Comcast raises data caps to one terabyte, may bring them to more markets

Comcast has been rolling out 300GB data caps in trial cities all across the United States, and the response has been less than stellar. Understandably, users aren’t very excited about being able to all of a sudden use less of a service than when they signed up. Comcast has heard the complaints, and announced today that all data-capped customers will no longer be limited to 300GB, because the cap is now one terabyte.

To be fair, one terabyte is an awful lot of data. Comcast quantifies this in a few different ways, explaining that “You can 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 also more than 99 percent of Comcast’s user base, which should help those who aren’t clear on bandwidth usage sleep at ease. Furthermore, Comcast says the average customer uses just 60GB of data in a month. While it’s easy to see how heavy users could reach 300GB, one terabyte would be an impressive feat.

Before, users that wanted a truly unlimited data plan had to pay an extra $30 for a privilege. Under the new one terabyte cap, the unlimited plan is now $50, or $10 a piece for 50GB chunks.

Of course, this new change only applies to cities and markets that are already part of Comcast’s data-cap trial program. If you don’t live in one of those areas, nothing is changing about your service, at least yet.

Comcast made sure to mention in the blog post about the change that the company is committed to listening to its users. While I think most of them would agree that removing the data cap altogether would be ideal, raising it to a sky-high rate is a solid start.

But it’s not all good news, as the blog post ends in an ominous tone. “We’re currently evaluating our plans to roll this out in other markets, we’ll keep listening – and we’ll be open to making further changes in the future to deliver the best high-speed data service to our customers.”

If you want to keep data caps off your service, make sure Comcast knows about it, before we’re all stuck under a low-hanging Internet ceiling.

from Planet GS via John Jason Fallows on Inoreader http://ift.tt/244farz
Brad Bourque