don't expect them, ever.

As for Comcast, what are people doing to hit this cap? I used 23 GB last month and am at 11 GB so far this month with 1 week to go on the billing cycle. I spend a lot of time on the internet. I am much happier with Comcast than I was with FiOS and don't have to worry about hitting their cap any time soon.
 
Erm, so it's like AT&T's U-Verse service now? If you exceed your monthly bandwidth allowance, you're charged $10 per 50GB? Am I understanding this correctly?
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
As for Comcast, what are people doing to hit this cap? I used 23 GB last month and am at 11 GB so far this month with 1 week to go on the billing cycle. I spend a lot of time on the internet. I am much happier with Comcast than I was with FiOS and don't have to worry about hitting their cap any time soon.
Click to expand...

I consistently hit 200+ GB every month, and apparently (just checked since I normally don't) I hit 272 GB in March. Pretty much all I do is watch TV shows and movies over Netflix/Hulu/whatever, and download Steam games. Along with normal browsing and file downloads of course.

I don't even go out of my way to download a ton of stuff. So it's not all that difficult.
 
ArbY said:
Erm, so it's like AT&T's U-Verse service now? If you exceed your monthly bandwidth allowance, you're charged $10 per 50GB? Am I understanding this correctly?
Click to expand...

Not YET, but eventually it will be, yes.
 
MavericK96 said:
I think I prefer the current system where there is a 250 GB "soft cap", where beyond that chances are they will never even notify you.
Click to expand...

I've been a Comcast user for years. I've kept data that entire time with a regularly-updated and backed up log via Tomato firmware. Whenever I go over about 8GB in a 24-hour period, or 150 GB in a 30-day period, my connection reliability goes to hell. This leads to outright outages - hours, and then days - as I approach 200GB. Past that point, I will end up losing it for about 3 days and then get an entirely new IP (which is otherwise consistently static). I have all of this logged.

It's pretty clear to me that they have an automated system in place to detect, throttle, and then move and monitor "excessive" offenders. Mind you that these caps can be hit entirely with Steam + NetFlix alone if usage is heavy enough. It's at the point where I ration my own video viewing and game purchases/downloads using my own monitoring methods (Tomato). In a way, I'm okay with the concept that nobody over-utilizes the system, and I tolerate it to some degree.

However, I fully expect them to implement this for the average user with usage metrics (which they already have in many places if you log in online) with similar methods applied to everyone. The change suggested by this blog post is the first step in that process. Paying more for more data is a viable system, and this is a direct response to their loss on the network neutrality issue.

If they can't separate video streaming and allow it unlimited, for example, then all data will suffer. The loss also meant they had to explore avenues like, I don't know, buying a content creator like NBC. This is a problem that's not going away, so I hope sharing my experiences of the reality will help in the struggle. I don't intend to say which way is better, just putting the information out there.
 
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