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Comcast now testing new bandwidth caps.

techs

techs

Lifer
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/09/comcast-data-caps-hit-test-cities-range-from-300gb-to-600gb/

Comcast data caps hit test cities, range from 300GB to 600GB

Caps hit Nashville and Tucson in trials, broader deployment coming later.

When Comcast decided to suspend its 250GB per month caps on Internet service, the reprieve for customers was only temporary. New caps of 300GB to 600GB would hit two test markets by the end of the year, Comcast said, with the caps presumably affecting customers nationwide at some later, not-yet-announced date.

Comcast has now revealed some details on how those caps are being implemented as they hit test cities. The caps began in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 1, and go into place in Tucson, Arizona, on October 1. In Tucson, customers are getting at least 300GB, as promised, and can get up to 600GB if they pay for the Extreme 105 service, which offers 105Mbps download speed:


data-caps.png


Those who go over their caps will automatically be billed $10 for another block of 50GB. Customers can view their usage online, and when they exceed their caps they will get an e-mail and an in-browser notification like this one:

courtesy-notice-640x259.png


In Nashville, the cap is 300GB no matter what tier of service you subscribe to. The difference between Nashville and Tucson makes sense given that Comcast said in May that it will pilot “at least two approaches in different markets.”

The automatic $10 charge for each additional block of 50GB applies to both Nashville and Tucson. Comcast customers in both test markets also get three “courtesy passes,” meaning that customers won’t be billed the first three times they exceed their monthly allotment in a 12-month period.

Comcast is not saying whether these details will remain the same when caps are implemented beyond Nashville and Tucson. “We need to run these trials for a few months so we can assess the customer experience and our network,” a Comcast spokesperson told Ars, adding that “we don’t have any additional plans to announce at this time.” An article in Broadband Reports citing a "reliable source" claims that Comcast's national rollout will adopt tiered caps, but this has not been confirmed.

How high can the caps go? Comcast is planning 305Mbps service in some markets, but not in Tucson or Nashville. If Comcast continues with the Tucson approach of giving progressively bigger caps to customers who pay for higher speeds, those who opt for 305Mbps could end up getting more than 600GB per month.
 
At least the $10 fee for another 50 GBs isn't that onerous.

Also there are freeware opensource programs available which will track your total internet traffic as well.

I'd have thought they would charge more for extra data beyond the initial 300 GB. They also raised the cap by a little.

While it's not an ideal situation it could have been worse as well.
 
blankslate said:
At least the $10 fee for another 50 GBs isn't that onerous.

Also there are freeware opensource programs available which will track your total internet traffic as well.

I'd have thought they would charge more for extra data beyond the initial 300 GB. They also raised the cap by a little.

While it's not an ideal situation it could have been worse as well.
Click to expand...

The fact you can go over three times in a year and not get charged is pretty good.

I have Blast! however I get 60 Mbps so I actually get more than the Extreme 50. I don't understand that, but if I get 350 for Blast! I can live with that. I could live with the 450 for Extreme 50 even better.

I wonder if you are allowed to go over if they only allow you to go over 50 Gb for that month, or if you can go to any amount you want. That would be perfect since you could use three months out of the year to download all your big stuff which would make the monthly amount even easier to live with.
 
Back when we had comcast we used 500gb a month for three months straight (of our allotted 250) and recieved nothing but a sense of sticking it to the man 😛

If comcast had no caps and prices that people other than a rockerfeller could afford we would probobly have them. They thankfully dont block port 80 or any other incomming and outgoing ports. With my new ISP I cant even run a home file server or a minecraft server without buying a buisness plan.
 
I probably rarely if ever go above that 300GB mark(only time I could think I would come close is if I format and download all my games from steam at 1 time).

But if my service ever added a cap, I would feel like doing something to make sure I get close to that cap every month. I would just download crap or something the last few days of the month just to use it.

If you add a cap, you are telling me I am paying for 300GB and I plan to use all of it unless you let me roll it over or something.
 
netflix users can push the 300gb limit without much trouble, but at least the caps are going UP for the first time in... history? whatever. i agree, $10 extra for 50gb seems somewhat fair... its comcast so we all expected a lot worse
 
What is bizzar is Comcast Xfinity through the Xbox is not counted, but Xfinity though a PC is counted. It makes little sense to me.
 
I thought I considered myself a heavy user, but I just checked it and for last three month's I've only been downloading 90 GB per month consistently.
 
Gotta freaking love Comcast.

I got an email last month that I was at 90% of my 300GB usage. They've been testing this for much longer than starting today. I'm in Nashville and they've been tracking for 3 months.

Between me, the wife and our two kids we use a ton of internet, streaming and game data. We also have our phones set to connect to wifi when we get home.
 
Last edited:
techs said:
The fact you can go over three times in a year and not get charged is pretty good.

I have Blast! however I get 60 Mbps so I actually get more than the Extreme 50. I don't understand that, but if I get 350 for Blast! I can live with that. I could live with the 450 for Extreme 50 even better.

I wonder if you are allowed to go over if they only allow you to go over 50 Gb for that month, or if you can go to any amount you want. That would be perfect since you could use three months out of the year to download all your big stuff which would make the monthly amount even easier to live with.
Click to expand...
people who have blast were given free upgrade in speed a month or so ago. i went to 50 tier also
 
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