Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Comcast Dropping 250GB Data Cap In Favor of "Improved Data Usage Management"

iJon said:
There's a much easier way to avoid data caps with Comcast. Sign up using Comcast Business Class. Same price, no data caps and faster speeds. Also, MUCH better tech support.

I was fearful when I moved from a city to Comcast territory, but signing up for Business Class has left me with 0 complaints. Service is rock solid and has been working great.
Click to expand...

Business Class is NOT the same price. Nowhere close. I'm paying $99/month for 50 Mbps down/10 Mbps up on a residential plan. The price jumps to $189/month for the same bandwidth on a Business Class account. If you want 100 Mbps down/10 Mbps up, it's close to $200/month on a residential account and $369/month on a Business Class account.

The Business Class support had better be rock solid because you're paying almost double for the same bandwidth available on residential accounts. I'll keep my residential account and let Comcast tack on $10 for each additional 50 GB instead of switching to a no-capped plan that's almost double what I'm currently paying.
 
heffeque said:
In the US, if the US government doesn't do anything to stop it.

Other countries don't have that problem ;-)
Click to expand...

The U.S. Government has no control over data usage and caps. Only the FCC can control that.

FCC controls:
Spectrum
Data Prices
Amount of MB or GB in data packages
Cell towers
Carriers
Old airwaves/radiowaves
And TV, Internet, Phone companys
 
I'm guessing this is Comcast's response to a changing world where not everyone subscribes to a monthly cable TV subscription.

I'm not sure that 300GB is the right number; but I do think this is a smart move on Comcast's part (and I have a hard time believing I just said that).

Basically, Comcast has finally realized what they're selling is really a commodity.
 
yeah said:
The U.S. Government has no control over data usage and caps. Only the FCC can control that.

FCC controls:
Spectrum
Data Prices
Amount of MB or GB in data packages
Cell towers
Carriers
Old airwaves/radiowaves
And TV, Internet, Phone companys
Click to expand...

The website of the FCC is fcc.gov and gov stands for "government".

What the government should do is make things easier for companies to compete between them. Most places in the US have one or at the most two companies offering their services to them. That's really NOT helping people changing to whichever company is doing its thing better.

If people can't change their ISP, companies will get lazy and won't bother making good offers.
 
edoates said:
No one thinks you should get all the gasoline or electricity you want for one low price, do they? Same should apply to data. It is a limited resource, and the base amount is generous.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Gasoline and electricity must be created, refined and delivered to the customer. With data (outside of storage), we pay for nothing but a conduit -- a conduit that has already been put in place by the ISP (whether a cable company or a phone company). The problem is that there are very few ISPs to choose from in any given market. (In my area, it's either Verizon or Comcast. That's it.) So the ISPs basically have a monopoly and can charge whatever they want. I think Comcast has observed the business model that wireless providers have shifted to, and sees an opportunity for increased profits.

And IMO 300 gb isn't that generous. Over a month's time, software updates alone account for an increasingly big chunk of that. Comcast already has a tiered pricing structure based on speed. With that in place, there should be no need for their data cap. People who would use more data are already paying more.
 
heffeque said:
In the US, if the US government doesn't do anything to stop it.

Other countries don't have that problem ;-)
Click to expand...

In other countries the government somehow meddles with it? Thank god I don't live wherever that is.

Here we have companies battling for my money. If Comcast asks for too much, I say "Thanks, but I think Verizon is getting my money next month." and that's that. If the government got involved they'd just demand some portion of my money (in the form of taxes) for which I would get... What, exactly? The corporations are less likely to improve their services because they're no longer striving to be better than everyone else. Instead, they'll take the money that should go to improving their services (and my satisfaction) and instead lobbying the government, which in turn wastes my government time so they can't do things like, oh, idk, PASS A BUDGET?
 
jayducharme said:
Comcast already has a tiered pricing structure based on speed. With that in place, there should be no need for their data cap. People who would use more data are already paying more.
Click to expand...

That's all that's needed to be said.

If they can't offer the speed, offer lower speeds, but capping should be a no-no on DSL, cable, FTTH, etc connections.

