Comcast raising monthly broadband data cap to 1TB is a win for cord-cutters

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Comcast is making a major change to its broadband data caps, one that will no doubt be welcomed news to cord-cutters.

Marcien Jenckes, Executive Vice President, Consumer Services, Comcast Cable, said that starting June 1, Comcast is raising its broadband data cap in all of its trial markets from 300GB to 1TB (1,000GB), regardless of the speed of their plan.

Jenckes said more than 99 percent of its customers do not come close to using a terabyte of data each month. In fact, it claims the typical customer consumes about 60GB each month.

For the roughly one percent of heavy data users, Comcast will offer an option to upgrade to unlimited data for an additional $50 per month. Conversely, customers can purchase additional buckets of 50GB of data for $10 each.

1TB of data is honestly more than I would have anticipated from a “courtesy” cap increase. According to Comcast, it’s enough to stream about 700 hours of HD video, play 12,000 hours of online games and download 60,000 high-res photos in a month.

It’s hard to view the development as anything but great news, especially for cord-cutters like myself that have exceeded the 300GB cap on more than one occasion as a result of streaming content from services like Netflix, Hulu and Sling TV on a regular basis. For most users, 1TB should be plenty although once 4K streaming becomes the norm, data caps will once again need to be adjusted.

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Comcast coming to sense but still a long way to go. Internet should not be capped, you won't run out of it.
 
Sure, it should be fast and free. I mean, why not, it's not like it doesn't just fall from the sky.
seriously though, how is it that the phrase "cord cutter" has come to be? they only swapped cords, coax to twisted pair, or something like that. They aren't gaming the system, only switched providers. big deal. tell me they switched to OTA and then you are doing something.
 
Comcast coming to sense but still a long way to go. Internet should not be capped, you won't run out of it.

They made this change because the writing was on the wall the FCC was going to rip them a new one.

So for once they decided to get ahead of it instead of their usual behavior.
 
Sure, it should be fast and free. I mean, why not, it's not like it doesn't just fall from the sky.
seriously though, how is it that the phrase "cord cutter" has come to be? they only swapped cords, coax to twisted pair, or something like that. They aren't gaming the system, only switched providers. big deal. tell me they switched to OTA and then you are doing something.
Cord cutting refers to users cancelling their cable or satellite TV packages as a cost saving measure, and instead getting content through OTA broadcasts and/or through alternative content providers such as hulu, netflix, etc. Even taking out bundle savings, it is almost always cheaper to cancel your TV package and go with the aforementioned methods than to keep it, but it ultimately depends on an individual's TV watching habits.
 
Sure, it should be fast and free. I mean, why not, it's not like it doesn't just fall from the sky.
seriously though, how is it that the phrase "cord cutter" has come to be? they only swapped cords, coax to twisted pair, or something like that. They aren't gaming the system, only switched providers. big deal. tell me they switched to OTA and then you are doing something.
If you have cable internet you don't even switch the cables since you use coax to get internet in the first place.
 
Thankfully I'm not in a trial market but I hit over 1TB every then and now (family of 4). Even though usage caps is BS, at least they're being more reasonable for a change compared to usual.
 
Thankfully I'm not in a trial market but I hit over 1TB every then and now (family of 4). Even though usage caps is BS, at least they're being more reasonable for a change compared to usual.
I am in the trial market and this stupid trial has lasted for almost 3 years. It has been horrible do deal with. The first thing I do when I get home is check my usage to see if I've gone over the 10gb I can use each day. Once my son left for school with Netflix running and it played 2 seasons of a show. Needless to say I went over that month. I'm ready for this change.
 
This is a step in the right direction as I see it, however, it would be much more meaningful if there were competition in the US markets. I would jump to comcast if I could. I would jump to FiOS if I could. I would jump to Uverse if I could. However, I'm stuck with ThugsWarner.

Slowly, very slowly in some markets, like mine, competition is gaining a foothold. We have a local fiber provider that is building infrastructure, however, it is taking a long time for them to roll out.
 
If you have cable internet you don't even switch the cables since you use coax to get internet in the first place.
I think you are confusing the physical interface with the services being provided, of which the later is what the idiom is actually referring to.

Still, I guess any cap increase is a good one, though it would not help me very much since I hit 3-4TB a month with all the network connected hardware I have in my house.
 
I find data caps to be nothing but a scam. The FCC needs to put their foot down and stop this horse manure to begin with. "Internet" is nothing but electrons shooting across a damn wire. These *****s create scarcity where there is none.
 
I think you are confusing the physical interface with the services being provided, of which the later is what the idiom is actually referring to.

Still, I guess any cap increase is a good one, though it would not help me very much since I hit 3-4TB a month with all the network connected hardware I have in my house.
I did not confuse them but it seems you missed where the person I quoted wrote that all you do is switch from coax to twisted pair, which you actually don't since you use the same coax to get internet from cable companies in the first place.
 
With on-line content becoming more of the norm and bound to increase, lawsuits will be coming to Comcast and other providers eventually. They're just taking the advantage while they can. Capping internet usage is nothing short than interfering with interstate commerce.
 
Thankfully I'm not in a trial market but I hit over 1TB every then and now (family of 4). Even though usage caps is BS, at least they're being more reasonable for a change compared to usual.

This is not being reasonable at all. You are lucky thats all the data you use. I myself use over 1TB of data a month easy. Thats not including my wife or my son on the internet. Data caps are arbitrary and only exist to cost you money while keeping the telecom from upgrading in a timely manner as they should be doing regardless.
 
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