Anybody dealing with an internet data cap?

[Grooveriding]

50/10 unlimited vdsl for $50 a month. We rarely use much over 300GB I think, although there are some times where a lot of Steam downloads get done and heavy streaming where I've seen around 500GB.

Compared to European and Asian internet offerings it's crap, but for North America our internet is a good deal.

 

[tential]

We go over all the time. We pretty much do all streaming and with two kids, they can watch a bit of netflix/hulu/whatever and rack up the data. No torrents or anything, this is probably 80-90% streaming data use. Goes up in the winter, less outside time and tails off when it's nice out.

Fear of being on a cap is the exact reason I've abused my unlimited data as hard as humanly possible. Who knows what they'll do in the future. They may put a 100GB cap and I may not be able to use netflix/hulu/steam or whatever. The cap may be there in order to essentially force me to keep cable TV so I can watch TV rather than use an internet service. I don't NEED cable to get all my favorite shows, it's a massive waste of money outside of NFL Redzone (which won't go to an internet stream because of greedy filthy cable companies).

The fact that you get so close to the cap with only streaming really bugs me because 250 GB isn't much at all, these companies infrastructures should be MORE than capable of handling it.

Maybe I don't need to use 3TB a month, but I'm preparing for an internet apocalypse in case it happens because it seems that government is more and more being written by the corporations themselves rather than the people.

 

[Gillbot]

Fear of being on a cap is the exact reason I've abused my unlimited data as hard as humanly possible. Who knows what they'll do in the future. They may put a 100GB cap and I may not be able to use netflix/hulu/steam or whatever. The cap may be there in order to essentially force me to keep cable TV so I can watch TV rather than use an internet service. I don't NEED cable to get all my favorite shows, it's a massive waste of money outside of NFL Redzone (which won't go to an internet stream because of greedy filthy cable companies).

The fact that you get so close to the cap with only streaming really bugs me because 250 GB isn't much at all, these companies infrastructures should be MORE than capable of handling it.

Maybe I don't need to use 3TB a month, but I'm preparing for an internet apocalypse in case it happens because it seems that government is more and more being written by the corporations themselves rather than the people.

That's my concern, and unfortunately data wise there isn't really any competition to big cable and comcast which is unfortunate. I know there has been a ton of discussion on how much is "reasonable" use but with kids in the house streaming, gaming and the like, 250gb isn't high enough. I'd think 500gb would be more reasonable but even at that, what if they have friends over? What about the months we don't go near the cap yet they ding us the one time we eclipse it?

 

[Aikouka]

Was the 29th of December and had 10GB left and it was either conserve heavily or just blow past it.

Imagine getting your 10% notice on the 24th. I couldn't download any of the games that I bought on Steam for fear that I would go over my cap. Although, what's annoying is that you pay for the overages in such large chunks. The problem for me is that since you're paying for 50GB (1/6 of your original cap), you're going to want to make sure that you're not wasting it.

I still need to call up Comcast about them using December's 301GB usage as my last courtesy month. What was annoying is that they sent me a notice that I had passed the cap. After that, I looked at their site, and my usage was at 0GB, which told me that they had already rolled over to the next month. Their bar graph at the bottom also said that I had only used 300GB, so I figured that I was fine.

That's my concern, and unfortunately data wise there isn't really any competition to big cable and comcast which is unfortunate. I know there has been a ton of discussion on how much is "reasonable" use but with kids in the house streaming, gaming and the like, 250gb isn't high enough. I'd think 500gb would be more reasonable but even at that, what if they have friends over? What about the months we don't go near the cap yet they ding us the one time we eclipse it?

It almost sounds contradictory to say it, but it's almost as if they're "behind the times." What's weird is that the old model for Internet connectivity was unlimited (so being antiquated would suggest unlimited), which worked well for ISPs when most people barely used data. However, we've reached such a media-rich age (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, etc and with higher definition content) that I'd be willing to wager that the low-end and median data usage has gone up considerably. They're "behind the times" because they refuse to accept this "new" form of media consumption, and want to penalize people for using it. That makes sense to them because Netflix and such are a direct competitor for Comcast, Time Warner Cable, etc.

 

[tential]

Yup Aikouka I agree. When I had comcast before there was 0 data caps or anything. Use your connection! Was it slow during the day? Yes... but it was because we all used it and they had a monopoly. Then FIOS came to town. I was one of the first areas in the country to have it tested (Which was surprising because I had called Verizon every 2 weeks about if FIOS was coming and then all of a sudden I was a beta test area. Obviously nothing to do with me but early christmas there!).
Switched to FIOS day one, never looked back.

The issue is a lack of competition and a lack of incentive to upgrade their networks. We're behind the whole WORLD with data speeds and the fact that we're adding caps now where there were no caps before makes no sense. The United States especially is preventing from moving to more efficient technologies by using legislation to keep old ways around because companies don't want to invest in the infrastructure to allow change.

Speaking for the US, we're becoming more and more anti free competition every passing day in this country.

I mean, sony's hack showed that they had internal slides talking about how they were against Google Fiber rollout due to increased piracy concerns. We're purposely trying to keep ourselves back rather than embracing change and figuring out new solutions to stay profitable.

It irritates me to no end how companies won't change with the times and instead are trying to keep our country stagnant.

 

[alcoholbob]

According to my router, about 500GB-1.2TB a month for the last 3 years. I haven't gotten a warning from Comcast yet oddly.

 

[xantub]

According to my router, about 500GB-1.2TB a month for the last 3 years. I haven't gotten a warning from Comcast yet oddly.

Comcast's data cap is currently in a 'pilot' program, only in certain areas (like mine... Atlanta, GA). Not sure what it is they're testing.

 

[mnewsham]

Not sure what it is they're testing.

if their antics lead to armed rebellion or not.