I'm not against LTE caps because the air we breath is a shared physical medium and it doesn't have infinite bandwidth, but cables aren't shared by all competing companies and they can always add more cables or change them for better ones.

Recapitulating: companies should stop selling speeds they can't afford. If they can't offer them without a bandwidth cap, they shouldn't be able to offer it at all.

Edit:
ArtOfWarfare said:
In other countries the government somehow meddles with it?
"Thanks, but I think Verizon is getting my money next month."
Click to expand...
Your country also meddles with it. It's called FCC.
Also... you actually can choose between TWO options?
Where I live in the US I also have just two options to choose from.
Where I live in Spain I have SEVEN different companies fighting for my money.
And where I live in Brazil I have FIVE.

In this case, the US looses by quite a bit.

Edit 2: http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/
Average download speed in the US 12.55 (biggest companies cap)
Average download speed in Spain 11.95 (no company caps at all)

I personally think that cheaper uncapped bandwidth is better than expensive capped connections, even if they're 0.6 Mbps faster. And it's also nice to have the option to actually CHOOSE your ISP.

Could you tell me if there are any nation-wide companies in the US that offer 10 Mbps uncapped internet for less than 40 dollars a month (total)? Or 50 Mbps uncapped for 70 dollars a month?
Thought so.

And I don't even want to start with what northern Europe companies have to offer.

Internet home connections in the US started out ok, but they're failing to keep up with the rest of the world do to lack of competition. THAT'S where the government has to start doing something.
 
Last edited:
edoates said:
All you can eat for a fixed price is simply not reasonable. With the proposed 300GB with whatever plan you buy, and 10$/50GB after that, the first 300GB are typically at a lower cost than additional data: progressive pricing. It works for electricity, gas, etc. It might be nice to have a "basic" data amount and rate (like lifeline telephone service or basic gas and electricity rates) so that everyone gets some, at an entry point even lower than the 300GB.

No one thinks you should get all the gasoline or electricity you want for one low price, do they? Same should apply to data. It is a limited resource, and the base amount is generous. I suspect that TOD pricing will follow: like a congestion tax, similar to how electricity is metered now. Data IS a utility.

Oh, and wealthier people will always have more access to stuff than poorer people, unless we all make the same amount of money; but that's socialism, and we don't do that here in the US. But if you like it, sure, vote for people here who would like to implement such a scheme. Don't hold your breath.
Click to expand...

It absolutely is reasonable, and it works quite well all over the world. Your metaphor is flawed. Data is not a scarce resource like electricity and gas.

What is a scarce resource, and what Comcast provides, is bandwidth. Not data. The data comes from content providers, such as Netflix, or Youtube, or your friend's FTP. Comcast provides the tubes to get the data to you. Now they are trying to say they will offer you a pipe but only let so much data pass through it, even though it isn't their data.

So it's the equivalent of you buying a full tank of gas, only to have the gas station attendant shut off the pump after a few gallons, because you reached his arbitrary cap. A cap that is designed to prevent you from taking full advantage of the flow rate of the pump, or even a tiny fraction of the flow rate. Only now the attendant is now taking bribes to turn the pump back on so you can get the remaining gas you already paid for.
 
avanpelt said:
Business Class is NOT the same price. Nowhere close. I'm paying $99/month for 50 Mbps down/10 Mbps up on a residential plan. The price jumps to $189/month for the same bandwidth on a Business Class account. If you want 100 Mbps down/10 Mbps up, it's close to $200/month on a residential account and $369/month on a Business Class account.

The Business Class support had better be rock solid because you're paying almost double for the same bandwidth available on residential accounts. I'll keep my residential account and let Comcast tack on $10 for each additional 50 GB instead of switching to a no-capped plan that's almost double what I'm currently paying.
Click to expand...

I pay about $65 a month and I get 25 down and about 6 up. The Comast guy told me I'd probably be pushing 45-50 down if I went up to the next level, which is about $99.

The entry speed was all I needed and the price was comparable when I signed up 4 months ago. Maybe they've changed things, either way, the business class for my house seemed like the better gig cause I would blow through 250GB a month no problem.

