Anybody dealing with an internet data cap?

futurefields

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2012
6,470
32
91
I'm not but I feel for anybody in the era of 50gb game sizes, cloud backups and digital streaming everything. Are ISP's still doing this and to what degree? I've heard of 250gb monthly data cap, I would blow through that.
 

skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
1
71
Was on satellite for a brief time about a year ago and i had a 10gb monthly cap.Midnight to 5am it was unlimited so that was a great time to download.Paid for 20mb speeds and got well over 30mbps easily,closer to 40mb lol.

During the days i had steam open,played plenty of non multiplayer games and had nothing to complain about.Keep off youtube/netflix/streaming sites during the day and i pretty much could do my usual browsing and i never hit over 4gb usage lol.Worked out well cause me and my wife stay up damn late anyways so midnight-3am was a good time for netflix/youtube:)
 

ShintaiDK

Lifer
Apr 22, 2012
20,378
146
106
I got a symbolic data cap of 3000GB/month. I dont think I ever reached 10% of that.
 

RockinZ28

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2008
2,171
49
101
Technically don't have a cap, but I do try to limit usage. Don't want to get canceled because then I'm screwed. Did purchase one of those 50gb games on dvd to avoid adding it to my data usage this month. Actually Verizon's scale on my 6 month history only goes up to 100gb/mo, and it just shows 0.00mb used cause I'm off the chart lol.

16198983762_63c0a56eb8_b.jpg
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
136
I got a symbolic data cap of 3000GB/month. I dont think I ever reached 10% of that.
I have no data cap, but I've done over 2Tb of traffic in a month before (generally it's not that high), don't think I've ever gone over 3Tb in a single month though.
 

digitaldurandal

Golden Member
Dec 3, 2009
1,828
0
76
Comcast is about to place a datacap on cable internet here. Currently have an expensive plan, 105 mb/s. Datacap for my plan will be 350gb so I can basically reach my cap in an hour of full bandwidth. I will go over this. I stream both Amazon and Netflix. I purchase digital copies of movies and download in 1080p. I download games and DLC pretty regularly. I use Spotify and Audible at times when im not on the computer.

Fiber is coming. I cannot wait.
 

Zodiark1593

Platinum Member
Oct 21, 2012
2,230
4
81
Comcast is the only choice as far as homebound internet goes. Just decided to tether to the phone. 5 GB a month is painful though, but Comcast's abusive practices guaranteed no business from me.
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
Back when I had cable internet, they had saddled me with a 80GB cap. So I switched to this mickey mouse indie ISP that was offering unlimited. Same speed, same price. I'm not a heavy downloader by any means but I regularly double that nowadays. 80GB a month on cable is just chintzy. They do offer an unlimited plans now. It's double the speed I have but more than double the price.
 

BlitzPuppet

Platinum Member
Feb 4, 2012
2,460
7
81
Back when I was in college an apartment complex I lived in had an ISP that you got when you leased through them...

250MB combined upload/download cap for a rolling 24hr period. It was AWFUL.
 

futurefields

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2012
6,470
32
91
Back when I had cable internet, they had saddled me with a 80GB cap. So I switched to this mickey mouse indie ISP that was offering unlimited. Same speed, same price. I'm not a heavy downloader by any means but I regularly double that nowadays. 80GB a month on cable is just chintzy. They do offer an unlimited plans now. It's double the speed I have but more than double the price.

80gb is nothing, 1 game and a couple a movies.

not worth more than 10 bucks a month
 

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
7,348
642
121
If I had a data cap I'd have real issues.....
Pretty much would do a ton of research on an areas Internet providers before moving there.
 

escrow4

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2013
3,339
122
106
250GB here and I came close to cracking it in December. Otherwise I'd hit around 150GB or so a month. All those ahem linux .iso's do come in smaller sizes than 1 to 1 BD .iso rips for a reason. Plus outside of AAA games, there are not many 50GB game sizes. Inquisition was less than 25GB, FC4 was less than 30GB. Unity was 40GB, like Advanced Warfare. And actually if those stupid consoles could hack compressed audio they wouldn't be that big in the first place.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Cox Cable has a soft cap of 250GBs, though its not enforced. I usually get a nasty email every other month from them. But yeah, thats ridiculously low for the modern era.
 

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
7,348
642
121
250GB here and I came close to cracking it in December. Otherwise I'd hit around 150GB or so a month. All those ahem linux .iso's do come in smaller sizes than 1 to 1 BD .iso rips for a reason. Plus outside of AAA games, there are not many 50GB game sizes. Inquisition was less than 25GB, FC4 was less than 30GB. Unity was 40GB, like Advanced Warfare. And actually if those stupid consoles could hack compressed audio they wouldn't be that big in the first place.

Those 1 bd iso Rips of Linux are such bad quality though. They look terrible on my projector. Good for a pc/laptop user but for a big screen you need a minimum of 4gb (prefer 10+) when you're using a 70+ inch screen. For Linux, ahem, of course....
 

StinkyPinky

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2002
6,982
1,281
126
No I don't, although until a couple of years ago I had a 300 GB cap. I have to say I never went over.

Last month I used 163 GB
 
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DaTT

Garage Moderator
Moderator
Feb 13, 2003
13,295
122
106
Back when I had cable internet, they had saddled me with a 80GB cap. So I switched to this mickey mouse indie ISP that was offering unlimited. Same speed, same price. I'm not a heavy downloader by any means but I regularly double that nowadays. 80GB a month on cable is just chintzy. They do offer an unlimited plans now. It's double the speed I have but more than double the price.

Cogeco?
 

xantub

Senior member
Feb 12, 2014
717
1
46
I'm using Comcast, their cap is like 250 or 300 and let you go over it no more than 3 times a year or something. I only came close to breaking it once, and it was a specially heavy month for me, I think I had to redownload a bunch of games for some reason.
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
136
Those 1 bd iso Rips of Linux are such bad quality though. They look terrible on my projector. Good for a pc/laptop user but for a big screen you need a minimum of 4gb (prefer 10+) when you're using a 70+ inch screen. For Linux, ahem, of course....

Reminds me when I downloaded the lord of the rings "linux" distro. Full bitrate.

~80GB for 3 distros.
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
7
76
Nope, i would actually sell my house and move if that ever happened. The internet is my entertainment and lively hood.
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
44
91
I have a feeling that as we are quickly being reduced to two, maybe three cable providers in the USA with almost all of them being exclusive to large areas that data caps will be in all of our futures. Cellular companies have shown data is where the money is made and cable companies are sure to follow.
 

CuriousMike

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2001
3,044
544
136
I had no idea how much my house uses, so I logged into comcast for the first time to see if they had a chart. They did.
Family of 5; three kids stream Netflix and Spotify 12 hours a day.
Wife is a basic web user.
I'm a pretty heavy downloader.
Not sure if this is considered high or not; on their site, they say they have a 250GB limit that they're currently not enforcing.

comcastuseage.jpg