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Can anything be done about data caps?

F

futurefields

Diamond Member
As most probably know by now Comcast has been rolling their 1tb/month data cap in more and more areas, including mine in the Seattle area.

It seems just in time for 4K streaming, digital only game downloads which often exceed 50gb per game and growing it seems the timing couldn't be worse for the consumer, especially for those of us in areas with little to no competition.

Just wanted to get your guys take on where you think this is headed? Do we the consumers have the ability to somehow change this trend?
 
ch33zw1z said:
Yes, vote with your wallet, there's plenty of competition, amirite?
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Not sure if serious. Nearly all the major ISP's in the US have data "caps" at this point. Some hide them better than others, others only enforce them if you blatantly abuse it but they've still got a "cap" in writing so there's nothing stopping them from cracking down.
 
I have Comcast and AT&T vdsl both of which have data caps. The question is whether or not they choose to enforce them and Comcast hasn't ever done it since I've been using them.
 
Is it really a problem, or are you just opposed to caps in general?

To actually USE 1TB of data in one month, you'd have to watch about 630 hours of "HD" quality video on Netflix (about 21 hours per day), or about 100 hours of 4K video (about 3.3 hours per day). That doesn't count other data use, but it's an example since you specifically mentioned streaming video..

Sure, some people might still get to that cap if they are serious bandwidth hogs, but I'd guess that 99.99% of people will never see the cap, and that seems pretty reasonable to me. If you are one of the .01% that need more data, pay a little bit more to remove the cap.

edit: FYI, the areas that are getting the 1TB cap are actually getting a free upgrade from Comcast. Areas that don't have the 1TB cap yet are currently capped at 300GB per month, although that 300GB cap is not always strictly enforced.
 
Com cast on my area technically has a 250 up/down, never have enforced it yet.

I use average 500GB per month
 
Not much, is there something in the charter/bill of rights about access to information? Wonder if somehow that could be used against data caps. It's basically limiting your access to information. Though you technically can use library etc so not sure if it would really count.

1TB is decent though, at least it's not like 200GB like most ISPs that have caps. I think it's ridiculous when they advertise super speeds and then capping it. It's like owning a sports car but only being allowed to use it in your own driveway.

I'm thankful that my ISP has no data caps, but I always fear the day they decide to change that. I have 50/30 and I have pushed several TB in a few weeks before. Make a major change to a backup job or what not or deploy a new web server and load all the data to it, it really does not take much when you have a good speed connection and lot of data to move around.
 
Fardringle said:
Is it really a problem, or are you just opposed to caps in general?

To actually USE 1TB of data in one month, you'd have to watch about 630 hours of "HD" quality video on Netflix (about 21 hours per day), or about 100 hours of 4K video (about 3.3 hours per day). That doesn't count other data use, but it's an example since you specifically mentioned streaming video..

Sure, some people might still get to that cap if they are serious bandwidth hogs, but I'd guess that 99.99% of people will never see the cap, and that seems pretty reasonable to me. If you are one of the .01% that need more data, pay a little bit more to remove the cap.

edit: FYI, the areas that are getting the 1TB cap are actually getting a free upgrade from Comcast. Areas that don't have the 1TB cap yet are currently capped at 300GB per month, although that 300GB cap is not always strictly enforced.
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21hrs a day sounds like a lot. But when you have a house of 4 that cuts it drastically. When two of the four are kids downloading games it cuts it even harder. Luckily I don't have a cap but 1TB isn't what it used to be.
 
WhoBeDaPlaya said:
Nope, no caps on TWC / Spectrum here in DFW.
Regularly hit 1TB+ down, 2.5TB+ up.
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That was part of the terms of the Charter acquisition last year. No caps for at least 7 years. They're just about the only one left without written caps and I'd expect that to change once that 7 years runs out.

Fardringle said:
Sure, some people might still get to that cap if they are serious bandwidth hogs, but I'd guess that 99.99% of people will never see the cap, and that seems pretty reasonable to me. If you are one of the .01% that need more data, pay a little bit more to remove the cap.
Click to expand...

The ISP's generally don't have an option to remove the cap. I've exceeded 1TB in a month on more than on occasion. Generally you get an email telling you to upgrade to a higher tier, but if you're already on their highest tier, that's usually the last you hear of it. In a multiuser house with multiple people who play video games, it's adds up rally quick. New game comes out, 3 people in the house download and install it. That's 240Gb right there.
 
Comcast does have the option, though. It costs extra and you have to ask for it specifically, but they have an unlimited plan for people who actually need more than 1TB of data per month.
 
Fardringle said:
Is it really a problem, or are you just opposed to caps in general?

To actually USE 1TB of data in one month, you'd have to watch about 630 hours of "HD" quality video on Netflix (about 21 hours per day), or about 100 hours of 4K video (about 3.3 hours per day). That doesn't count other data use, but it's an example since you specifically mentioned streaming video..
Click to expand...

4K video will be used more and more going forward so you start bumping into the limit.

In larger households it's more of a problem. 1TB divided by 5 users isn't great. Maybe they should offer 1TB per house member.
 
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