Either way, it's hard to tell cause you usually get way more than they say. The plan I pay for is about 12 down but I knew it would be way faster. While the Business Class 50 down is $189, it's very likely you'll get well above that just as I am getting about 2x what I'm paying for.
 
Last edited:
ArtOfWarfare said:
In other countries the government somehow meddles with it? Thank god I don't live wherever that is.

Here we have companies battling for my money. If Comcast asks for too much, I say "Thanks, but I think Verizon is getting my money next month." and that's that. If the government got involved they'd just demand some portion of my money (in the form of taxes) for which I would get... What, exactly? The corporations are less likely to improve their services because they're no longer striving to be better than everyone else. Instead, they'll take the money that should go to improving their services (and my satisfaction) and instead lobbying the government, which in turn wastes my government time so they can't do things like, oh, idk, PASS A BUDGET?
Click to expand...

Government has been involved from the start. Comcast and Verizon are government-sanctioned monopolies. That's why you have only one telco option and only one cable option. When only two companies "battle" for your money, there isn't any real competitive pressure to keep your rates low. They aren't battling, they are colluding.
 
My previous ISP had a "data block" system like this, and it's a pain when you only exceed it by a couple of GB. I was getting 25 GB blocks, and one month I used 52 GB which was charged as three blocks. They finally saw the light last year and changed to charging overage per GB instead of per block. I wonder how long it'll be before Comcast does something similar.

Vizin said:
I'm not 100% sure it's valid to compare per-gig prices for servers to per-gig prices for home connections, but $.20 per gigabyte over 300 seems like a good deal to me.
Click to expand...

I'm paying US$0.20/GB here and have no complaints :)
 
5aga said:
Nothing but greed from good old Comcast.

where I live our local power utility currently has the fastest fiber optic in the country, up to 1000Mbps. It puts Comcast to shame, and its priced a little cheaper. It's also consistent with matching download/upload speeds.

oh yeah no data caps

glad I switched from one of the greediest companies around.
Click to expand...
That's lovely for you, but some of us don't have that option. It's either Comcast or BellSouth who has much lower speeds.
 
Vizin said:
One thing they could do is send you an email warning when you get close, or even forward all web traffic to an alert page when you hit 300GB requiring you to authorize additional charges.

They probably won't do that though.
Click to expand...

Agreed this is what the cellular carriers do, cable companies could easily do that and it would be appreciated.
 
Vizin said:
One thing they could do is send you an email warning when you get close, or even forward all web traffic to an alert page when you hit 300GB requiring you to authorize additional charges.

They probably won't do that though.
Click to expand...

Comcast already has a meter on your account page that tells you how many GB you have used in the current billing cycle.
 
heffeque said:
I'd say 2 TB limit and 5$ for every 500 GB excess would be fair.

It doesn't take very long to reach 300 GB with a 50 Mbps connection.

Ono (cable company in Spain) offers 15, 30, 50, 100 and 200 Mbps and none of them have bandwidth caps.
Click to expand...

If you download 1GB file, it still 1GB no matter if you are on 6 Mbps or 100 Mbps.. It just means you get it faster but you only using 1GB of bandwidth..
 
Can anyone tell me HOW to check my bandwidth usage? I spent a lot of time a few weeks ago trying to do so, and I couldn't find anything. I would really appreciate it.
 
Vizin said:
That's a penny per gigabyte. Even large-scale content delivery companies charge many times more than that.

What makes you think that's a fair price?
Click to expand...

You're thinking of CDN prices, that are around 2 cents per GB.
Transit traffic today is around 1.5 dollars per Mbps per month = 0.0000723 dollars per GB.
And peering for large amounts of data can be even cheaper than transit.

So... someone didn't tell you the truth about REAL prices.

Even if the ISP charged 5 dollars for 500 GB, the real price the ISP would be spending only around 0.36 dollars for those 500 GB, so that's quite a big margin right there.

Also... even if what you said were true (and it's not) they shouldn't charge a lot for high usage the same way they don't charge little for low usage.

Slim02 said:
If you download 1GB file, it still 1GB no matter if you are on 6 Mbps or 100 Mbps.. It just means you get it faster but you only using 1GB of bandwidth..
Click to expand...

No kidding! How did you figure that out?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back