ISP and their download caps - really necessary?

[Gwendolini]

Hello.

Due to this thread discussing the arrival of a new VMWare Fusion version and some comments mentioning the existence of download caps by some ISPs, I am interested in discussing this "feature".

To start I quote several comments from that thread, though the Multi Quote feature of Xenforo only lets me multi-quote five posts and opens additional REPLY TO THREAD windows when pressing more MULTI QUOTE buttons, I have limited myself.

If you install Windows 10, even if in Fusion or any VM, make sure you go to Network part of the Control Panel and go to Advanced settings and turn off sharing updates accross the Internet. If you don't do that little change then you could hit your Internet bandwidth limit that most ISPs have now.

Wait what, its 2015 and some ISPs still have bandwidth limit, i thought that was only on mobile networks :|

Lol, where? In Africa?

Do most actually enforce it? I have uverse and since they provide no way for the user to track their usage they do not enforce it.

Comcast does.

Try Canada... sigh...

I live in the middle east. One ISP has $53 offer for 200GB bandwidth limit/month. Thats supposed to be bleeding edge of offers.

Not in Houston. We hit a terabyte a month and not one warning.

Only in a handful of cities... their "trial" areas. Hopefully they scrap the entire deal soon rather than deploy it everywhere.

I currently have to reside near Berlin in Germany, it is a moderately big city, for Europe's standard it is big.
I can, with my current plan, which is an older one, download all the stuff I want, at okay speeds (5MB/s down, thus I can download 12 PB of data per month, theoretically. The most I got was around 500 GB maybe, when I had to exchange some big video files back and forth.
A newer plan limits one to 300 GB, still plenty most of the time.

Why do you think, some ISPs offer download caps? Is such a limit necessary due to physical restrictions? Does more data wear down the copper cables? Or do ISP have to pay for data somehow?

 

[heehee]

We have data caps in Canada. 100 gb bandwidth, 30 down, 5 up for $65 Canadian. I can't even turn Netflix to hd.

 

[aristobrat]

I have Cox Cable's Gigablast connection. It's 1 Gbps up/1 Gbps down, with a 2 TB soft cap. The whole Cox plan (TV + internet + phone) is $140/month, not sure how much the Internet part is.

Here's what they say about their caps, which are mostly soft. Seems to be a system setup in a way that can be used to slow folks down that they consider to be excessive users.

If you exceed your data plan, Cox may notify you by email to alert you. Your service will not be interrupted if you choose to stay on your existing package except in the rare cases of excessive usage. In those extremely rare situations, Cox may suspend service after attempting to resolve the issue.

 

[Nermal]

We've traditionally had caps in NZ, which have gradually become bigger and bigger, but over the past couple of years most ISPs have either abolished them completely or also offer an uncapped plan for a slightly higher monthly fee. I've personally been on unlimited for a little over a year.

 

[mattopotamus]

I have Cox Cable's Gigablast connection. It's 1 Gbps up/1 Gbps down, with a 2 TB soft cap. The whole Cox plan (TV + internet + phone) is $140/month, not sure how much the Internet part is.

Here's what they say about their caps, which are mostly soft. Seems to be a system setup in a way that can be used to slow folks down that they consider to be excessive users.

That is the way ATT does it. I think they just mention a cap in case they ever decide to cap people, but currently they are not capping/throttling speeds. I usually hit around 500 GB per month, and my cap is suppose to be 300 GB and $10 for every additional 50GB.

Like you, I may not be getting capped b.c I am on their 1 Gbps plan. I am probably 1 of a handful of people actually on that plan, so they just do not care about capping me.

 

[sim667]

No download caps, only upload.

Most companies in the UK have download caps though.

 

[D.T.]

I have Cox Cable's Gigablast connection. It's 1 Gbps up/1 Gbps down, with a 2 TB soft cap. The whole Cox plan (TV + internet + phone) is $140/month, not sure how much the Internet part is.

Here's what they say about their caps, which are mostly soft. Seems to be a system setup in a way that can be used to slow folks down that they consider to be excessive users.

*drools*

 

[MacBH928]

I am not in the US. Cap limits is horrible here but its getting better. in 2008 I paid $105 monthly for 4mbps/12GB month. Yes that twelve. Its around 200GB now same price, connection is around 10mbps.

I never understood why there are cap limits. I knew speed is limited by technology, but now that there is fiber, why do we have cap limits? Does any one know? Is it just a way for ISPs to make you pay extra for the imaginary higher-limit they set?

 

[MacBH928]

I have Cox Cable's Gigablast connection. It's 1 Gbps up/1 Gbps down, with a 2 TB soft cap. The whole Cox plan (TV + internet + phone) is $140/month, not sure how much the Internet part is.

So there is fiber optic where I am but its not that fast and the limit is like 200-300GB. Why?

 

[satinsilverem2]

Im on a Verizon FiOS Fiber connection and as far as I know I don't have any caps. If they do its really high because I used around 1.5TB last month of data. With everything going to streaming and all of the VOIP and Video chatting happening, I don't see how they can get away with only 200-300GB caps.

 

[0098386]

No download caps, only upload.

Most companies in the UK have download caps though.

