If youre a cord cutter who lives in an area where Comcast has implemented its data caps and you constantly find yourself running up against your monthly limit, there may be a good reason for that. The Associated Press recently published an interesting report on Comcasts plan to meter the Internet through data caps and what really stuck out for me was a quote from one Comcast customer who pointed out that these caps are just the right size to discourage people from getting all their television through streaming services instead of through a traditional cable TV package.
I think the idea of limiting your usage is absolutely insane, Comcast customer Matthew Pulsipher told The Associated Press. It would make sense if the cap was 2 terabytes, but 300 is just low enough to punish streaming.
This isnt just the anecdote of some broadband hog whos streaming 4K porn through his computer all day. Ive been seeing lots of stories of cord cutters who suddenly find themselves facing the threat of overage fees because their decision to watch TV over the web is now being subjected to limits.
Take this report from Stop the Cap earlier this month about Florida residents who suddenly found that they had to adjust their streaming habits after Comcast started subjecting them to a 300GB monthly cap.
Its no surprise what they are targeting with these caps, explained Florida-based Comcast subscriber Austin Chilson. If you watch Netflix or Hulu on a regular basis, 300GB is not enough. Netflix alone is responsible for about 17GB of video usage during the first three days of the month.
The FCC also recently published a series of complaints about data caps from Comcast customers who similarly said that watching Netflix and downloading PlayStation 4 games from the web was easily enough to blow through their monthly limits.
Comcast, of course, would like us to believe that these caps are all about fairness and limiting the negative impact that all those greedy data hogs are having on its network, which apparently is as fragile as a tulip on a chilly winters eve. In reality, of course, this is all about trying to mitigate the effects that cord cutting is having on Comcasts traditional pay TV business.
Comcast tells the AP that roughly 8% of its customers go over 300GB per month but you can definitely expect that number to increase the more people rely on streaming services for television. And once more people start buying 4K TVs and watching Netflix streams in 4K, then 300GB per month will seem like absolutely nothing.
Its not just cord cutters that will increasingly feel the pinch but gamers as well. Consider that the digital download of Grand Theft Auto V weighs in at just under 49GB, which means that downloading just one game can blow through 16% of your monthly cap.
So its not entirely accurate to say that Comcasts data caps are just low enough to punish streaming because theyre also low enough to hinder advances in online commerce such as digital game downloads as well. That may be Comcastic news for at least one company but the rest of us shouldnt be happy about it.
http://bgr.com/2015/10/28/why-is-comcast-so-bad-57/
I think the idea of limiting your usage is absolutely insane, Comcast customer Matthew Pulsipher told The Associated Press. It would make sense if the cap was 2 terabytes, but 300 is just low enough to punish streaming.
This isnt just the anecdote of some broadband hog whos streaming 4K porn through his computer all day. Ive been seeing lots of stories of cord cutters who suddenly find themselves facing the threat of overage fees because their decision to watch TV over the web is now being subjected to limits.
Take this report from Stop the Cap earlier this month about Florida residents who suddenly found that they had to adjust their streaming habits after Comcast started subjecting them to a 300GB monthly cap.
Its no surprise what they are targeting with these caps, explained Florida-based Comcast subscriber Austin Chilson. If you watch Netflix or Hulu on a regular basis, 300GB is not enough. Netflix alone is responsible for about 17GB of video usage during the first three days of the month.
The FCC also recently published a series of complaints about data caps from Comcast customers who similarly said that watching Netflix and downloading PlayStation 4 games from the web was easily enough to blow through their monthly limits.
Comcast, of course, would like us to believe that these caps are all about fairness and limiting the negative impact that all those greedy data hogs are having on its network, which apparently is as fragile as a tulip on a chilly winters eve. In reality, of course, this is all about trying to mitigate the effects that cord cutting is having on Comcasts traditional pay TV business.
Comcast tells the AP that roughly 8% of its customers go over 300GB per month but you can definitely expect that number to increase the more people rely on streaming services for television. And once more people start buying 4K TVs and watching Netflix streams in 4K, then 300GB per month will seem like absolutely nothing.
Its not just cord cutters that will increasingly feel the pinch but gamers as well. Consider that the digital download of Grand Theft Auto V weighs in at just under 49GB, which means that downloading just one game can blow through 16% of your monthly cap.
So its not entirely accurate to say that Comcasts data caps are just low enough to punish streaming because theyre also low enough to hinder advances in online commerce such as digital game downloads as well. That may be Comcastic news for at least one company but the rest of us shouldnt be happy about it.
http://bgr.com/2015/10/28/why-is-comcast-so-bad-57/
) 200GB cap would have been reasonable in the dialup or DSL days, but not with 50+ mbps connections. 
Facebook
Twitter