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Major U.S. Internet Providers Agree Not to Terminate Service for Non-Payment, Lift Some Data Caps

calzon65 said:
If we have a mass work-from-home effort, I wonder if will there be a noticeable impact to the USA's internet backbone.
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So far on Xfinity it is having no effect. I have 1Gb/sec down, 40 Mb/sec up. Speedtest showed 980 Mb/sec down, 43 Mb/sec up.
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coachgq said:
maybe I don’t understand but wouldn’t you still have the same number of people on that backbone?
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In addition to normal traffic you have a lot of new video streams with elementary to colleges all streaming lessons. And often having conference services that allow watchers to raise virtual hand and asks questions, and presenters to answer.
 
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jerryk said:
So far on Xfinity it is having no effect. I have 1Gb/sec down, 40 Mb/sec up. Speedtest showed 980 Mb/sec down, 43 Mb/sec up.

In addition to normal traffic you have a lot of new video streams with elementary to colleges all streaming lessons. And often having conference services that allow watchers to raise virtual hand and asks questions, and presenters to answer.
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I think that all home ISPs have to design their network to handle all the HD and now 4K streaming traffic after dinner. If people are doing work stuff during the day, it should be a small fraction of a constant 5 Mbps HD or 10 Mbps 4K Netflix stream. Work stuff, like file uploads and e-mail aren't latency sensitive like video is too.

Video conference streams are far smaller, most services don't even allow HD, it's usually 360p at 15 fps. Most webcams aren't even 1080 to begin with.

The issue is if people slack and do work while watching Netflix at the same time...
 
CEmajr said:
Fortunately Spectrum never got on the data cap thing.
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I was worried about that when they took over Time Warner. I was really grateful they didn't cap and charge for overages. I sure hope they never do. With the abysmal competition, it would be a smack in so many faces.
 
glowplug said:
So they're not waiving data overage fees, they're just making it more likely users will hit them.

Stay classy, Comcast.
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Those plans are usually subsidized by the taxpayer, specifically taxes you pay on your phone and Internet, e.g. the California Advanced Services Fund. They are intended for low-income families to do useful and necessary online tasks like apply for jobs and file taxes. If they want to go download torrents and stream 4K movies, they should do it on their own dime, not on e-welfare money.
 
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Comcast low-income offering was part of the approval for them buying NBC. They Don’t even let you switch to it if you qualify and are an existing customer.

I’ve had to curtail some gaming for one kid - with Disney+ not letting me throttle the quality, and whatever game she was playing - we were hurting. I’ve got one more overage (which would be our 3rd one - they lost one some how lol), and I’m so not paying. It will be brutal starting next month though when the office moves back into the home office. Ack. I need that $10 unlimited option! (And I have old school dsl - not fiber, I’m rural - with centurylink if I want to pay 2x the amount for 1/4 of the speed).
 
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glowplug said:
So to my point, why are they increasing the connection speeds?
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There is an increase in legitimate use, like kids now spending all day videoconferencing and watching instructional videos instead of going to school. This does not mean however that they are entitled a free-for-all on public money.

A hurricane or flood may mean somebody needs more food stamp money to replace spoiled food. It does not mean they should be able to buy unlimited steak, caviar and alcohol.
 
magicschoolbus said:
I have a data cap with xfinity. Xfinity is my only option here.
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They actually allow you to pay $50 or $10 a month (depending on where you live) for unlimited (I’m not saying it’s a good deal). And it’s not exactly a cap, since they just charge you more for additional buckets of data (yes, I am being pedantic. Sorry)
 
cmaier said:
They actually allow you to pay $50 or $10 a month (depending on where you live) for unlimited (I’m not saying it’s a good deal). And it’s not exactly a cap, since they just charge you more for additional buckets of data (yes, I am being pedantic. Sorry)
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It’s an additional $50 for unlimited as far as I know.
 
cmaier said:
In most places, yes. Some people have reported on here that in their area it’s $10. Comcast does charge different amounts depending on whether or not they have competition in a given city.
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No competition here. i Hate xfinity for having a data cap.
 
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calzon65 said:
If we have a mass work-from-home effort, I wonder if will there be a noticeable impact to the USA's internet backbone.
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Our backbone is pretty robust in terms of bandwidth. We cache a lot at the edge to reduce usage. WFH changes this but I still think we will be ok in the US.

The issue is when someone digs up a fiber line it can affect a large region (multi-state).
 
konqerror said:
Those plans are usually subsidized by the taxpayer, specifically taxes you pay on your phone and Internet, e.g. the California Advanced Services Fund. They are intended for low-income families to do useful and necessary online tasks like apply for jobs and file taxes. If they want to go download torrents and stream 4K movies, they should do it on their own dime, not on e-welfare money.
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WTF are you talking about here? I am in an area that is nothing like you speak of, pay 89/month or so and have a cap on data. It is NOT subsidized by my city or rolled into my taxes, so your data is flawed.
 
tigres said:
WTF are you talking about here? I am in an area that is nothing like you speak of, pay 89/month or so and have a cap on data. It is NOT subsidized by my city or rolled into my taxes, so your data is flawed.
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Read the original comment. The commenter is talking about the low caps on Internet Essentials combined with the COVID-benefit of boosted speed. It says right in the words he quoted.

Do you pay $10? Because Internet Essentials costs $10/month. Why? A tax on your Internet.
 
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konqerror said:
Read the original comment. The commenter is talking about the low caps on Internet Essentials combined with the COVID-benefit of boosted speed. It says right in the words he quoted.

Do you pay $10? Because Internet Essentials costs $10/month. Why? A tax on your Internet.
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here is the post he replied to: I looked before posting. :

“So they're not waiving data overage fees, they're just making it more likely users will hit them.”

Stay classy, Comcast.
 
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tigres said:
here is the post he replied to: I looked before posting. :

“So they're not waiving data overage fees, they're just making it more likely users will hit them.”

Stay classy, Comcast.
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Please show the line immediately above that.

Good job intentionally taking things out of context
 
i can't see them extending this.... Small business will suffer as a result, but large ones would be able to do it.
 
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