They do? I've genuinely not come across one since about 2010.

 

[garirry]

Canada for you. *sigh*

I just ordered a new Internet connection yesterday from TekSavvy. The prices are at least more reasonable than this crap shown here, but still got a 150GB cap limit (though it should be enough). On the bright side, I got a 30/10 speed now (soon, hopefully), no cap between 2AM and 6AM, and hopefully no piece of s*** customer support.

 

[Gwendolini]

This is ridiculous, meaning the UPLOAD caps and DOWNLOAD caps, especially in the age of streaming HD and UHD, where one hour of video can easily take up 1 GB/ 2 GB and more.
And those prices, for a first world countries are kinda laughable too, as in my provider, O2, offers the package I have with 6 MB/s down and 1 MB/s up speeds and unlimited download/upload quota (though it is an older plan, newer plans have quotas) for 30 €.

Hmm, I guess they finally saw a way to make even more money.

 

[Tech198]

Why the hell would i wanna download cat videos ?

oh i get it (pun)

If landline, my ISP doesn't charge extra, they only slow down..

I'm a biggit for companies that charge extra for downlaod/uploads above a cap

If companies wanna pay for their network stuff, that's fine, but don't impede users in the process.

plus we all know forcing slow downs alone is much more effective, because users will more likely not download at a mere 256k compared to 10Mpbs. mobile carrier equivalent speeds.

 

[Nermal]

Canada for you. *sigh*

Fibre constrained to 5/15/25 Mb/s on the low plans? Makes you wonder what the point is. The local fibre company in my area has 100 Mb/s at the entry level (although admittedly there is still a legacy 30 Mb/s service available if you really want it).

 

[garirry]

Fibre constrained to 5/15/25 Mb/s on the low plans? Makes you wonder what the point is. The local fibre company in my area has 100 Mb/s at the entry level (although admittedly there is still a legacy 30 Mb/s service available if you really want it).

My only guess is that they want to make you think that they offer Internet for cheap, so that there aren't too many scandals or ranting. Maybe also because they use the optimism of the customer thinking that it's cheap to lure them into getting a more expensive plan. What saddens me is that the cheapest cable Internet in my entire province starts at around 25-30$. But I'm glad that at least we have actual Fiber (even though you need to sell a body part each month), but hopefully the prices in the future will decrease. I believe such monopoly doesn't exist in other non-American countries.

 

[MacBH928]

Canada for you. *sigh*
View attachment 577307
I just ordered a new Internet connection yesterday from TekSavvy. The prices are at least more reasonable than this crap shown here, but still got a 150GB cap limit (though it should be enough). On the bright side, I got a 30/10 speed now (soon, hopefully), no cap between 2AM and 6AM, and hopefully no piece of s*** customer support.

This might be enough for one, but for a family its not. You can't do stuff like streaming (netflix), downloading tv shows, or even modern games with such low limit.

 

[markhort]

Virgin Media - Unlimited, 155mb down and 12mb up. With no far use policy.

Speed test is from a few months ago.

 

[Apple_Robert]

In my opinion, the caps are not necessary. It is mainly about creating more profit for the companies, as they create more data tiers, in attempts to build the customer base.

Smoke and mirrors.

Comcast in Atlanta, Georgia has instituted a data cap of 300 GB per month, which they do enforce. I don't like it at all.

 

[garirry]

This might be enough for one, but for a family its not. You can't do stuff like streaming (netflix), downloading tv shows, or even modern games with such low limit.

Even myself, as a guy who stays pretty much all the time on the computer, I rarely use more than 50GB a month. My parents barely use the Internet at all. But still, it's pretty embarrassing when these companies charge double the price for unlimited Internet, while in reality, it costs them 0 to 2 cents each month.

 

[z31fanatic]

Verizon FiOS didn't have caps when I had them. Now I have Comcast. They supposedly have them but don't enforce them. I use 400-500 GB of data every month.

 

[satcomer]

I find many USA ISPs have data caps because they are scared of steaming boxes taking away their on demand services money and peope cancelling their TV service for just the cheaper over the air HD and a steaming box! The are terrified of loosing their cash cow!

 

[JackieInCo]

I am now with Comcast in an area with no caps.

Previously, I had CenturyLink. Out of seven years with them, only got a warning once. They never told me how much I used that month.

 

[Phil A.]

On Virgin media cable (154mb down and 12mb up) with absolutely no usage limits at all. There is no way I'd ever consider an ISP with limits in this day and age - I use far too much data. For example, I had to restore a 2TB online crashplan backup this month after a disk failure - if I was limited then online backup would be unusable

 

[MICHAELSD]

Canada for you. *sigh*
View attachment 577307
I just ordered a new Internet connection yesterday from TekSavvy. The prices are at least more reasonable than this crap shown here, but still got a 150GB cap limit (though it should be enough). On the bright side, I got a 30/10 speed now (soon, hopefully), no cap between 2AM and 6AM, and hopefully no piece of s*** customer support.

On the brighter side, gigabit unlimited fibre for $149.99/month isn't the worst deal.

In the age of streaming media and 50gb video game downloads, a cap on traditional internet just makes no sense other than milking users for money.